MM39020 Adventure TourismBusiiness Plan – Omega Paintcore

Liam Smith

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Contents1. Introduction..............................................22. Business profile..........................................32.1 Vision, Mission and Objectives.........................4

3. Marketing Plan............................................43.1 Market Segment.........................................43.2 Target Market..........................................53.3 Marketing Strategies...................................54. The SWOT Analysis........................................6

Bibliography.................................................7

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1.IntroductionThis report will centre on a Business plan for a paintball andassault course in South Wales in the upper Afan Valleys. The name of the company for this purpose will be Omega Paintcore. It will show an understanding of the roles and purposes of thecompany. Models and theories such as the 4P’s and SWOT analysis will be used to demonstrate the marketing mix and explain the external and internal factors. The report will include a marketing plan that covers the business target market, competition and the USP of the business.

The finances of the company will be explained to show the start up and running costs of the business. A risk assessment will be carried out and necessary and optional precautions will be put in place where ever they can make the environment or the situation less hazardous or at risk. Management structure and leadership style will also be covered within this report.

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Business Plan

2.Business profileOmega paintball will be a small paintball and assault course covering four acres of land that will be located in The Upper Afan Valleys. It will be situated between Cymmer and Duffryn the site itself is only accessible by foot. The paths that lead to the site come from Cymmer, Croeserw and Caerau. The best and currently most developed path is through Croeserw forest. The Site is locally known as Pen Castle. It was once used as farmland.

The company will work closely with local community groups and businesses in the area. Being located very deep within the Afan Valleys not only are would maintenance costs be exceptionally low but also the Valleys would gain recognition for the many other facilities and services it offers.

Omega Paintcore will provide a great value for money product and service. We will employ some members of staff that have a little experience in this sector and provide them training andopportunity to further develop their skills so that they are able to correctly manage the company. The extensive work with

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the communities and youth groups will potentially enable us toreceive funding from the local government and schemes for low income areas.

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2.1 Vision, Mission and ObjectivesVision:

The Vision of the company is to provide a place for the youthsof these areas with an activity to participate in that they will enjoy while being self-sustainable.

Mission Statement:

Our mission is to provide clients with a fun and adventurous activity at reasonably low costs and gain recognition for the Afan Valleys. Omega Paintcore will operate to be environmentally friendly and sustainable business that provides jobs to local members of the community as part time and full time roles while networking with community groups andother businesses within the Valleys.

Objectives:

To offer exciting activities to all level of participants.

To network with community groups and be a sustainable business.

To provide great value for money. To provide youths with something to do.

3.Marketing PlanA Marketing plan will enable the company to have a structure and concentrated direction in their market. A marketing plan identifies responsibilities and duties that the company must undertake to gain the information necessary to know how to market their company on which platforms they would be most effective using. To avoid wasting finances on marketing strategies that would have low or no positive impact for the company.

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3.1 Market SegmentOur clients will be varied from four groups of adventure tourist.

Samplers – These are people that participate in an adventure activity for the first time. These people are often one off participants.

Learners – These are people that wish to develop and learn skills that will in the future enable them to participate independently.

Enthusiasts - These are experienced adventure sports participants, frequently taking part in their chosen event.

Dabblers – These people have the basic skills in the adventure activity or sport but only take part on an occasional basis

We will initially gain most of our market from samplers but aswe become a more established company we hope to build up a large number of enthusiasts that become loyal to our company.

3.2 Target MarketWe will target a wide range of customers from education, corporate, youth groups especially, independents, couple and even family’s anyone that would want to participate in Paintballing or an assault course. Our minimum age limit is 11and anyone under the age of 16 will need consent from a parent, guardian or youth group advisor.

3.3 Marketing StrategiesGoals indicate what a business wants to achieve; strategy is agame plan for getting there. Every business must design a strategy for achieving its goals, consisting of a marketing strategy and a compatible technology strategy and sourcing

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strategy. (Marketing Management (14th Edition) By Philip Kotler, 2012) Now using the 4P’s marketing mix framework willdemonstrate how our company is positioned in the marketplace.

Product: Provide adventure activities which include a paintball and assault course. Providing the equipment on site for paintballing e.g. Masks, Goggles, Gloves, armouroutfits, guns and we supply paintballs and paint grenadesat a cost. We sell refreshments onsite such as water and sport drinks. The paintball course can accommodate a group of 30 in a single playing session and the assault course can manage up to 40 participants at any time. We also provide merchandise such as Sports bottles, T – shirts, and even paintball masks these can be purchased or won in one of our many competitions.

Price: Our price will be a very flexible entity as we open our business as we will be offering a lot of deals to each of our potential target markets. Besides this there aren’t many external influences that could really affect our pricing. The rise in fuel may affect us and the rise in minimum wage.

Place: We will sell our activities by offering online payment or payment on the day. A full website will be launched covering all our activities what we offer, prices and job opportunities on this. Our main office forcalls and correspondence will be set up in the recently built Enterprise centre in Croeserw. We will rent this space for our Administrative needs.

Promotion: Omega Paintcore will use many media platforms to communicate with our market. We will use social media,leaflets, posters, online competitions to help raise awareness and a few articles in our local newspapers. We will also have talks in local secondary schools and youthclubs.

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4. The SWOT AnalysisThe SWOT analysis is ‘A process generates information that is helpful in matching an organization or group’s goals, programs, and capacities to the social environment in which itoperates’ (Morrison, 2014)

The SWOT analysis is used for the purpose of exploring and considering the internal and external factors affecting the business enabling us to find the correct strategy for the business to achieve its goals and add more value.

Internal

Strengths WeaknessesSpecialist Activity Provider Small BusinessWork Closely with Local Businessesand Youth groups

No Brand RecognitionOnly two types of product

External

Opportunities ThreatsCollaborating with Businesses and Youth Groups

Established Competitors

Technological Advances and Social Media

4.1 Strengthso Specialist activity provider

Our company will specialise in providing great adventure activity’s focusing on paintballing and an assault course. Thestaff will gain training from people that have been in the industry for years as well as on site health and safety training so they are able to meet demands of all customer types while being safe but not compromising the thrill that these activities will provide.

o We will work closely with local businesses and youth groups

Omega Paintcore will work a great deal with local businesses and youth groups. A business of this type in such a small

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valleys will have to gain a lot of support and be seen as a positive contributor to the local communities to be a successful company. We plan to collaborate with Afan forest park and create some pricing strategies in order to create more pull for people to come to the area so we could expand our potential market.

4.2 Weaknesseso Small company

We will begin as a small business with a small offering of a paintball and assault course. Our company will begin with justthe Pen Castle location and as our revenue grows we will expand into more locations and many more activities such as archery and quad biking.

o No brand recognition

This business will be the first under the company brand Omega Paintcore. So it will have to start from scratch creating and moulding their Brand and it’s perception from customers. This may be more difficult than say UKpaintballing opening one of their courses here because of its brand recognition and being the leading paintball organisations in the UK. (UKpaintball.co.uk, 2014)

o Only offer two products types

We will offer a paintball and assault course. So because of the one location and activities once people have experienced it once they may not wish to use our services again as they would have experienced them already. There is definitely room for expansion which I will cover next in opportunities

4.3 Opportunitieso Technological advances and Social Media.

A challenge that adventure activity providers currently face is keeping contact with consumers after their experience and before the time they return. Groups and individuals will be

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able to check when we have free spaces available and they willbe able to book it immediately on our company’s website. Social Media will keep us in touch with our customers informing them of up and coming events, competitions and promotions. It will also allow us to communicate and build a relationship with our customers. Social Media also allows our customers to share information and experiences to their cohorts potentially helping us gain a wider range of our market.

o Collaborating with the education sector and youth groups

We will organise talks with secondary schools and colleges in the area. Hopefully to create some ‘buzz’ around our company and getting potential customers involved. We will also be offering full time and part time jobs to students. We will work with already established youth groups in the area and after the business is open we will also create a Youth group ourselves where once a week we will meet at one of the many youth centres on the Valleys and also have weekly games of paintball with the members. The business will be perceived by the people in the area as a positive impact on their life’s rather than just ‘a money hungry company’.

4.4 Threatso Established Competitors

Team force is an already established paintballing company in Swansea. They are located just 6 minutes off the M4 motorway at exit 46. They have a very well trained team of staff which keeps them competitive people like to be in an environment that is thrilling and also safe. So with most of the members of staff at Team Force having first aid training this can be another appealing factor when people chose where they enjoy their activities.

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5. Networking We will work with local businesses to provide a more appealingproduct.

5.1 Afan Forest Park (AFP) AFP is an already existing organisation in this region. AFP was the only UK trail destination to feature in the ‘What Mountain Bike Magazine’ as one of the ten best places to ride “before you die” (Adventurebritain.com, 2014)

So with our company being so closely located to AFP we hope to create great ties with this company so that we can provide more to tourists in the form of a price strategy such as a ticket at Afan forest park enables you to come to our business for up to a month and the same the other way around. We also wish to work closely with them to gain recognition of our business by reaching their already existing client base through their website and through leaflets that we will leave at the destination.

5.2 Unique Selling PointThere has always been discussions and community meeting to discuss an approach to get the youths off the street and away from bad influences due to a lack of resources and facilities for them to enjoy. Omega Paintcore will be exactly that a place for teens and young adults to have someone to go or something to do at an affordable price. We also provide our assault course which we will market to local sports clubs as an alternative more exciting way to do their training and cardio rather than the conventional methods being currently used. We will provide paintballing in all weathers and at night giving a different experience to consumers. What could be more thrilling than being in the woods, at night, in the rain with low visibility, a gun (paintball gun) and 14 others that all want to cover you in paint.

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6. Financial InformationOur company will use financial planning to estimate our gross profit, net profit and our expenditure over a five year plan. It can also be used to assess whether our company is making the right financial decisions and that the company is growing as we forecast. Because of the nature of the business we plan to not only apply for a loan from the bank but also receive grants and funding for community groups and government schemesthat apply to areas such this location being a deprived area with communities’ first groups working around the valleys area. (Bevanfoundation.org, 2014)

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7. Balance SheetBalance of Payment

Start-up costs Purchase of land (4 Acres of Land) Purchase of equipment (Guns, Safety Equipment,

field props) Renting office space 5 years

£2,300 a year x 5 Website

Total

£32,000£25,000

£11,500£600

£69,100

IncomePaintball Course 2 hour session = £12.50Extra Hundred paintballs = £7Paint Grenade = £92 hour session unlimited ammo and two grenades = £39(Workings Out)Year 1-2

6 courses a day 3 x £12.50 3 x £39 = £154.50 x 250 days a year

Years 3-5 8 courses a day 4 x £12.50 4 x £39 =

£206 x 250 days a year

Total of the five years

£77,250

£154,500

£227,750

Expenditure peryear

Cost of Staff 3 members of staff initially1 x £16,000 1 x £12,000 1 x £6 ,000

Insurance £300 a month

Stationary

Leaflets, Posters

Youth Group Funding

£34,000

£3,600

£100

£500

£1,000Total Expenditure

Total Expenditure over 5 years

£39,200

£196,000

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Gross Income over the 5 years

Net Profit over the 5 years

£227,750

£31,750This Balance sheet is an idea roughly of our start-up costs and our overheads. We expect a great deal of custom in the first few months of opening however we have not explained thisin detail to counteract the slow-down of customer turnover after that however as we gain more recognition and customer reach we expect to run more courses throughout each day. The salaries of staff are projected as such from looking at the salaries of staff in the industry in these roles as course manager, and on site marshal and admin.

8. Risk AssessmentThe table below displays the possible risks that may affect customers participating in our activities so that we can have contingencies in place if they were to possibly happen. It also notifies our staff on what to do if there were a hazard.

Hazard Who Risk Factor

Control Measure Additional Action

Paintball strikes

All participants in activity.

2 x 5 =10

Only the correct equipment designed for this purpose will be used.All participants and those likely tobe hit with paintballs are briefed of the hazards.Written conformation is held, of the brief,in the form of disclaimers.

Safety Clothing and equipment is supplied to all participants.

Slips, Trips and falls.

All participants in

2 x 3 =6

Participants are advised to wear appropriate

The location is

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activity. footwear when involved in the activity.

walked each day to identify any possible hazards.

8.1 Quantifying RiskThis table shows how to calculate a risk factor (Severity x Likelihood = Risk Factor)

(Hse.gov.uk, 2014)

8.2 Level of RisksThis table shows the level of risk when calculated in the format shown above.

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(Hse.gov.uk, 2014)

9. Impact Assessment/Mitigation

9.1 Impacts Organisations in this industry can often have a vast amount ofimpacts on the environment, culture, economy, society. Howeverthese activities have very minimal impact on its environment, while having great potential for its economic benefits.

Environmental impacts

These activities can impact an environment with such things like path erosion, littering and noise pollution and disruption of the wildlife. So to counter manage these impacts we must make sure that the same paths are not always used by using more than one path to the location. We provide participants in the briefing of their responsibilities to the location with things such as litter or if they spot wildlife.

Economic Impacts

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We will employ local people from the communities for the rolesavailable. We will also work with other businesses to hopefully enable them to gain more income from an increase in visitors. Also the money we make from the company will either be reinvested into expanding the business into things such as other locations or activities like quad biking or we will invest it in a venture business that has potential in the area.

10. Management Structure Due to the very small scale of our company to begin we have a very small number of staff. The staffs are expected to be veryflexible in their roles and be ready to assist one another when necessary which is very common in small businesses.

10.1 Staff roles and responsibility

11. ConclusionThere are many factors that our company will need to consider,by using risk management, frameworks and financial forecasting. This will help greatly in understanding where thecompany is and where the projections show they should be. Hopefully from the information gathered it will allow us to

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have better understanding of the market environment and how weshould adapt to be maximising our company.

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12. ReferencesAdventurebritain.com, (2014). Mountain Biking -. [online] Available at: http://www.adventurebritain.com/mountain-biking/[Accessed 30 Nov. 2014].

Bevanfoundation.org, (2014). The Afan Valley, what the statistics don’t say. | Bevan Foundation. [online] Availableat: http://www.bevanfoundation.org/blog/the-afan-valley-what-the-statistics-dont-say/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2014].

Hse.gov.uk, (2014). HSE: Information about health and safety at work. [online] Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2014].

Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management. Boston, [Mass.]: Pearson.

Morrison, M. (2014). SWOT Analysis - History, Definition, Templates & Worksheets. [online] RAPIDBI. Available at: https://rapidbi.com/swotanalysis/ [Accessed 28 Nov. 2014].

Ukpaintball.co.uk, (2014). UK Paintball - Paintballing - Paintball Games. [online] Available at: http://www.ukpaintball.co.uk/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2014].