The Mountain of Pilatus

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1.0 Introduction

The mountain of Pilatus overlooks Lucerne from the Central Switzerland, having a topographic height of 2,132 meters making it an important attraction center. Mount Pilatus as an attraction site is believed to be the site where the great Roman governor Pontius Pilatus might have been buried during the Roman Empire regime, and its also referred to as the Dragon Mountain, as it is believed its the point where a dragon rock from the sky fell in the 1420s. Mount Pilatus is doubtable a central source of mystic discoveries and home to worldly beauty witnessed in the terrains and the flow of the mountain. A steep railway system (Pilatus railway) has been developed, which utilizes the cogwheel railway and connects the mountain with Alphachstad, which is operational depending with the conditions of the snow. The mountain can also be accessed from Lucerne by the use of Gondola lift and aerial cable car, making it efficient for a round-trip tour for visitors wishing to visit the mountain. The mountain is conducive for hiking activities mountaineering, boat rides and scaling the steepest railway in the world while visiting the site. It boasts of the longest summer toboggan run of Switzerland, and it has a recreational area with marked hiking trails, picnic areas and ideal barbecue area with table and chairs, suitable for a family tour. The mountain has a weather station that is instrumental in relaying information about changes in weather patterns thus depicting ideal seasons for tourism (John 1866).

1.1 Core Resources, Products, and Stakeholders

Mount Pilatus is endowed with vital natural resources and various man-made facilities, which have endeavored to boost its attractiveness to many visiting tourists. The height of the mountain which is 7000 feet above sea level offers a breath-taking scenery of the larger Switzerland, ranging from the city of Lucerne to the Lake of Lucerne, from Santis up to Titlis, from the Bernese Alps to Jungfrau across the Swiss borders, and finally from Schwarzwald to French Alps (John 1866). Lake Lucerne is another feature that Mt. Pilatus boosts off, having a total area of 114 kilometers square with a shoreline that rises into the mountain up to 1,500 meters above the lake. The lake stretches from the city of Lucerne into the mountain, which is ideal for boat rides. The twisted road terrain near the lake that runs up to the mountain, although slow, is ideal for tourists activities for both the Swiss and foreign tourists (Stadler 2012).

Fig 1.1Aerial view of Pilatus Lucerne and its habitats.

The availability of Pilatus railway in Mt. Pilatus, which is the steepest rack railway in the world having a maximum and average gradient of 48% and 35% respectively, has been instrumental in for boosting tourism in the region. The railway line which originates from Alpnachstad on Lake Lucerne runs up to a terminus at the Esel Summit of Mt. Pilatus at an altitude of 2,073 meters which is equivalent to 6, 801 feet. The rail has been instrumental in transporting tourists up the mountain, as they view the sceneries of the land of the Swiss (Buckley 1984).

Fig 1.2 Pilatus Railway a path for cogwheel up the mountain

The mountain boasts of modern hotels and leisure joints which offer a variety of services suitable to satisfy visitors needs. The city of Lucerne enjoys a spectacular site in the heart of the country, with various tourism attraction sites, making it a major economical viable location for the country. The availability of gondolas, seven restaurants, cogwheel rails, cable car and the rope park guarantees excellence leisure place for visiting tourists. The large children playing ground at Krienseregg offers excellent recreational facilities for hiking, climbing and biking excellence for visiting tourists. More so, the picnic tables and benches with open space are ideal for family picnics and barbecue. The December Pilatus snow offers snow lovers a wide variety of winter sports on Frakmuntegg.

Fig 1.3 Hotel, Cable car and Cogwheel station at the Mountain top.

The key stakeholders in Mt. Pilatus are mainly the central government of the Switzerland Republic, who are the main revenue collectors of all the activities running within the attraction site. More so, they are key in establishing the workability of the Pilatus rail as well as ensuring that security is paramount to all. The other stakeholders in the attraction center are the local people, who are in charge of ensuring a smooth running of the various business, be it restaurants, gondola rides, tour guides and so on.

1.2 Management issues

Switzerland as a country has set up key strategies and policy, tailored at enhancing cordial relations between the natives and the visiting tourists, in a bid to improve their tourism sector. The Key management and visitors management issues encountered at the attraction site include the following (Kampf 1998);

1.2.1 Creation of favorable conditions

In ensuring that they provide quality services to their visiting tourism, Switzerland has managed to promote innovation through the invention of the Pilatus railway line, which is a means of transport to local and visiting tourism as they scale the heights of Mt. Pilatus. More so, the locals have been enlightened on the importance of tourism and have utilized the available resources to ensure that visiting tourism are satisfied with their various attraction sites.

1.2.2 Bolstering Market Presence

The tourism management board in Switzerland has ensured a market presence for their attraction sites, through advertisement in various mediums, to enhance a yearly flow of tourism into these destinations. This has been achieved through efficient service delivery and standardizations of production of goods and services.

1.2.3 Creation of a conducive environment.

By enhancing environmental friendly surroundings that reduce on pollution, the management of the attraction site will be setting precedence for future tourism touring the place, hence creating a good impression in the marketplaces, therefore placing them in the impetus of other tourism giants.

1.3 Effectiveness of the Management tools

The management tools put in place to enhance and bolster the attraction site to meet the international standards include the following;

1.3.1 Climate change Adaptation Policy

The tourism site is particularly affected by climate change related impacts. Switzerland being prone to climate and weather related components have greatly resulted in impacts on the tourism attraction site on a local scale, which has affected the economic activities of the country. The tourism sector believed to account for 6.1% of the overall Green House Gases emission in the larger Swiss nation, with 84% coming from air transport, 6% from other transport and 8% from accommodations, which are instrumental for the success of tourism activities in the Country (Perch-Nielsen 2008). Mount Pilatus in Lucerne as a major visitors attraction has been greatly hampered by related climate effects such as sea level rise, snow pact reduction, and glacier melting during summer periods (Breiling & Charamza 1999). Therefore, the management departments of the attraction site have implemented climate change related policy aimed at mitigating and adapting to these changes to protect the interests of visiting tourism as well as the natives. During the winter and snowy period, the tourism management board at the Pilatus-Lucerne has limited utilization of the gondola, cable cars and cogwheel trains to minimize accidents (Agrawala & Fankhauser 2008).

1.3.2 Security

The management board under the Pilatus-Lucerne attraction site has enhanced security on order to minimize on issues related to security fears that can affect the tourism sector within the country. Security measures have been taken at the different attraction site, be at Mt. Pilatus or even at Lake Lucerne. This security measure has been key to minimizing petty thieving like pickpocket which is common within the attraction site. More so, measures are in place to prevent huge scale security issues such as terrorism-related activities and drug trafficking which are an international phenomenal that hinders tourism activities. Safety measures have also been taken to enhance safety for visiting tourists by enhancing both security and safety as they board and utilize the gondola in Lake Lucerne and the cable car/ Cogwheel train on Mt. Pilatus. For security purposes, cogwheel train and boat are mainly functional from early May to mid-November depending with the snow conditions. This has limited security related accidents, which has been instrumental in marketing the attraction site to international scales (Singh 2008).

1.3.3 Marketing Policy

The management of the Pilatus-Lucerne attraction site has utilized key marketing policies to influence the numbers of visitors touring the attraction site. Their policies in offering quality services to tourists be it in the hotelier and restaurants Department in offering accommodation, to the cog wheel and the touring sector has been instrumental in marketing the Pilatus Lucerne attraction site. The conducive atmosphere and the serene extraordinary look of Switzerland from the top of Mt. Pilatus is another key attraction that has enhanced and marketed their tourism sector abroad. The top notch security apparatus within the country has been another marketing tool in enhancing and managing visitors who wish to tour the site (Cooper 2005).

1.4 Recommendation for service Improvement.

Pilatus-Lucerne and other attraction site in the larger Switzerland can be modified to enhance an improvement in service delivery, which may be achieved by looking on certain key aspects of the various aspects within the sector, which include;

1.4.1 Product Development

The management board of the Swiss tourism industry should encourage product development, which goes hand in hand with the Swiss culture, which may be instrumental in marketing the various cultural aspects of the Switzerland country. These products may range from cultural artifacts and regalia which will educate the visiting tourists about the Swiss culture. Swiss traditional dresses and ornaments should also be a key product to be sold to enhance the Switzerland cultural heritage (Krishnan & Karl 2001).

1.4.2 Staffing and Interpreters

The management should enhance full staffing of local citizens to enhance an efficient service delivery to the visiting tourists. These staffs who would be ranging from tour guides, weather informers, gondola and cog wheel operators, engineers, banking services and even hotel and restaurant personnel. These staffs should be well educated on matters concerning the handling of tourists to enhance cordial relations and understanding with visiting tourists to enhance their tourism sector (Henerman 2005). Moreover, language interpreters should be employed and train on...