Hospitality and Tourism Policy and Planning

Question: Discuss about the Hospitality and Tourism Policy and Planning. Answer: Introduction: Australian tourism industry is an important part of Australian economy and tourism industry only contributes to 3% of the countrys GDP. It generates immense revenue for the country and the tourism industry is the source of employment for over 5 lakh people (Abs.gov.au. 2016). It provides diversity of jobs and helps to fund and support economic infrastructure of the country. Hence, tourism in Australia is the main contributor of economic development in the country and through its different man-made, natural and cultural attractions; the tourism industry is making their unique value (Ruhanen et al. 2013). This essay particularly discusses the importance of Australian tourism and the challenges faced in this industry. The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Australia with the number of visitors soaring day by day. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of tourist in Australia increased to 2.2% in December 2015. Currently, for the year 2016, it is expected that the rate of arrival will increase by 11 % (Abs.gov.au. 2016).Hence, this figure reflects tourism industry as one of the main pillar behind future economic success of the country. These impressive results have been possible because of Governments initiative to invest in tourism industry and working in a committed manner to offer extraordinary services that draws tourist to the country from different parts of the world. Therefore, the larger the amount of investment in tourism sector, the higher chances it has for contributing the economic prosperity of the country. Tourism can be efficiently used a platform to plan future economic strategy of the country. All the tourism plan and campaign behind tourism in Australia is made on the basis of National Long-Term Tourism Strategy and the 2020 tourism goals. Tourism 2020 is a remarkable policy by which long-term goal and focus of tourism industry has been developed and their growth aspirations have been decided. Thus, the tourism 2020 policy provides the necessary support to maximize the economic potential in Australian tourism industry. The main revenue of tourism is generated from lavish hotels, accommodation, casinos, tour companies, natural and man-made tourist attractions, travel agency, retail sector and many others. One of the most positive impact of Australian tourism is that it generate income for other sectors too. Tourism is related not just to holiday travel but also to visit in the country for higher studies, work and family visits too (Moyle et al. 2014). The unique landscape of Australia, its unique culture and heritage, diverse culture and nature based tourism acts as valuable asset and competitive edge for Australian tourism industry. The sustainability of the industry has been further ensured by means of increased investment and focus on quality infrastructure, exceptional quality of service, diverse range of product choice and skilled professional in the job (Buckley 2012). Theres nothing like Australia is an example of a marketing campaign which offers the best attraction and tourism experience that tourist can explore in Australia. As the consumer choice and global tourism environment is continuously going on changing, hence this acts as a challenge for the tourism sector. To keep up with the competitive environment of change, flexible campaign design is planned. For example with the increase in consumers interest for food and wine as part of travel experience, the Australian tourism industry started offering vivid culinary exp erience in tourism package. In some campus, the main focus is on providing aquatic and coastal experience to travelers who wants an adventurous holiday instead of a relaxing one. According to consumers interest and demand, the range of campaign include food and wine experience, nature and wild life experience, aquatic and wild life experience (Tourism.australia 2016). According to tourism 2020 goals, Tourism Australia wants to achieves $ 140 billion annual spending, growth their labor force, expand accommodation facility and improve quality and productivity and increase the capacity of aviation industry to tackle traveler load. Achieving this goal can be a tough task for tourism sector due to range of challenges faced in tourism industry. The main challenge is increase in competition and decrease in international market share in recent years. This trend is not encouraging and the fall in tourism expenditure since 2000 has lead to fall in the market (Ruhanen et al. 2015). Therefore, to keep up with the competition in the market, Australian tourism needs to continuously revamp the tourism infrastructure such as hotels and hospitality service standards. This will help them to cope up with the changes in the tourism environment. The rise of Australian dollar is another trend challenging the business of Australian tourism. The currency exchange rate of different countries also influences the decision to travel, choose travel destination and purchase during travel. This factor is part of impact of consumers decision making process on Australian tourism business. Secondly, exchange rate also has significant influence on level of tourism expenditure. The rise in Australian dollar will have an impact on tourist arrival rate as the consumers travel decision will be based on ability to afford tours expense. The affordability factor will also influence choice of overseas travel destination. Therefore, Tourism Australia needs to understand this change in the market and make strategic plan to keep up with the pace of change and competition in the market (Rice 2014). The essay on the importance and challenges of Australian tourism industry highlights the importance of tourism sector for growth in Australian economy and generation of employment opportunities for the citizen. The strategic vision of Australian tourism is to expand and improve the productivity in tourism sector by 2020, however achieving this can be a challenging task due to increased competition, environmental change and exchange rate in the market. However, despite challenges present in the market, Australia Tourism has immense opportunity to attract tourist by means of natural and man-made attractions. This will serve as the main asset to attract and expand business. Finally, strategic action in the area of investment in new product, increasing the uptake of digital technology, addressing shortage of labor and skilled staffs can finally lead to achieving the goal of Tourism 2020. Reference Abs.gov.au. (2016).3401.0 - Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, Jun 2016. 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