A Discussion of the South Australian Tourism Commission and the Clare Valley Destination - Assignment Example

Name: Tutor: Task: Date: Introduction Destination Marketing Organization’s are created with the basic role of attracting visitors to its locale with the purpose of adding to the local economy through the purchase of room nights, visitor services, food and beverage, retail items, transportation, etc.It also promotes the development as well as the marketing of a particular destination, focusing on conference sales, tourism marketing and services. In addition such organizations enhance the economic development of a destination by increasing visits from tourists and business tourist. This particular report will therefore analyze a variety of issues concerning the South Australian Tourism Commission as one of the major DMO’s. In addition an analysis of the Clare Valley as one of the destinations within the South Australian Tourism Commission will also be undertaken by the report. A Discussion of the South Australian Tourism Commission and the Clare Valley Destination The South Australian Tourism Commission is one of Destination Marketing Agencies established by the South Australian government to market Tourism in South Australia. Tourism being a big business in South Australia, the South Australian Tourism Commission is committed to developing as well as marketing the state’s $2.7 billion tourism business, with the objective of creating more employment opportunities and wealth for South Australia (South Australian Tourism Commission Website 1). The South Australian Tourism Commission productively promotes the State’s tourism intra-state, inter-state as well as internationally to ascertain that South Australia is a compelling part of any Australian holiday. It gives attention to developing the State’s competitive strengths such as festivals and events, good living and accessible nature. It also secures, manages in addition to sponsoring major events that revitalize the economy and build community spirit. Additionally, the South Australian Tourism Commission works to develop strategic tourism assets, to attract investment in addition to working with tourism businesses to ensure the industry mature. Successful leadership in policy reform therefore underpins all of its aims (South Australian Tourism Commission Website 1). One of the destinations represented by the South Australian Tourism Commission is the Clare Valley tourists’ destination. Located to the North of Adelaide, Australia, Clare Valley tourists’ destination is one of the leading touristic destinations of the city. It is famously known for its wineries, eating places and astounding country pubs. The destination is also popularly known for its cultural tapestry and about 35 cellar doors. One of the most popular attraction within this destination is the Seven hill Cellars. This ancient cellar was set up in the 1851 for producing sacramental wine. The wines were dispersed to various churches located across Australia and Asia (AsiaRooms.com 1). While in Clare Valley, tourists can visit the magnificent St.Aloysius Church, the most famous and oldest winery of Clare Valley. Burra, one of Australia’s most magnificently preserved towns of Australia, forms another attraction many tourists would love to discover within the Clare Valley. Tourists can take pleasure in Burra’s heritage passport trail. While on this trail visitor’s encounter about 65 beautiful sites and get to comprehend why Burra is considered the copper central of South Australia. The trail is almost 11 kilometers and the routes the tourists come upon are Monster Mine, Creek Street and Redruth Gaol (AsiaRooms.com 1). Another favourite attraction of the Clare Valley is the Riesling Trail. It is principally a 25 kilometers walking and cycling route that links the globe’s famous boutique wineries and popular towns between Clare and Auburn. In this site, visitors are able to taste some of the most delicious wine of the Clare Valley. Clare Valley is also famous for its attractive scenery. Burra Trail Rides also attracts tourists to this destination. The tourists are able to spend their days in saddle as well as star-lighted nights while on a Burra Trail Ride. Graham Radford in Clare Valley also provides unforgettable scenery, plentiful wildlife, and immense bush tucker during a two or a three day trail rides. In addition, the valley is also well-known for the celebrated Gourmet Festival Pioneers which is mainly celebrated during the month of May (AsiaRooms.com 1).During this festival, tourists can enjoy rodeos, country shows as well as other events. Fig 1;Map of Clare Valley Destination,Australia An Overview of the types of tourists that visit Clare Valley Majority of tourists visiting Clare Valley are predominantly international tourists. This is because the region has unique as well as distinguishing characteristics that add to their international appeal. For instance, over the last three years, an average of 4,000 international tourists stayed in the Clare Valley. In addition, according to a report by the Tourism Research Australia, the number of international tourists visiting the Clare Valley has increased significantly over the past six years (Worldwide Wine Tours 1). Local tourists form another category of tourists visiting this destination. Over the year 2006 June and September quarters, approximately 1.9 million local visitors visited the Clare Valley for the night stay while approximately 1.6 million local visitors on day trip visited the Clare Valley. Tourists’ visit in this destination can also be categorized in terms of day and night visits. According Urban & Regional Planning Solutions (7), the statistics for Clare Valley revealed an insignificant increase in the number of local day tourists over the last 5 years from 333,000 to 356,000 in 2003.On the other hand, the number of local tourists has remained fairly static for the last five years. Destinations that are the main competitors for South Australia Tourism Commission Food and wine experiences have for a long time been an essential part of South Australia’s tourism marketing message, promoting it as a tourist destination.However,despite the fact that South Australia is recognized as the home of Australian wine, the region cannot rest on its success, as other states are aggressively targeting same opportunities recognizing tourists’ desire for such experiences. Furthermore, though South Australia has some excellent food experiences, consumer research reveals that it is not powerfully associated with this attribute. According to Ronning (7), destinations that are the main competitors for South Australia Tourism Commission are destinations within Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales. Ronning (7) highlights that South Australia has a dominant association with reliable as well as credible wineries and wine destinations but comes second to Victoria as far as wine and food experiences are concerned. Moreover, it comes third to some sizeable degree behind Victoria and New South Wales, in terms of distinctive dining and fresh regional produce. Evidently, South Australia’s recognition for food is therefore not as strong as it is with wine. Despite the fact that the attribute commonly associated with South Australia is its credible and authentic wineries followed by wine and food, the road ahead for wine tourism and food looks to be quite challenging as more states target in addition to investing heavily on these opportunities thereby potentially eroding the South Australia’s tourist market share. Ronning (9) highlights that there is a steady trend of deteriorating preference levels for Clare Valley. This connects with the fact that over the last 5 years the potentials of wine tourism has been discovered by nearly each state with an augmented focus on developing as well as promoting wine tourism. South Australia’s market share is therefore being weared down in favour of states such as Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales who are progressively more successful at attracting winery tourists. Despite this, recent petition testing research carried out for the South Australian Tourism Commission reveals that experiential interpretation of South Australia’s wine destination is South Australia’s prospective winning holiday offers as long as South Australia aspires to be at the cutting edge with new experience and news. Analysis of the South Australia Commission’s website and how effective this website is in communicating to the destination's key market segments The South Australia’s Commission website is certainly the most targeted as well as innovative in Australia. Independent assessment of the South Australia Tourism Commission reveals a high level of effectiveness in attaining a return of investment of 10:1,attributed to the website’s communication of the destination's key market segments. According to the official website of the South Australia Tourism Commission, latest overall performance figures give evidence to this with proof levels of tourism from all markets. Besides these key measures, South Australia lately won the Australian Marketing Institute's National Award within the Tourism and Leisure Category. This particular award was attributed to excellence in the website’s strategy of creativity in addition to achieving the secrets campaign objectives (Faulks et.al 29). In addition, an independent economic analysis carried out for the South Australia Tourism Commission, tourism is at present driving 10 per cent of South Australia’s economic development through the export dollars it generates, with long-standing growth projection being strong, an indication of how effective the South Australia Tourism Commission website is in communicating to the destination's key market segments (Economic Research Consultants, 2000). The South Australia Tourism Commission website has also been useful in changing consumer perception concerning the Clare Valley destination. Initially, one of the most common messages from the last two decades about Clare Valley was that there was not enough to see or do except wine tourism in this destination. The South Australia Tourism Commission website has however changed this perception, as a result, turning out to be effective in addressing the consumers’ perception by encouraging them to come and spend their money in Clare Valley. This has been best achieved by leveraging strengths as well as attributes of this particular destination. For instance, other than its reputation for wine seen as a major strength, the website has also been able to market other opportunities for tourism experiences related to the core themes of: wines and foods festivals and events And complementary themes of: arts and culture countryside/rural living sports tourism history and heritage healthy lifestyle Special interest markets such as bird watching. From the consumer perspectives, latest research has revealed that visitor anticipations to South Australia’s wine regions are for good quality wine, good food as well experienced cellar door service. The website has appeared to be of great significance by improving Clare Valley destination appeal consistent with its inherent attributes. The website has presently communicated Clare Valley’s wine, food and tourism sectors as prospective winning partnerships that have put it firmly on the international map by communicating the best of Clare Valley today; making Clare Valley easy to access and experience; and by creating an even more appealing Clare Valley of tomorrow. This has ensured the destination is well positioned to take advantage of the substantial growth in the tourist drive market (Pike 79). Types of tourist segments that is critical for the South Australia Tourism commission to market to over the next two years One of the critical tourist segments for the South Australia Tourism commission over the next two years is the adoption of the wine tourism segmentation used to analyze the cellar door survey. It is well thought-out to best reflect the nature of visitors to the Clare Valley and is therefore proposed to be employed as the main domestic tourism segmentation system for the next two years (Urban & Regional Planning Solutions 5). It is acknowledged that some of the non-wine related visitors are not directly depicted by these descriptors. However, further research of the types of activities that groups, for instance browsers and discovers participate in, reveals that this segmentation approach could be tailored to include those parts of the destination where wine is not part of the product offered. Wine tourism market segmentation is therefore proposed as the major basis for monitoring intra-state and interstate visitation. According to the Urban & Regional Planning Solutions (5), greater use is supposed to be made of this system to target preferred visitors to the destination. Another tourist segments for the South Australia Tourism commission over the next two years is the adoption of demographic type of segmentation. South Australia Tourism Commission strategies are based on having a clearly defined plan on who they want to visit the destination given the probability that they will become repeat tourists to the destination and on the nature as well as their expenditure on tourism related items. According to the Urban & Regional Planning Solutions (4), South Australia Tourism Commission’s main challenge is to reach those tourists who are not yet visiting the destination currently and get them to have a different perception about the destination. Clare Valley in particular is viewed as a little staid and unadventurous with little to do with families. Wineries which form the Clare Valley’s major attraction are often perceived as places where kids get bored easily and parents cannot relax. While the 2003 statistics revealed an increase in the number of young people visiting the Clare Valley Wine area, there is still lack of understanding of the existing opportunities for families with children. Young people aged between 18-30 years as well as families with children are presently under-represented among those visiting this destination. These particular groups are the South Australia Tourism Commission’s target market as they are the most important group for the destination to attract so as to maintain as well as grow tourism. However; this does not mean abandoning those groups of tourists who already visit the destination. The commission has to go on providing these groups with what they have come to know and love. As a result, demographic segmentation in terms of age has been as a major focus of the commission (Faulkner, 182). The South Australian Tourism Commission’s strategy is also to target the high yield market segment. In the first instance, the commission will target those belonging to this segment that have also showed a preference to visit the Clare Valley-to be precise, people mainly in Sydney and Melbourne who have Clare Valley in their consideration set of prospective holiday destinations along numerous other places, but need to be swayed to choose Clare Valley over these. Majority of these are young as well as older rich couples that make an average of four trips each year towards various destinations. This market segment is particularly relevant to the food and wine sector given that what these high yield tourists desire is new and invigorating experiences, luxury and indulgence, great stories, unexpected highlights, being engaged by the local people and the places they visit as well as being close to nature. The means of communicating with these high yield tourists includes the internet, newspapers, magazines, cinema and the use of pay TV. The South Australian Tourism Commission has also discovered a similar target within the global tourism market. In so doing, they have discovered seven key themes that will form the core of Australia’s marketing message strategy. One of the seven themes is food and wine. The means of communicating with the international high yield tourists lies in their devoted employment in both private as well as business capacities. They are choosy TV viewers, but are more than average users of cable channels, and are inclined to various programs that meet their lifestyles as well as motivation profiles. Recommendations According to the Urban & Regional Planning Solutions (1), tourist destinations in South Australia face major competition for the holiday dollar, not just from the up-and-coming wine destinations, but also from the rising access to online wine purchases, city-based wine, food events, home entertainment, art exhibitions and concerts. For instance, as what is unique about Clare Valley destination is exported into homes as well as cities of source markets, the need to visit them decreases. The Urban & Regional Planning Solutions (1) highlights that target market needs are much deeper than drinking wine, eating food as well as looking at sceneries and buildings. The prevailing motivations of the target markets should therefore be for connection, reinvigoration and achievement. The need to connect denotes the strongest competitive advantage, mainly because very few competitor wine destinations have managed to position themselves as people connectors. Each destination should therefore offer various opportunities for connection based around its history, culture, evolution as well as the qualities of their people and places. Hall (236) argues that the Clare Valley destination already has the base product from which to put in a little more value making connection more possible. Positioning Clare Valley destination so that they exploit into people’s needs for connection as well as reconnection to themselves, their families and to regions and communities that evoke nostalgia for less complicated times would be a significant task for those accountable for the implementation of marketing as well as the positioning strategies in the plan. The strategic plan therefore suggests building on the destination’s existing strengths, adding to as well as strengthening their core products to improve on their appeal to the target markets. There should also be policies that will be able facilitate tourism growth. According to the Urban & Regional Planning Solutions (1), current council development plans have a number of pointless inconsistencies relating to tourism development policies, non-complying lists in addition to definitions of the types of development. Policies are therefore needed to manage the likely expansion of the wine industry in Clare Valley in ways that will not detrimentally impact on rural, environmental as well as heritage values that are significant to both the success of wine tourism marketing and the critically significant tourism industry. Councils should therefore work at changes in their development plans of the destination so as to better facilitate sustainable tourism outcomes. In this case, Clare Valley will be recognized for its intimate connections as well as good opportunities provided by small scale wineries, accessible sceneries (landscapes), cultural heritage in addition to the fascinating stories of its people and places. Conclusion From this report, it is clear that the South Australian Tourism Commission has had a significant role as far as marketing the Clare Valley destination is concerned. This has been achieved by implementing strategic marketing programs within the local and international tourist markets, and by promoting tourism development in the state’s regional areas. On the other hand, the report reveals that tourists are currently spoilt for choice of available holiday destinations offering much similar products and services. Moreover, in today’s crowded tourism market place, destination competitiveness calls for effective marketing organization. Two themes therefore underpin Destination Marketing Organizations. The first challenge is associated with promoting multi-attributed destinations within dynamic and heterogeneous markets, and the second challenge is the divide between practitioners and academics. As a result, the commission ought to work at promoting excellence within the state’s tourism business. References AsiaRooms.com.Clare Valley, 2011, Pp1, Retrieved on May 9, 2011 from http://www.asiarooms.com/en/travel-guide/australia/adelaide/sightseeing-in-adelaide/clare-valley.html Economic Research Consultants. Comparative Economic Contribution of Tourism to South Australia, 2000. Faulkner, William, Faulkner, Bill, Fredline, Liz, Jago, Leo, Cooper & Christopher, Progressing Tourism Research, Volume 9 of Aspects of Tourism, Channel View Publications, 2003,182. Faulks, Pam, Ritchie, Brent, Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable, Brown, Graham Tourism, 2008, Cycle Tourism and South Australia Destination Marketing, Sustainable Tourism, 2008, 1-50. Hall, Michael, Sharples, Liz, Cambourne, Brock & Macionis, Niki, Wine Tourism around the world: Development, Management and Markets. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002, Pp 236. Pike, Steven. Destination Marketing: An Integrated Marketing Communication Approach. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008, Pp79. Ronning, Karen. South Australian Food and Wine Tourism Strategy 2009 – 2014, 2009, Pp 1-50. South Australian Tourism Commission Website, 2009, Pp1, Retrieved on May 9, 2011 from http://www.tourism.sa.gov.au/regions/default.asp Urban & Regional Planning Solutions, 2005, Clare Valley and Barossa Tourism Regions Integrated Strategic Tourism Plan, 2005, Pp1-74. Worldwide Wine Tours. Australia Wine Tours: Popularity of Australian Wineries, 2011, Pp1, Retrieved on May 9, 2011 from http://www.worldwidewinetours.com/australia/australia-wine-tours.html Read More