Introduction of location and discussion of main themes

Discuss about the International Tourism System for Commerce and Management Studies.

The location chosen for the current assignment is Sydney which has recently gained importance, as one of the important tourist destinations of Australia.  Sydney also serves as an important cultural centre of the country. It harbours some of the most important tourist spots such as the opera house, harbour bridge, Sydney Mardi Gras, royal botanical gardens, Luna Park, the beaches and the Sydney tower. The Sydney opera house has an iconic Australian image and serves as one of the most important performing arts venues in the world hosting stage shows which attracts talent from all across the world (Anwar 2016).

For the purpose of tourism promotion the New South Wales government has placed importance upon some of the basic tourism promotional projects such as – Brand Sydney and Visit Sydney. The Brand Sydney refers to strengthening the image and appeal of Sydney whereas the Visit Sydney program aims at strengthening of dedicated business units to tourism. Some of the core themes identified for Sydney tourism are- iconic attractions, food and wine, style- fashion and shopping, national parks and green spaces, beaches, arts and cultural experiences etc. The major shopping centres are open seven days a week where people come for shopping from across the world (destinationnsw.com.au 2018). The opera house shows are a mix of many different cultures whereas Sydney harbours some of the most exciting beaches in the world such as Bondi Beach, Bronte Beach, Gordons Bay etc.

Sydney serves as one of the major tourist destinations of Australia due to its cultural significance. It consists of a number of numbers of major tourists spots such as the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Royal Botanical Gardens. In this respect, some of the official statistics could be taken into consideration for analysis of the tourist’s visitation to Sydney.  Sydney received over 9.9 million domestic overnight visitors on year-end 2016. The  number of  domestic  overnight trip on year end  eve  to New  South Wales increase by upto 22.8  percent  in four years (destinationnsw.com.au  2018).

In recent studies the purpose of the visits has been evaluated such as 35.2% visits were made to friends or relatives, business visits made 33.2% of the annual visits and holiday visits made 24.4% (cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au 2018). The  region wise demographics could be mentioned over  here such as New  South Wales was the largest  tourist attractor in Sydney  with a percentage of  39.35 followed by  Victoria  at 20.6% and Queensland  at 14.9% (destinationnsw.com.au  2018).The age wise distribution of visitors  could be mentioned over  here such as visitors within the age group of 15 to 29 comprised  of 21.3% followed by visitors within the age group  of 40-49 years  at 20.4% and 50-59 age group  at 18.3% (destinationnsw.com.au 2018).

Analysis of tourist visitation

The tourists visitations were further supported by a number of factors such as living accommodation in Sydney, travel costs etc. Relatives property comprised of 45.0% of the living accommodation, luxury 4 or 5-star hotels comprised of 17.2 % of the living accommodation, whereas the below 4 start hotels comprise of 14.8% of the living accommodations (cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au 2018). On an average, visitors to Sydney would spend on average $272 per night. The domestic visitors to Sydney comprise of 26.8 million whereas the international visitors comprised of 76.3 million in the year 2016/17.

There are a number of factors which serve as the main tourist attraction in Sydney.  Sydney  has  been the  centre for  Olympics  which  invites  a  huge number  of tourists  to the city (Peng et al. 2014). The city of Sydney had been emphasising upon the development of core professional services. Some of these are with regards to health and hospitality infrastructure as these contribute as the main supporting services.

The New South Wales government has taken some of its tourism objectives seriously such as brand Sydney and Visit Sydney. Under some of these major tourism themes the NSW government places sufficient importance upon infrastructure and making them available at cost-effective prices. From a number of studies conducted, some of the major themes which have been highlighted over here are – couture, diversity, food, fashion, great tourist sports. Sydney has always been a great fusion of culture as people all across the world from different races and culture have been visiting the centre (Boniface et al. 2016).  At the same time, the city of Sydney holds on to its unique cultural heritage, this makes it a   tourist attraction. The unique plays and stage shows at the Sydney opera house attracts admirers of art and literature from all over the world.  Additionally, the   vast number of beaches at Sydney is big crowd pullers. The Sydney street side food is great hit among the culinary lovers. Some of the famous streets delicacies are- dry Phnom Penh noodles, banh mi thit (pork roll filled with pate), sweet hot dug style bun. Therefore, apart  from  the tourists  spots  Sydney has some of the best fashion stores  where visitors  come from across the world such as  forcast, Ally fashion,  cream on king, etc (cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au 2018). 

There are a number of issues related to Sydney tourism some of which has been described over here such as lack of initiative from the government along with lack of funds. In this respect, the lack of funds can act as a huge barrier, as it is directly related to infrastructural development.   The funds could be generated from a number of state as well as private sources. As mentioned by Nunkoo (2015), by Sydney serves as one of the major business attractions of the world. Hence, a lot of investments are made by business companies globally for development of business franchises in Sydney as a large number of tourists visiting the centre can give the business a major boost.

Attractiveness of the destination to tourists

There are a number of issues related to tourism some of which have been highlighted over here such as more number of Australians are choosing to travel internationally instead of domestically, the high value   of the Australian dollar makes it a costly and pricey holiday destination, the global economic downturn impacts upon business and leisure trips, increased competition from new tourists markets in Asia Pacific region (Tang 2015). The international travel choice of the citizen reduces the generation of products from domestic tourism. The high value of Australian dollars makes global tourists settle for more cost-effective options. Additionally, there are a number of local issues, which affects adequate profit generation from tourism. Some of these are shortage in hotel accommodation within the city, the   growing demand for eco-tourism, lack of innovative strategies to attract time visitors.  As mentioned by Gretzel et al (2015), much innovation is required in this aspect to attract the first time, visitors. As supported by Zaitseva  et al. (2016), accommodation development is one of the important attributes of tourism development as the growing number of tourists puts additional pressure on the accommodation facilities.

Some of the other issues which could be highlighted over here are improper public investments. Therefore the government should focus on increasing the investment in tourism industry as much of the success of the tourism industry is dependent on infrastructure. The lack of effective destination marketing also serves as a limitation. Hence, the NSW government needs to focus on some objectives such as brand promotion.  As mentioned by Benur and Bramwell (2015), implementing marketing gimmicks such as the use of celebrity for brand advertisements can help in pulling fist time tourists.

 It has been noted that more number of people are travelling abroad in search of better jobs or opportunities. Since the emigration rate is high compared to the immigration rate, the returns from domestic tourism are less.  As mentioned by Joshi et al.  (2017), improving the job opportunities would also help in the attraction of more jobseekers from the outside countries which could help in the increase of the human resources. As suggested by Espiner and Becken (2014), the establishment of tourism business relationship can help in attracting large-scale visitors from different countries along with giving them the best in the class experiences. As mentioned by Komppula (2014), the integration of tourism business objectives within two more countries can help in the development of the tourist infrastructure.

In the broader light, there are a number of issues related to tourism development. Some of which have been highlighted over here as follows- degradation of natural resources due to constant tourism activities,  underdeveloped infrastructure which cannot support major influx of visitors, weak promotion of cultural objectives, non-competitive price ratios resulting poor or insufficient generation of revenues.  As mentioned by Kuš?er  et al. (2017), the lack of funds from the government hinders the development of tourist information software along with insufficient security tools such as drones could lead to security concerns. As mentioned by Komppula (2014), the destination development does not get much boost due to lack of sufficient awareness regarding the economic contributions of tourism. The lack of integrated approach to tourism development often hinders the development of Particular destinations. As argued by Carneiro et al. (2018), the weak promotion of cultural objectives often results in failure in destination development.  For the optimum development of a tourist destination sufficient support and cooperation is required from the government. In the lack of sufficient cooperation, none of the business organizations visiting the place of interest could establish their business activities. 

Issues related to tourism and destination development

There are a number of positive as well as negative impacts of tourism activity. Some of which have been described with respect to Sydney. Tourism has been seen as one of the major sources of a boost to the economy as it primarily serves as a means of foreign exchange which could be used by the company for the development of its own resource (Gursoy et al. 2017).  In this respect, the annual light and sound show organised at the Sydney opera house attract a huge number of global business leaders which results in the creation of sufficient job opportunities for the Australian population. Tourism has been seen as one of the major contributing factors to the economy of Sydney. Hence, tourism objectives have been aligned with the objectives of economic development of the city. One such comprehensive plan for development undertaken by the city is Sustainable Sydney 2030 (australia.com 2018). The plan sets out a series of actions which could aid in achieving a green and globally connected city. As mentioned by Mowforth and Munt (2015), the global connectivity has been applied with the aim of setting up an effective linkage between community, liveability, creativity, innovation and productivity.  Since tourism acts as a major contributing factor towards economic development a number of major initiatives could be implemented over here such as maximizing the number of visitors through favouring the development of tourism infrastructure and marketing of Sydney tourism objectives to a wider audience (Coghlan 2015).

However, there are a number of negative impacts of tourism such as security concerns attached to the huge number of tourists from various nations visiting the city main cultural centres. As mentioned by Throsby (2016), terrorism concerns may be attached with the huge number tourists coming from across the world as there has been increased in incidences of theft, murders amidst crowded places on special occasion. Additionally, there are concerns related to biodiversity preservation as large inflow of tourists from different nations amidst reduced accommodation facilities can put a stress on the basic resources.The tourism activities could also be associated with a number of negative impacts such as leakage, decline of traditional and seasonal employment and increased costs of living. As mentioned by Wang and Chen (2015), leakage could be mentioned as a phenomenon when money is lost from a destination area. This could be mainly attributed to situations where the hotels operating within the local areas are owned and controlled by outside countries so that the profit shares are taken away. Tourism development can lead to the loss of traditional jobs such as farming, forestry, mining and fishing. Seasonal unemployment can also be a problem as during the Sydney Olympics in the year 2000 many people shifted from the farming industry to the hotel and hospitality industry due to the lack of jobs (cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au 2018). The seasonal influx of visitors may result in rise in prices of basic goods and commodities resulting in the local people to have to pay more. Therefore, it is on the part of the government to maintain sufficient equilibrium within the tourism activities and practices which puts little pressure on the local biodiversity or the basic local resources.

Therefore, the main aim over here is to develop a culturally, environmentally and economically sound tourism activity. For example, in this regard, a number of business and cultural centres had been set up by the Australian government which would help in the generation of sufficient cultural awareness.  Additionally, the small business activities conducted through these cultural centres help in the generation of additional profits (destinationnsw.com.au 2018). Some of these could help in the strengthening of the internal infrastructure. For instance, a large number of government buildings and monuments have been found in dilapidated conditions which had resulted in reduction of tourist’s interests in older Sydney. Therefore, some of these restoration activities could promote destination development. 

In order to achieve sustainable tourism a number of policies could be implemented. The implications of these policies have been discussed in the present context. A strategic approach to policymaking could help in achieving positive outcomes. The strategically formulated goals and directions provide clear directions regarding the long and short-term growth of tourism (Bouchon and Rawat 2012). The policy development places importance upon the specific tools or combination of tools which could be used for sustainable tourism development. Some of the tools are stakeholder interest and ecological concerns.

Some of the basic considerations which should be taken into consideration for policy making are – the long-term returns on the investments, the sustainability of the cultural and ecological heritage, and optimum promotion of tourism objectives of the location.  However, implementation of effective tourism policies can help in developing sufficient tourism awareness on a national and international basis,   strengthening of the countrywide resources, boosting of economy, integration into wider policy. An effective policy-making consists of important rules and regulations pertaining to tourism which covers the right and the interest of the tourists (Throsby 2016). Additionally, the implementation of an effective policy helps in the prevention of any legal dispute pertaining to tourism activities.

The implementation of the policies helps in clear identification of the roles, function of the public and private sectors and brings them together in an effective manner. The appropriate implementation of the policies should promote economic growth, quality jobs and prosperity for the tourism state concerned. It should use tourism as an engine for inclusive growth thereby mitigating the negative impact of local communities. It can help to enhance the quality and effectiveness of investments in tourism. 

References 

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