Honeymoon Destinations is a start-up business that creates and sells videos containing resort-specific footage of the most popular honeymoon destinations. The founders have conducted a direct-mail survey to assess market demand for their videos. The case contains a copy of the survey data, the survey questionnaire, and a description of the plan. Students must evaluate the data and make recommendations regarding product positioning and design.

Exotic Adventures Inc. operates expedition-style voyages in various locations around the globe, including the Amazon River basin. In early 1998, Exotic Adventures began marketing a low-water season voyage up the Amazon to take place in October. By August, 99 passengers had booked passage with Exotic Adventures. However, in early September the company began receiving messages from their agents in Brazil advising that water levels were unusually lo...

With urbanization on the rise globally, failure to adapt to the new urban reality could be disastrous for cities facing unprecedented demographic, economic, social and environmental challenges. Development models are needed to transform such challenges into opportunities. The authors outline the strategic planning methodologies needed to create smart cities – sustainable, innovative, connected and socially cohesive places that enhance the quality...

After conducting thorough research, two young entrepreneurs in Rwanda realize they have the opportunity to target the international budget tourists commonly referred to as ?backpackers.? Only one European-style backpacker hostel currently exists in the capital city of Kigali, and the low-budget tourism industry remains significantly underdeveloped throughout the country. The partners have seen how successful this type of tourism has become in nei...

On February 5, 2012, the founder of McDonald Kinley Emerson, a consultancy in Toronto, Canada, was asked to give a talk about country branding. She decided to focus on the efforts of Racepoint, a U.S. marketing services agency, to reshape the image of Rwanda. As it attempted to shift perceptions of the country from war-torn and chaotic, Racepoint?s campaign attracted controversy amid allegations that wrongdoings were being glossed over in favour ...

In 2013, the minister of state for tourism in India is contemplating the future of the ?Incredible India? campaign. Started in 2002, the campaign had succeeded in turning India into a high-end tourist destination, as a result bringing about a growth of 16 per cent in the number of foreign visitors. Originally focused on landscape and culture, the campaign evolved to embrace such concepts as spiritual, medical, adventure, film and sports tourism o...

In September 2014, the co-founder and director of Treks `n Rapids, a leading adventure sports tourism company in New Delhi, India, needs to re-evaluate the company strategy. The adventure sports tourism industry has tremendous potential for growth in India, largely due to the number of young professionals with disposable incomes and a desire for new experiences, and is witnessing increased demand from a variety of profitable customer segments, bo...

In the summer of 2016, the general manager of IXSIR Winery of Lebanon (IXSIR)?a young winery in Lebanon that offered customers a new level of quality by producing wine from a mixture of grapes harvested from different terroirs?received news of a bomb striking Beirut. IXSIR had been facing challenges competing in the unstable and risky local market, and the general manager realized that the bombing signalled rougher economic times ahead and likely...

In 2012, the Ontario provincial government announced that after 41 years in operation, the iconic Toronto tourist attraction Ontario Place would be shut down. The immediate closing would save the province and tax payers an estimated $20 million a year and eliminate at least 48 full-time jobs and 600 summer positions in the process. Ontario Place attendance had dropped sharply from an average of three million visitors during the early 1980's, to j...

Sumith Dutta was the founder of Emerald Trail (ET), a resort near a well-known tourist destination in the Himalayas, which treated resort guests? pets as no less important than their owners. Dutta?s passion for pets inspired him to offer this experience, which was different from what was offered at other resorts. The case details the decisions Dutta made in executing his strategy and invites students to consider how Dutta could have scaled up his...