Review of the Australian Tourism Industry

In the current era, states and governments are constantly and optimistically looking for ways of raising funds for their nations/ countries. On this note, the tourism and hospitality industry has been seen by most governments as the most lucrative ventures of raising revenue and foreign exchange in particular (Pham Nghiem and Dwyer 2017, p.276). Additionally, the tourism industry has been considered among the best strategies of creating and promoting international allies. As visitors come from other countries, stronger relations and ties are created, which in turn helps in promoting globalization. It has also been noted that the tourism industry in Australia contributes up to 2.7 percent of its GDP and an approximate 4.7 percent employment opportunities as reported by 2012 statistics. This has led to a significant change in the tourism industry in the last few decades due to the fact that more attention is being directed to it. In other words, nations are constantly looking for ways of gaining competitive advantages over other nations in the tourism industry. According to reports, it has been shown that Australia gained a considerable increase in the number of visitors in the year 2016. The increase in visitor numbers has been associated to the increased expenditure in the tourism industry by the Australian government (Tsui and Balli 2017, p.428)

Reports indicate that that there has been a persistent decline in the economic performance of Australia and yet, on the other hand, there are still studies indicating that the increasing performance of the Australian tourism sector. In simple terms, the tourism industry has helped in boosting the Australian economy, more especially the 2015 and 2016 review that showed a significant rise/ boom of the sector (Gardiner Grace and King 2014, p.720). It implies that the country has positively recovered from the initial crisis that was initially affecting the industry and the general outlook in the performance remains the key macro drivers for the country’s development. The Australian tourism industry has greatly benefited from the boost in its performance, having an increase in the number of visitors more particular china and other nations such India, south Korea and the united states among many others. Additionally, the boost also comes from the home tourists within Australia. Researchers have linked the lucrative improvement and development in the Australian tourism to its location proximity, as the country is located next to the growing Asian market as well as safe environment and appealing natural environment (Tsui and Balli 2017, p.429)

Problem Statement

One of the main factors that had initially affected the Australian tourism industry included the world financial crisis as well as the culmination of the mining boom attracting low demands oversea. According the available literatures regarding the global crisis, many businesses and sectors around the world were affected and it took time to recover.

Based on the preceding insight, it is typically true and justifiable that the tourism industry has a significant impact to play in the development of the Australian economy. Having noticed that the industry contributes to a particular portion of the GDP and employing a considerable number of people within the country. The study will therefore aim at further creating a critical understanding of how the Australian tourism sector can supplement the economic performance of the industry. Additionally, the study also aims at investigating the factors limiting the improvement, embracement and development of tourism in Australia

The tourism industry has significantly showed a positive and promising outcome in the future. The sector is currently employing a large number of the Australian nationals approximating to over 4 percent of the total population. This is clearly a good indication that the sector is significantly able to provide even more opportunities for Australia as a nation. In other words, the tourism sector has become a very sensitive segment that requires more attention. Nonetheless, the sector has been under persistent struggles for the last decades on how to improve on its performance both locally and internationally. It was through several policies that a considerable regain and growth is being realized. With such essence, it is distinctive that further research be conducted so as to develop precautionary measures of preventing the industry from going down (Lenzen et al. 2017, p. 295)

Additionally, Australia is located in a proximity that boarders new and upcoming potential markets and Asia in particular. It is therefore important for the country to critically analyse the possible optimistic and most appropriate ways of promoting the country’s tourism sector in the promising market. Of current, technology is diversely changing the trend of trade and it is equally important for the Australian tourism industry to adopt to the latest technology models in order to favourably compete in the tourism and travel sector of the world.

This section clearly and explicably explains the intension for the research study. As it has been noted, the tourism industry plays an important role in the development of Australia. It is therefore of high importance to critically analyse, evaluate and identify the different variables that affect the sector, the possible causes and how it can be addressed. This will help in strategizing, and forecasting the possible remedies that can help in re-addressing the issues. Firstly, it was initially identified that the drawing sector in Australia experienced a continuous decline over the last few decades. The declines have been related to the inadequate effort offered by the various concerned stakeholders in ensuring an ineffective management of the tourism sector. Although a considerable pickup in the performance in the tourism and travel sector has been realized, it is still significant to typically analyse, examine and evaluate initial sources of the decline. The study also intended to critically analyse and evaluate the policies and strategies that have been adopted to help in the improvement of the performance. Holding the fact that there was initially persistent decline, several inapplicable policies could have been integrated into the tourism sector. The investigation will help in the identification of such policies to avoid the repetition of the same in the future.

Research Aims

what is the trend of tourism in Australia and what it indicates for the future of Australia’s tourism sector?

What are the main challenges faced by the tourism sector in Australia?

What are the most optimistic and recommendable remedies for the challenges faced?

What are the opportunities available for the Australian tourism industry to explore so as to maximize its competitive advantage globally?

What are the respective roles meant to be played by the government and the private sector in promoting the tourism industry in Australia?

What are the strategies to be adopted so as to promote indigenous/ local tourism with Australia?

With the aim of having a well strategized report from the research problem, the research questions were formulated to form the research objectives. The study employed attainable, measurable, specific and realist objectives as a strategy of ensuring reliability and dependability of the final research outcome. The following are the research objectives

To understand the trend of tourism in Australia and its implication in the future of the Australian economy

To investigate the challenges faced by the tourism sector in Australia

To cite the possible solutions or remedies for the Australian tourism sector

To point out the available and unexploited opportunities within the Australian tourism industry

To examine the roles of the private and government sectors in the promotion of tourism in Australia

To investigate the ways in which the indigenous tourism can be encouraged or improved within Australia

There are infinitely many research studies which had initially been done in reference to the performance of the tourism sector in Australia. This encompasses a small and relatively small academic reports and a large report base that aimed at policy formulations and amendments dedicated to the policy makers. additionally, the reviews aimed at providing an anticipation and forecast of how the future tourism trend may look like. In other words, the reports aimed at providing a reflection of the forth coming tourism sector and recommending the optimistic policy adaptations that favours the growth through an in-depth analysis. Different views, findings and recommendation have been put forth by different authors. This section will therefore be reviewing some important literature reports related to the topic of the research study from different context (Jarvis Stoeckl and Liu 2016, p.295)

Outbound tourism vs domestic tourism; it has been noted that there is a gradually decreasing number of domestic overnight tourism over the years, as this activity has been altered by the number of tourists travelling oversea. In other words, the research study notes that there has been an alteration from the local tourists attending the local sceneries to opting in travelling overseas/ other nations. This justifies the reason for the stagnant or rather sluggish growth in the number of local tourists in the last one decade, that is to say from 2006 to 2014. Nonetheless, the available statistics indicate that the local tourism activity has the highest share of expenditures which guarantees the potential of creating and maintaining the sustainability of the sector and even promoting the competitive advantage in the market (Pham Nghiem and Dwyer 2018, p.126)

Research Objectives

One of the main questions that have been raised in many research studies is the reasons for the differences in the level of performance between the domestic tourism and the inbound tourism. Preliminary findings associate the difference to the strong growth of the Australian economy which grants its countrymen a high disposable income to spend in the oversea travels and exotic retreats. Nonetheless, this does not provide any justifiable ground in relation to the tourist’s willingness or unwillingness to participate in the indigenous tourism. Keeping in mind that the tourism industry is continually boosting the Australian economy, it is a reasonable ground for the concerned authorities of the Australian government to conduct an in-depth survey to investigate the potential causes of the increasing number of the indigenous tourists going overseas irrespective of the beautiful sceneries left at home. This will provide the remedies of boosting the sector foe even a more lucrative performance. still on the domestic and outbound tourism, researchers have attempted to create a substitution relationship so as to establish the core grounds on which the differences are anchored. Lim (2017) used a series of equations relating the two variables and the result of the findings anticipates a significant substitution attributed by a series factors among which included the tourism culture within the country and the average disposable income of the locals. Dwyer et al. (2016), preferred to use an attribution-based theory in behaviour to evaluate the trend of behaviour among the domestic tourist. This study revealed that there is no specific cause for the local tourist to travel overseas as variant factors were highlighted. Some prefer overseas by virtue of preference in travelling abroad while others believed that much is not being done at home. This is a justification for the sector stakeholders to increase on the investment within the home sceneries. The research further identified ignorance of the indigenous tourist in regard to the available parks within the country. A recommendation to this issue could be the improvement of awareness both locally and internationally.

A research conducted by Dobson and Hooper (2015) showed that the tourism industry has not been able to attain its full growth due to the less effort directed to the sector by the local community. It is a combined responsibility of all nation members more especially those in the local communities to have a unified goal of attracting more attention from the international scene.

As it can be viewed from the table below, the country has managed to continually improve in the performance for the last two decades. In other words, there has been strategies drawn to help in the improvement of the national tourism activities including the marketing. Statistics show that there has been an increased output in the total spending of the tourists. An approximated A$ 47 billion were raised in the year 2014/ 2015 as indicated by the Australian bureau of statistic. A further improvement was realized in the calendar year 2016 where it was reported that the total number of tourists that visited was approximately over 7 million. This is an indication of a positive trend as compared to the early 2000 when the total number of visitors only approximated to below a million.

The contribution of the tourism and travel sector is one of the most recognizable sectors whose input cannot be underestimated. If a sector of a nation is to be valued for its contribution in the country’s GDP, it has to be monetized. A series of studies have attempted to evaluate and monetize the tourism sector, some of whom used the ad hoc multiplier to approximate the aggregate benefit of the sector to the economy. The tourism industry has helped in the creation of jobs, as many Australian locals are working in different tourism agencies, restaurants, hotels and corrie shops (Ma Liu Li and Chen 2016, p.58)

In relation to the statistics highlighted in the introductory section, the tourism sector employs up to over 4% of the total Australian population. This typically implies that there are considerable many people involved in the industry which consequently explains the reason for the greater contribution to the country’s GDP.

  The federal government of Australia has done all the ways possible to ensure expansion of the tourism sector. It is also noted that the policy of the government about the sector has enabled its expansion. Long term strategy for the modernization of sector has also been designed by the Australian government. Such strategy includes diversification of the tourism products, advancement in tourism destinations and integration of assets and effective utilization among others. Structural changes have also been made to compliment the sector. This has uplifted the tourism sector to a more sustainable level. Additionally, very important consideration has been put on strategy formulation and effective planning of the sector by involving both the public and private sectors to enable the sector reach a future plan of the segment (Hardiman and Burgin 2017, p.732)

Deliberate attempts have been undertaken by the government to ensure long term sustainability of the industry. Undertaking this, statistics have shown a deliberate growth in the sector especially in the year 2010-2012 when the government announced its target plan for the sector to reach $120billion by the year 2020. According to the national tourism statistics, tourism is believed to be the highest contributing sector in the country. Literature review also shows that from the time of the country was colonized, sector had challenges that retarded its growth but later started growing gradually. The country has also made successive plans to ensure that international tourists are cared for in a most prestigious manner in order to maintain the sector. The country gets tourists from all over the world annually that come in the country especially from China, Japan, Malaysia, United states among others. A number of forces have been proposed that will ultimately change the trend of the tourism sector in the country such as the change in the social cultural discipline.

Research also indicates that there has been change in the volume outbound tourism as compared to inbound tourism. Investigation in the domestic tourism has likewise been limited and the mechanisms pricing of tourist products changed. This attracted government efforts to invest more money in order to advance the sector in order to much the trend of consumer wants in the country. Government policy of providing and modernizing the international destinations in the country has significantly favoured its dream to have the sector attractive to the international tourism standards. Attraction sites like Blue Mountains, bond beach, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney house have been the major ground for the development of the tourism sector

Australia’s tourism region; Australia as a country is countered among the best gifte countries with considerably many beautiful and attractive sceneries. As per the 2014 bureau of statistics reports, it was shown that the country has an approximated 84 tourism attraction centres. Within each tourism area, there are many statistical local areas where tourists could explore. The major tourists’ destinations include but not limited to; the Harvey Bay, Sydney opera house, Fraser islands, and the great barrier reefs among the many others. The Harvey bay is a popular destination for tourists interested in whale watching alongside other destinations that have the same scenery. The great barrier reef was named the best Australian tourist attraction destination due to its provision of camping sights, and marine touring. The opera has been recognized as the destinations for Chinese and it provides casinos and shopping grounds for the visitors.

As earlier on noted, there are many iconic attractions that appeal to the tourists among which include; the Kimberley, Ningaloo, flinders rangers, Fraser island, Barossa valley, the great ocean roads, kangaroo island, the Australian alps, blue mountains, Melbourne cricket ground, Philip island, Uluru, freycinet, red centre, and Gippsland, to mention but a few. These sceneries have acted as the main attraction icons and have helped in leading the popularity of the Australian tourism industry.

This section clearly details the methods and approaches adopted by the research study. It is substantially important to note that the methodology adopted by a study directly influences the effectiveness, reliability and dependability of the research findings. The study therefore adopted the most appropriate research methodology, that is to say, a mixed methodology.

The research adopted mainly secondary research where different literature reports relevant to the research topic were reviewed, examined and evaluated to help in answering the research questions. Different reliable and accurate data bases were utilized to examine the current trend of tourism in the country, the challenges, the number of visitors/ changes in the number of visitors in the country. The most used data bases included the Australian bureau of statistics, the research Australia, and Australian tourism research among others.

A mixed research methodology was adopted which granted the permission on of collecting both qualitative/ descriptive data as well as quantitative/ statistical data. The qualitative data was used in determining the correlation with other research reports. The statistics were also compared. For the most applicable data findings, the study mainly emphasized on recent reports except for circumstances where there was need for earlier statistics.

From the research study, it has noticeably been noted that Australia is a country reach with natural resources as statistics indicate that it is among the top tourist attraction nations in the world. It was specified that the country has over 40 tourism sceneries. However, the country was not reaping much from the abundant beautiful sceneries. This was because there was low effort directed towards the exploitation of the available resources. In other words, less investments were being directed into the sector, which limited the country’s ability to fully attain gains from the sector. On a better note, reports in the literatures have indicated that the country is recently gaining a stiff positive growth in the sector. This is evidenced by the reports in the Australian bureau of statistics and the research Australia which have specified a noticeable increase in the percentage of visitors coming to Australia.

The research study further noted that there are increasing cases of the indigenous tourists moving abroad/ overseas. The studies reviewed associated to decline in local tourists to the prominent and growing economy of Australia, which provides a basis for extra income for its nationals. This left them with high disposable income to spend in exotic tourism out of the country. Even so, literatures did not explore in details, the strategies being adopted to increase the number of local tourists or rather reduce the number of indigenous tourists going abroad.

The trend of tourism in Australia as highlighted by different but correlative statistics makes it justifiable that the main cause sluggish tourism growth in the past decades within Australia was because of inadequate funding and low interest by the locals in participating in the tourism sector. The increments in the level of funding as reflected in calendar years of 2015, 2016 and 2017 led to a tremendous output. The sector is able to fund up to 3 % of the country’s budget and employing up to 4.5% of the country’s nationals.

The major action strategy that should be undertaken is a recommendation is to invest in more funds for the advancement of the services offered both the oversea visitors and the local/ indigenous tourists from within. After all, it has been empirically proved that the increment in spending in the sector led to transformative returns. It is further important to increase awareness among h local people to improve on the engagement as a source of employment which consequently, will lead to the improvement in revenues

References

Dobson, C. and Hooper, K., 2015. Insights from the Australian Tourism Industry. RBA Bulletin, March, pp.21-31.

Dwyer, L., Pham, T., Jago, L., Bailey, G. and Marshall, J., 2016. Modeling the impact of Australia’s mining boom on tourism: a classic case of Dutch disease. Journal of Travel Research, 55(2), pp.233-245.

Gardiner, S., Grace, D. and King, C., 2014. The generation effect: The future of domestic tourism in Australia. Journal of Travel Research, 53(6), pp.705-720.

Hardiman, N. and Burgin, S., 2017. Nature tourism trends in Australia with reference to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(6), pp.732-745.

Jarvis, D., Stoeckl, N. and Liu, H.B., 2016. The impact of economic, social and environmental factors on trip satisfaction and the likelihood of visitors returning. Tourism Management, 52, pp.1-18.

Lenzen, M., Geschke, A., Malik, A., Fry, J., Lane, J., Wiedmann, T., Kenway, S., Hoang, K. and Cadogan-Cowper, A., 2017. New multi-regional input–output databases for Australia–enabling timely and flexible regional analysis. Economic Systems Research, 29(2), pp.275-295.

Lim, C., 2017. A Tale of Two Cities: Modelling Inbound Tourism from Hong Kong and Singapore Into Australia. In Tourism and Economic Development (pp. 63-83). Routledge.

Ma, E., Liu, Y., Li, J. and Chen, S., 2016. Anticipating Chinese tourists arrivals in Australia: A time series analysis. Tourism management perspectives, 17, pp.50-58.

Pham, T.D., Nghiem, S. and Dwyer, L., 2017. The determinants of Chinese visitors to Australia: A dynamic demand analysis. Tourism Management, 63, pp.268-276.

Pham, T.D., Nghiem, S. and Dwyer, L., 2018. The economic impacts of a changing visa fee for Chinese tourists to Australia. Tourism Economics, 24(1), pp.109-126.

Tsui, W.H.K. and Balli, F., 2017. International arrivals forecasting for Australian airports and the impact of tourism marketing expenditure. Tourism Economics, 23(2), pp.403-428.

https://www.tra.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/317/National%20Visitor%20Survey%20results%20-%20June%202018.pdf.aspx

https://www.tra.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/317/NVS%20Web%20Tables%20-%20YE%20June%202018.xlsx.aspx

https://www.tra.gov.au/data-and-research