Tourism of Byron Bay in New South Wales, Australia - Research Paper Example

Tourism of Byron Bay in New South Wales, Australia Introduction Tourism is increasingly being considered as one of the leading and largest industries all over the world being focused upon building the attractions of relatively immaculate natural environment on a global basis. According to World Tourism Organization (WTO), tourism involves the activities of an individual travelling and staying in outside locations from their domestic environment for less than one successive year throughout which they attempt to enjoy leisure times availing recreational services. Individuals who are learnt to travel for business and other purposes are also considered as tourists (Tourism Online Resource Centre, 2009). Hence, various destinations have been emerging as tourist attractions all around the world possessing unique features and offerings for tourism. Byron Bay is a city which is situated near beach area in New South Wales, Australia. The town is situated 772 kilometres from north of Sydney as well as 165 kilometres from south of Brisbane. The town consists of several beaches which are quite popular for boat surfing. It is recognised as a resort which is admired by both domestic as well as international tourists. Tourism policies in South West Australia have been characterised by reactive responses towards the need for income opportunities, especially concerning the rural communities with the hope that tourism will endorse regional development as well as help in restructuring the domestic economy. It is in this context that there exist many groups of stakeholders such as government agencies, maintenance groups, developers and domestic residents who play an influencing role in determining the excellence of the tourist destination. The primary aim of these stakeholders is to attain growth and development in the tourism management of Australia (Jenkins & Michael, 1993). Tourism Policy Making and Strategic Planning In 1998, a “National Plan for Tourism” was discharged by the Federal government of Australia to deliver the direction of Tourism policy formulation as well as industry strategy planning. The measures comprised within the plan aims to address the obstacles caused from sectoral growth seeking to protect Australia’s reputation as an excellent tourist destination. The main purpose of this plan has been to develop prospective for rising markets through implementing objective as well as customer-centric marketing strategies, promoting development of provincial tourism, increasing industrial standard as well as ability levels, developing information in relation to tourism industry, strengthening Australia’s reflection as a safe and gracious tourist destination and supporting the development of well-organized and aggressive transportation network (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003). It is in this regard that the Australian tourism industry have been learnt to contribute largely upon the aspects of job creation, export earning and regional development since the past few decades. According to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in the year 2001-2002, tourism provided 4.5% of Australia’s Gross Domestic product (GDP) facilitating a total consumption of AUS$ 70.8 billion by the tourists as well as direct employment of about 5.9% Australians (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003). Furthermore, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), tourism industry generated more than 11.2% of total export in 2001; hence emerging as the largest export earner within the service sector. However, comparative to other countries, Australian tourism sector has been largely affected by the events which resulted in the collapse of the domestic airline carriers and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003). Thus, with due consideration to these aspects, the Australian government has been dedicated towards augmenting the net economic contribution made by tourism sector to the economy developing it as an industry that endorses the values, environmental responsibilities as well as sustainable developments (Australian Government Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, n.d.). The Main Concepts and Issues Relating To Tourism Policy, Strategy and Sustainability In the recent instances, the federal government of Australia have been facing bilateral as well as multilateral tourism issues. Department of Industry Tourism and Research (DITR) works closely with the various industrial tourism sectors regarding these issues in alliance with other governmental organizations for developing the industry in Australia. However, there are various issues which are faced by Byron Bay Tourism Policy (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003). For instance, local government of Australia is positioned at the centre of the policy space related to decision making procedure concerning tourism activities. A lack of clarity in the roles as well as the responsibilities of stakeholders in tourism policy development can also be witnessed in the context of Byron Bay. Furthermore, in Australia, limited emphasis has been rendered towards the implementation of a consistent network to develop tourism management events with future growth prospects. The Role and Responsibilities of Government in Tourism The Federal government of Australia is the main stakeholder as well as policy maker of the nation’s tourism industry. Therefore, DITR takes the responsibility for delivering policy advice to the Federal Minister for Industry, Tourism & Resources, and the Minister for Small Business & Tourism. DITR is also responsible for formulating as well as executing the federal policies and developing various programs which direct the tourism growth towards better growth opportunities. It also provides significant emphasis on national coordination related issues concerning major tourism events as well as quality issues regarding industry products (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003). Responsibilities of the Tourism division regarding policy matters fundamentally relates to niche product expansion as well as constant tourism services being availed to the domestics and international tourist. Stakeholders also take the responsibilities for enhancing the industry standard in Australian tourism sector. Moreover they also attempt to improve transport facilities by advancing tourism interests in terms of negotiation. Furthermore, the aforementioned stakeholders also seek for reducing tourism taxation economic issues prevailing with the domestic market (Australia), and international tourism issues regarding multilateral and bilateral agreements with the sole intention facilitate the development of the tourism industry (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003). It is worth mentioning in this regard that Byron Shire Council is the main stakeholder for Byron Bay tourism industry. At a domestic government level, Byron Shire Council has been observed to be primarily collaborated with the New South Wales (NSW) tourism commission to improve the applied and planned tourism strategies for Byron Bay. In 1990, Byron Shire Council consigned a tourism policy concerning development and destination management which has been considered as a “Zone of Symbolic Action”. In 1996 this council committed that the tourism industry will be considered in the “Zone of Difference” thereby facilitating its growth by a large extent (Wray, 2009). The Processes Required At the National, Regional, Destination and Site Level of Policy Making and Planning Processes The procedure for organizing tourism plans at the national as well as regional levels is based on the sustainable, integrated as well as strategic approaches. Sustainable Approach: The fundamental approach applied in tourism panning as well as other type of progressive strategies is acknowledged as attaining sustainable development. The sustainable development approach entails that the cultural, natural and other resources of tourism are preserved for continuous utilization in future. This approach for tourism planning process is intensely significant as most of the tourism growth and improvement depends on attraction as well as activities which are related to natural environment, historic heritage and cultural pattern of areas (Byron Bay, New South Wales). An important aspect of sustainable approaches is based on community tourism. This approach of tourism focuses on community participation in the planning and development process as well as developing the tourism types which assists to allocate benefits for local communities. It implements techniques to make sure that most of the advantages of tourism development are accumulated by the domestic residents rather than the outsiders (World Tourism, n.d.). Integrated Approach: An essential concept in tourism planning process is that tourism should be viewed as a unified system of demand and supply aspects. The demand aspects are thus observed as emerging from international as well as domestic markets by a large extent. The supply factor involves tourist attractions being offered with facilities related to accommodation, cuisine and other similar amenities. Contextually, attraction in tourist destinations comprises cultural as well as natural environment and unique types of attributes such as zoos, theme parks and others. Accommodation comprises hotels and guest houses where tourist can reside for overnights (World Tourism, n.d.). Strategic Approach: Tourism development planning process should be prepared for relatively long-term periods, usually 10-15 years which depends on future estimation of events in the country or region. Long term planning is concerned with specific goals and objectives which further tend to determine the growth patterns expected in the future. However, it should be mentioned in this regard that the outcome of this strategic as well as long range comprehensive planning is focused on recognizing and declaring immediate issues. Hence, it can be affirmed that strategic planning is majorly emphasised on learning the changes to be witnessed in the future situation, likewise deciphering the relative solutions to deal with the changes organizationally (World Tourism, n.d.). The Legislative and Governmental Aspects of Tourism Policy, Planning and Sustainability The government of New South Wales (NSW) has created a range of policy and legislative initiatives to enhance opportunities for frequent visitors who tend to avail the tourism facilities in Australia. These are aimed towards implementing the findings of the “NSW Taskforce on Tourism and National Parks” and also helps for the progression towards NSW state plan target attaining a 20% increase on park visitation by 2016. The taskforce report emphasized that sustainable natural tourism park and reserves can be regarded as a useful tool in the protection and management of reserved areas minimising the negative effects of tourism on environment. ‘Living Park’ strategy is also identified as one of the valued national park and other preserved resources established under NPW Act (NSW Government, 2011). In Australia there are 791 domestic governmental bodies comprising 97 native community councils. There is huge diversity among these local government areas where the most populous area is identified as Brisbane City (Queensland), which includes the population of 90,000 and Silverton Village (NSW) with 58 residents. The major role of domestic government has been identified as a service provider which focuses on three aspects of tourism, such as transportation, tourism taxation rate and cleanliness of cities which attract tourists (Dredge & et. al., 2006). Goals and Objectives of Tourism Plan The goals and objectives of tourism policies applied in Byron Bay are concerned towards the development of the nation and the lifestyle of the citizens as well as the enhancement of the positive advantages in relation to tourism activities. It is in this context that the South Australian Strategic tourism plan targets to enhance visitor expenditure in the national tourism industry from AUS$ 3.7 billion in 2002 to AUS$6.3 billion by 2014. The state government and South Australian Tourism industry has been therefore focused to minimise this gap by increasing the number of visitors as well as providing the amenities so that tourists can be served with highly satisfactory services. Moreover, the objectives of this policy is to involve communities extensively with the virtues of effective planning, development and marketing of products as well as services enduring goals and objectives for the future growth of the national tourism industry. In Australia the main purposes and objectives of this tourism planning process is to attract more number of tourists annually by rendering better services to the potential customers as well as improving the economic conditions of the country and consequentially enhancing revenue earned by the tourism industry (Government of South Australia, 2009). The Processes and Varying Approaches Involved In Tourism Development There are various processes which are involved in tourism development such as integrated, strategic and sustainable approaches. All these approaches are applied when tourism planning process is made on regional as well as national level. For developing, planning is the key aspect by which tourism industry can set and attain the determined objectives. However, various approaches have been developed in the planning phase of Byron Bay tourism sector such as integration, conventional, interactive, and collaborative (Andriotis, 2012). This below figure replicates the entire tourism planning procedure which helps to develop the tourism industry by a considerable extent. Figure: Components of Tourism Planning Process Source: (Andriotis, 2012) Conclusion From the overall study it can be concluded that tourism industry makes its position all over the world continuously trying to expand as well as develop its competencies by applying various strategies and approaches. Australian tourism also takes innovative measures in order to facilitate growth of the tourism industry by a considerable extent. It is in this context that tourism is increasingly being considered as one of the main sources by which social as well as economic condition of Byron Bay can be improved within the national tourism industry of Australia. With this concern, Australian government has been observed to undertake various approaches and planning processes to develop the tourism industry. New South Wales government have also organized various programs to maintain the natural as well as social environment, so that more numbers tourist can be attracted from a long-term perspective. References Australian Government Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, No Date. Enhancing Australia’s Economic Prosperity. Tourism. [Online] Available at: http://www.ret.gov.au/tourism/Pages/Tourism.aspx [Accessed September 6, 2012]. Andriotis, K., 2012. Introduction. Tourism Planning. [Online] Available at: http://www.angelfire.com/ks/andriotis/Chapter3.pdf [Accessed September 6, 2012]. Byron Shire Council, 2009. Tourism Management Plan. Australian Regional Tourism Research Centre, pp. 1-56. Dredge, D. & et. al., 2006. Achieving Sustainable Local Tourism Management Phase 1- Practitioner Guide. Sustainable Tourism [Online] Available at: http://www.sustainabletourismonline.com/awms/Upload/Resource/bookshop/Dredge_LTM%20Ph%201%20PracGuide.pdf [Accessed September 6, 2012]. Government of South Australia, 2009. South Australian Tourism Plan. Tourism. [Online] Available at: http://www.tourism.sa.gov.au/tourism/plan/Tourism_Plan_09-14.pdf [Accessed September 6, 2012]. Jenkins, J. M. & Michael, J., 1993. Tourism Policy in Rural New South Wales – Policy and Research Priorities. University of Central Queensland, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 281-290. NSW Government, 2011. Sustainability Guidelines for visitor use and tourism in NSW national parks. Resources. [Online] Available at: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/protectedareas/20100980SustainabilityGuidelines.pdf [Accessed September 6, 2012]. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003. National Tourism Policy Review of Australia. Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry. [Online] Available at: http://www.oecd.org/australia/33649329.pdf [Accessed September 6, 2012]. Scribd Inc., 2012. Tour-310. Tourism Policy and Planning Notes. [Online] Available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/45539109/Tourism-policy-and-planning-notes [Accessed September 6, 2012]. Tourism Online Resource Centre, 2009. Definition of Tourism. World Tourism Organization. [Online] Available at: http://torc.linkbc.ca/torc/downs1/WTOdefinitiontourism.pdf [Accessed September 6, 2012]. Wray, M., 2009. Policy communities, networks and issue cycles in tourism destination systems. Journal of Sustainable Tourism Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 673–690. World Tourism, No Date. National and Regional Tourism Planning. Products. [Online] Available at: http://pub.world-tourism.org/WebRoot/Store/Shops/Infoshop/Products/1015/1015-1.pdf [Accessed September 6, 2012]. Bibliography Byron Shire Council, 2002. Greenprint for a Sustainable Future. Byron Bay and Suffolk Park Settlement Strategy, pp. 1-70. Edgell, D. L. & et. al., 2008. Tourism Policy and Planning: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Routledge. Tonge, R. & et. al. 2002. Byron Shire Tourism Management. Byron Shire Council Tourism New South Wales, pp. 1-41. Read More