Singapore Botanical Gardens

The Singapore Botanic Gardens refers to is a 74-hectare botanical garden which is in Singapore. The botanic garden is one of a kind in the world. It opens from 5 am in the morning to 12 midnight. This means it allows as many visitors as possible to come and visit.  The botanic garden also does not charge admission fees.  The only exception for the charges rule is the National Orchid Garden.  Any visitors visiting this place must pay some amount of money. Some of the developments within the Garden include the National Orchid Garden which is the main site of attraction in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It has a collection of about 1000 species and 2000 different hybrids.  The botanic gardens also houses Tan Hoon Siang Mist house, Bur kill Hall, Jacob Ballas Children's Garden, the VIP Orchid Garden, Orchidarium, and Evolution Garden. Others include Lady Yuen-Peng McNeice Bromeliad House, Cool house, Rainforest, Ginger Garden, Botany Centre, Tanglin Gate and other attractions such as the bank of the Saraca Stream. There are also lakes such as the Swan Lake and the Eco Lake.  In the Botanic garden, there are notable performers who display phenomenal performances. All this makes the garden a tourist resort.

However, just like many other tourists resorts, the Singapore Botanical Gardens are under threat. This is because of an encroaching number of issues that affect it negatively. For one, environmental issues are top of the list (Hendee, George and Robert, 1978). The issue of littering is quite evident in the resort centre. Visitors litter the place despite there being enough dust bins almost everywhere. This makes the place dirty and disorganized. The issue may make certain people uncomfortable. Of course, no one would like to visit a place which has litter everywhere. Moreover, people make a lot of noise in the resort. Noise pollutes the environment. It makes a place uncomfortable, especially for people who which to relax in a serene environment away from the noise. Noise may deter such visitors from visiting. It may reduce the number of visitors coming significantly.

Secondly, overcrowding is another immense issue affecting the tourist resort centre. Each day, many visitors come to the tourist attraction centre. It becomes even hard to make way into the resort centre while driving because visitors walk on the lanes just to enjoy the unique atmosphere in the resort centre. This is an enormous problem because it may deter crucial visitors who bring finances to the resort centre from entering the gardens (Swarbrooke, 1995)

Thirdly, it appears that visitors are not following rules, even the most basic ones. For instance, people should not roller Skate. However, there are still visitors who roller skate within this resort centre. Moreover, there are issues of noise where visitors make noise inside the gardens. All this culminates in an issue of visitor management. Management of visitors is extremely crucial in a tourist resort centre. This helps to control issues that may affect the park significantly if the management of the park does not regard them with seriousness. The gardens need to be managed with a lot of caution. This helps to ensure sustenance and avoid a case of a flawed reputation on the resort. For this reason, it is essential to undertake steps for reinstating the botanical gardens. Obviously, the botanical gardens have not lost all glory. The management of the gardens should focus on this so as to protect the famous area. It is improper to allow poor visitor management strategies to ruin the reputation of Singapore Botanical Gardens.

Steps to counter the problems experienced in the parks. I, therefore, suggest that serious measures be taken to curb the issue of visitor management. The management and other stakeholders should meet to discuss some of the ways that can help them to solve the problems once and for all. Visitors should learn to conduct themselves in a proper manner, following all the rules. However, if the situation is such as the current one where all visitors do as they wish, this is not progress. It is improper conduct for visitors, for instance, to roller skate when the rules and regulations of the Botanical Gardens are clear that no one should roller skate.

Strategies

I recommend that the management starts by modifying the timing of use. This step is stringent and will allow quick recovery of the affected areas. To start with, the management should ban visitors for some time. This is to allow for the recovery process.  It requires consultation and management will have time to clean up the park. For instance, the management cannot just wake up and introduce entry fees. This may be unfair to visitors because they have not been informed. The management may give a deadline for free entries. It should inform the public about this through posters, newspapers adverts, tv and radio and other available advertisement techniques. The management should also encourage the use of the resort centre only during peak days (Glasson, Kerry and Brian, 995). 1This is to give time for clean ups and modifications. For instance, the resort centre may be closed on certain days. This will lead to a cleaner environment.

Moreover, I recommend that all visitors start paying some fee before gaining entry into the botanical gardens. One of the reasons why there is overcrowding in the park is because the resort does  not charge fees for entry. This encourages many visitors to come. Many of them prefer coming here to have fun instead of paying money to go to another resort. Consequently, this has become a problem for the resort. The issue of overcrowding makes the place appear disorganized. The management should introduce entry fees into the park. This way, it will control the influx of visitors into the resort centre. Moreover, it will also control the issue of noise. The noise in the resort is as a result of presence of extremely many visitors within the tourist resort.

Moreover, I recommend serious measures against people who break rules. It should enforce the rules and impose serious penalties on offenders. If the authorities find any person roller skating, he or she should be escorted out of the resort immediately. This should also happen for those the authorities find littering the compound. Such people should pay fines for littering as it is against the rules. To enforce the rules, the management should make them pubic. This includes putting them on the internet. It allows the public to see. The resort’s website should make the public aware of the rules and regulations governing the resort centre. Moreover, sign posts should be strategically put in the resort centre.

I also recommend that the management modifies the use and behavior of visitors. For instance, it may introduce some ethics. It should start teaching the public how to behave ethically while in the park. The management should not assume that people are mature enough and for this reason will be responsible while in the premises. It should make it a custom to teach people some practices. For instance, visitors should be provided with leaflets contains some of the ethical ways of conduct while within the premises.

Recommendations

The management should hire a higher number of guards in the park. These people will guide people on the proper ways of conduct while within the park. They will help to make sure that visitors are conversant with the rules and regulations of the park. The resort should also hire cleaners to help in the clean up exercise as fast as possible.

Moreover, I recommend that the resort includes a list of their fees. The resort’s website should reflect an updated version of the price lists. This will make clear to the public that the policies have changed. On the same note, the resort should use its website to educate people on some of the new rules that the resort has enforced. Such include rules concerning littering of the compound.

I also recommend that the company employs authorities to check the conduct of visitors while in the park. For instance, a visitor that authorities find littering the compound should be penalized by paying a charge. This will discourage them from committing the offence in the future as it is against the rules.

I also recommend an afforestation effort. This will help to restore the trees that have dried up and lost after losing leaves. This will conserve the resort for the sake of the future. The resort should plant more trees, therefore, as part of this initiative.

I also recommend that all visitors coming into the park should have a permit. If a visitor violates any of the rules, the permit should be cancelled. This help to control the number of visitors coming into the park. It also helps to check on the conduct of visitors during their stay in the resort.

Singapore Botanical Gardens should also introduce barriers in the park. These are barriers that restrict the movement of people beyond certain zones. For instance, the resort may declare that the only people that it allows beyond the barrier are people who come driving. This will help to control the issue of overcrowding in the park (Shakley and Myra, 1998).