Tourism Industry in Australia - Essay Example

Contents Introduction Sunshine Coast 3 Gold Cost 4 Domestic Comparison 5 International Comparison 6 Revenues Sources 6 Conclusion 6 References 8 Introduction The continuous struggle for racing up ahead today is not just an individual phenomenon, but even nations are going through cut throat competition in terms of acquiring resources, building infrastructure and ensuring that their currency keeps on appreciating. The sole purpose of making all these strategies is to push up the country’s economy; since, in this age the nation with the best economy can rule over the world. Moreover, the fruits of a surged up economy are also bestowed upon a country’s citizens in the form of higher standards of living, better education, and higher purchasing power and so on. Therefore, governments take great steps to enhance the GDP of their country. Money flowing into different industries of a country eventually translates into an increased GDP and higher economic results. One of the industries of a country that needs to flourish is the Tourism Industry. The reason is that this industry attracts the money of foreign investors or residents, and it flows in the financial system of the country that is providing tourism opportunities. This rule is not an exception in the case of Australia. Australia’s tourism activities range from accommodations and car hires to cruise operation and theme parks and major attraction operations. In the year 2005-2006, private businesses spent $840 million on the marketing of tourism related activities; this was a 9.9% increase over year 2003-2004 marketing expenditure. Among this, most of the expenses were accounted to marketing targeted at the domestic travelers (74%), compared to international travelers which accumulated up to 26%1. In the year ended 2009, the industry experienced an Internal Consumption of $92,003 Million, comprising primarily of International consumption of $23,546 Million and a domestic consumption of $68,456 Million. The figures also show that more focus is given to domestic travelers relative to international holiday makers. The total direct tourism inflow to the GDP in the system came out to be $32,828 Million in 20092. The tourism contributed a total of 2.6% of the GDP in the year ended 2009; which was a decrease of 0.2% compared to the previous year. The reason behind this was that the Australian economy boosted up, and more people travelled overseas rather than internally, which created a plunge in the value of Tourism industry. Australian economy basically measures the effect of tourism activities by the demand that is created by the travelers and the tourism products and services by the domestic producers. The biggest chunk of the tourism activities that contribute to the GDP are accommodations, long distance passenger transportation, air, water travel, restaurants and cafes, and these account for 55.9% of total tourism consumption in year 2009. Tourism, apart from economic impact has cultural bearings too. It paves way for cultural interchange between different set of people and communities. Travelers from other cities of Australia or foreign visitors when select a particular area to explore, also inject cash into the city’s financial system; moreover, it can be a factor for pride for the people of that community that their city has been chosen for tourist activities. The city’s hotels and restaurants can cash in on the visitors’ money, in addition to providing them with memorable experiences. Among Australia’s best tourism related areas, two are the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast. Even though the main objective of both the coasts is to attract holiday makers and provide leisure and fun activities, the approach used by both is quite different. Where the former positions itself as a place where people can relax, get their ‘personal space’ and hide away from life’s tensions; the latter embarks on providing a place filled with exciting and fun activities, an action packed holiday complete with thrilling rides and surfs. This is the biggest difference when comparing the two coasts. Although both the coasts promise to offer a good sun basking, water surfing and beautiful tropical rain forests to its visitors. Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast offers ‘pristine’ sand beaches, peaceful environment and comfort of picture-perfect accommodations suited for the visitor’s needs. The Coast targets people who are looking to vanish from their tiresome, tedious routines for a few days, and thus grant them a promising offer of complete rejuvenation and days filled with relaxing spa activities, kayaking, camping, fishing and ensuring the enjoyment of nature by quiet walks and serene lush rainforests. Moreover, delicious cuisines where people can go for romantic dinners and rhythmic music, golf courses and diving are also part of the experience. If Sunshine Coasts’ promotional activities and brochures are seen, they depict serene forests with leisure walks, couples enjoying sun bathing, or a quiet swim in the waters, families eating out and shopping. The focus of this coast is more towards Nature and bringing a soothing effect for its customers. People who would enjoy this place most would include couples, families, individuals who are looking for a hideout and aged or retired people. It also has zoos, sanctuaries and large aquariums for the amusement of kids. The major attractions that the coast offers are things like Epiphany Mobile Massage, which is massage at the accommodation place of the customer, and Sunshine Trike Tours3 that give a tour of the sandy beaches and rainforests. If the kind of events that this coast arranges be analyzed it can be seen that they focus more on events such as Sunshine Coast Home Show and Lifestyle Expo where visitors can do shopping and have fun in a pleasant way. All these marketing activities depict how the Sunshine Coast has capitalized on the pleasant and soft side of nature, providing its customers a haven of relaxation and pure serenity and calm. This is how the coast projects itself in its marketing promotional activities, be it their brochures, website content or the kind of vocabulary they use to describe their place. Gold Cost As opposed to Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast offers exciting and a thrilling holiday for its visitors. The positioning of Gold Coast changes the scenario in the mind of its potential customers completely through its promotions. Anyone who is looking for a complete adrenaline-pumped holiday would opt for the Gold Coast. The Coast offers amusement parks, exhilarating and recreational water activities like canoeing and surfing, as well as dance clubs and chic bars for night life. Moreover, in addition to this, it also has a sub-tropical climate, natural rainforests, and beaches. The Gold Coast arranges events such as the Armor all Gold Coast 600, which is a racing competition among super engine cars including rock concerts and the BMW Magic Millions Raceday, also a racing competition. The place does not only provide adventurous events for men but also glamorous fun filled days and nights for women too, like the Gold Coast Turf Club for Ladies Only. Attractions such as Whale Watching, Dracula’s Haunted House, jet boating and Infinity’s multidimensional maze are offered by this coast. The type of promotional positioning that this coast depicts in their posters, pictures, website are mostly targeted for young, energetic, thrill finders who want to pump up their adrenaline levels and enjoy their holidays to the maximum. For this purpose their age group would mostly be targeted around 20 to 40 age bracket, with people who have a high income level so they can afford to spend the holidays. Race or creed are not factors for segmentation of the target market and so people from various different cultures and walks of life can be seen on coastal islands. This coast, along with latest infrastructure and technological rides; have also been bestowed with an unrivalled coastline surrounded by a shroud of thick rainforests. Thus, along with amusing rides and events, people can also enjoy the blessings of nature at this coastal city. The results of the Gold Coasts attraction can be judged by the fact that the average length of stay for foreign visitors to this place has increased over last year due to an enhanced working holiday class. This accumulated to 21% of international visitors in the year ended March 20104. Domestic Comparison On a domestic level, the comparison between the two coasts revealed that in the year ended March 2010, Gold Coast experienced a decline of 2% in visitors on an annual basis, and with a Holiday people with up to 62% of total visitors; whereas Sunshine Coast had a decline of 8% in annual visitors and Holiday makers comprising 63% of the total visitors5. Thus, Gold Coast boasts of a comparatively higher share of visitors. International Comparison On an international level, the comparison between the two coasts is such that, Gold Coast experienced an annual increase of 5% in Visitors, and the holiday makers making up 80% of total visitors. However, sunshine coast had 0% change in visitors over last year, and the holiday makers made 79% of total visitors to the coast. Thus, this results in a 42% of share for Gold Coast, and a 14% share of sunshine Coast to total visitors. This means that Gold Coast attracts more international customers than Sunshine Coast. Revenues Sources It can also be seen that most of the revenue comes from holiday makers to these coasts, since the percentages are highest for the holiday makers among the total visitors. For Sunshine Coast this makes up 63% for domestic and 79% of international visitors of the total visitors to the area. For Gold Coast the figures are 62% domestic and 80% international visitors out of the total customers visiting the area in the year ended March 2010. Conclusion Revenue does not only flow in the form of visitors’ cash money who purchase products or services from the local markets and domestic manufacturers; but also in the form of foreign direct investment that is the investors’ money who set up their businesses in these cities, or even the tourism operators, who invest money and build up casinos, restaurants or shopping malls for the holiday makers. In this way, money flows into the system and adds up eventually to the GDP of the country. For tourism to have contributed to 2.6% to the national GDP of Australia, which is relatively less than previous year, it can be safely assumed that Australia has the potential to increase its share of tourism related activities and reap the benefits in the form of a higher GDP. Moreover, it is also observed that accommodation and air, water, bus travel and transportation are two of the highest revenue generators among all the components of tourism revenue creators. Thus, it is crucial to see the factors of growth that drive the demand for these components. One of them is that air fares and exchange rates determine the amount of business and leisure travelers; and if any one of these two rises, the number of incoming travelers decreases, bringing a negative impact on the tourism revenue. The prices of the hotel rooms in the country also reflect the level of tourists that might visit the country or cities. This is because the hospitality industry and the tourism industry are very much interlinked, and the prices of both determine the revenues that the other would get in a particular year. Another factor is the level of disposable income of the leisure segment of Australia. If this income level is high, then people would have more cash to spend on their recreational activities; however, given the current scenario of financial crisis that has plagued all the nations, the levels of interest, inflation and food prices have gone so high that the disposable income have mostly been used up by people. Therefore, that is also one of the major reasons why the tourism industry faced a plunge in their revenue compared to last year. The comparative analysis of the two coasts, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast determined how both of them being in the same tourism industry targeted different set of people, through varying events and attraction tours of the cities. However, the level of visitors is higher to Gold Coast compared to Sunshine Coast. Moreover, Gold Coast boasts of about 348 establishments in its area, including accommodation and eateries, where as Sunshine Coast has 3056. References 1. Tourism Fact Sheets, The Social and Cultural Impacts of Tourism. http://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/5_Gawler_Impacts_Tourism.PDF 2. Tourism Marketing Expenditure, Australia, 2005-06  http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8691.0 3. Australian National Accounts: Tourism Satellite Account, 2008-09   http://www.abs.gov.au/AusStats/ABS@.nsf/Latestproducts/5249.0Main%20Features22008-09?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=5249.0&issue=2008-09&num=&view= 4. Tourism Industry, Facts and Figures. http://businessgc.com.au/index.php?page=Tourism-Facts-and-Figures 5. Tourism Industry, Tourism. http://businessgc.com.au/index.php?page=tourism 6. Gold Coast Regional Snapshot, Tourism Queensland. Year ended March 2010. http://www.tq.com.au/fms/tq_corporate/research/destinationsresearch/gold_coast/10%20March%20Regional%20Snapshot%20Gold%20Coast.pdf 7. http://businessgc.com.au/uploads/Tourism%20Industry%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf 8. http://www.verygoldcoast.com.au 9. http://www.visitsunshinecoast.com.au 10. The Australian hotel industry - Econometric demand forecasting, by Rutger Smits. http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=16267_0_11_0_C 11. Tourist Accommodation Data Sheet , Year Ended March 2010. http://www.tq.com.au/fms/tq_corporate/research%20%28NEW%29/Summary%20Visitor%20Statistics/09%20December%20Tourist%20Accommodation%20Data%20Sheet.pdf Read More