Garden Tourism

INTERESTED IN DEVELOPING A CAREER IN GARDEN TOURISM?

Garden tourism is an exciting area of growth within the wider tourism sector. Whilst there have been gardens (and associated activities) available to tourists for many, many years, there has been limited focus on them as a sector of the industry. This course covers a wealth of information which takes you through the planning, development, management and marketing of garden tourism destinations. 

This course would be a great option for any of the following:

• Tour guides including those focused on gardens, and others with a broader specialism
• Head gardeners
• Nursery managers
• Visitor attraction managers
• Event specialists
• Students of hospitality and tourism looking to expand knowledge
• Those with a passion for horticulture wanting to broaden career options

Working within a niche area of the tourism sector requires you to be flexible, this course will provide you will lots of different ideas and approaches to be able to apply that requirement. So, if you're looking for some ideas and inspiration, then this is the course for you!

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Scope And Nature Of Garden Tourism
   • Types Of Gardens
   • The Place Of Gardens In Broader Tourism
   • Who Visits Gardens Or Garden Events and Why
   • Problems
2. Garden Destinations
   • Financial Viability
   • Types Of Tourist Attractions - Places
   • Garden Events
   • Add On Income
3. Creating And Managing A Destination
   • What Makes A Viable Garden Tourism Destination?
   • Planning A Destination
   • Locations, Regions, Countries
   • Managing A Destination
4. Garden Events
   • What Type Of Garden Event?
   • When To Conduct The Event?
   • Where To Conduct The Event?
   • Finalising Your Plan
   • Non-Garden But Related Events
5. Creating and Managing Garden Events
   • Phase 1 - Preparation
   • Phase 2 - Detailed Planning and Development
   • Phase 3 - Evaluation
   • Initiating A Garden Event
   • Set Up And Pack Up/Knockdown
   • Event Issues
   • Managing Visitor Access
   • Expo Stands
6. Garden Activities
   • Creating The Concept - What Garden Activities Could Be Delivered?
   • Planning Your Garden Activities - The Organisation
   • Delivering Garden Activities
7. Garden Tours
   • Why Create Garden Tours?
   • Part-Day and Day Tours
   • Creating Tour Packages
   • Insurance
   • What Comes Next?
   • Self-Guided Tours
8. Conducting Garden Tours
   • What Are You Featuring?
   • The Logistics Behind The Tour
   • Delivering The Tour
   • At The End Of The Tour
9. Marketing Garden Tourism
   • Getting Started
   • Marketing And Communication Approaches
   • Virtual Tours
   • Intermediaries
   • The Marketing Cycle

Aims

• Discuss the significance of gardens and gardening to tourism
• Identify the nature and scope of destinations that a garden traveller might consider visiting when travelling
• Determine, plan, develop and manage viable garden tourism destinations
• Determine the viability of a garden event and its components
• Explain how a gardening event can be successfully created and managed
• Explain the organisation and delivery of a range of gardening activities, in the context of garden tourism
• Explain how to plan garden tours
• Explain how to conduct a garden tour
• Determine effective marketing strategies for different garden tourism products

THE PLACE OF GARDENS IN BROADER TOURISM

Not all garden tourism is exclusive. People often travel for two or more different reasons, and seeing gardens may be one of a number of things they do when travelling especially if that garden is in a city or in a region popular with holiday makers. The primary interest may be to visit the garden at any of these. Even where it is not though; appreciating the garden can be a valuable component of the attraction.

Historic Sites and Buildings

A component of many historic attractions can be the garden. The national trusts in both Australia and the UK, maintain both buildings and the surrounding grounds as attractions, this may also be true for American and many European gardens. Some visitors may have a primary interest in the interiors, but inevitably are attracted to the garden as well. The gardens attached to the French chateaux in the Loire valley can be more famous than the buildings, for example Villandry. Other visitors may have a primary interest in the garden which then provides a very mixed group of people.

Living Collections

Zoos, botanic gardens, butterfly farms, rare breeds farms, bird parks, and aquaria are examples of attractions which keep, maintain, and present a diversity of living things to visitors. They are both educational and entertaining, attracting a wide variety of different people.

Artistic/Cultural

Within cultural attractions there are often links to horticulture, whether as the inclusion of areas within a museum or in the case of sculpture gardens where the garden is the backdrop for the creation of art. 

Hotels and Resorts

The link between gardens and hotels & resorts has been in place for centuries, this particularly the case for the luxury end of the market which often have vast gardens with dedicated teams in place to care for them. The Raffles Hotel in Dubai, for example, has a 40-foot botanical garden above its entrance which is home to over 100,000 plants.

Theme Parks

This may not be an example that you think of straight away, however many theme parks have extensive gardens and significant resources allocated to them. The inclusion of these gardens allows theme parks to attract a much more diverse group of visitors. So, in turn they may have two different target groups visiting them, one for the theme park and one for the gardens which will consequently produce two revenue streams. There of course may be some overlap with some visitors being attracted by both the rides and the gardens.

Ecotourism

Ecotourism was developed in the early 1990’s based around the concept of sustainability and an alternative to mass tourism. Some tourist attractions have set aside areas outside of their key attractions to develop less intensive garden visiting experiences to meet demand. Some conservation NGOs include gardens on the edges of their reserves.  Here they can show visitors how to make their home gardens more sustainable and wildlife friendly.

Dark Tourism

Visiting places associated with negative things – cemeteries, war monuments, sites of natural disasters – often contain memorial gardens. People visit these for many reasons – to remember and honour the dead through to more morbid reasons. This is something which is more usually naturally occurring rather than being a garden which is created specifically.

WHY STUDY WITH ACS?

There are lots of reasons why you should study this course with us, here are few of them:

• The course is very detailed and will provide you with a vast amount of information covering lots of different business concepts which you can apply in many different settings 
• You will develop ideas about ways to enhance your current offer or create new opportunities in your garden destination
• Not only will you develop your knowledge, but you will also develop your confidence in being able to create new ideas as you become able to plan effectively
• Completing the course will show your commitment to current or future employers about your interest in garden tourism
• Throughout your study you will be supported by subject specialist tutors who will be there to guide you and answer any questions you may have
• As our courses are designed to be studied flexibly, you can continue to manage other commitments whilst still gaining a qualification

TAKE THE NEXT STEP AND ENROL NOW!

You can enrol on the course now, but if you have any questions about the content of the course or studying with ACS, then please get in touch with us today - use our FREE COURSE COUNSELLING SERVICE to get in touch with our expert tutors. They will be pleased to help you!