Current State of Tourism in the Australian Capital Territory - Case Study Example

CLIMATE CHANGE AND BUSINESS INAUSTRALIAN Student’s Name: Registration Number: Instructor: Introduction Climate change is a significant and contested issue that contributes to strong or weak business relationships and interactions with the social, financial and natural world. Climatic changes affect the way business is transacted and the stakeholders of the business, especially the customers (Machin 2013, pg. 56). With negative changes in climate, the cost of sustaining a business also increases, which may affect the overall budget of the region, particularly on businesses that are major sources of revenue for Australian Capital Territory. Tourism is one of the world’s largest industrieswhich are rapidly growing and it is labor intensive. The industry is able to reduce poverty by redistributing wealth to many sectors in a region such ACT. In the business world, there are few activities that are dependent on climatology and meteorology other than agriculture (Measham and Lockie 2012, pg. 116). The future of tourism is highly dependent on the global response to climate changes. Tourism dependence on climatic changes is because the industry is both victim and a vector of the climate change phenomenon. Since the contribution that is made by the tourism sector to the economy is now recognized in both developing and developed countries, it is important that the industry plays its role in addressing the challenges that are posed by intense climatic changes globally (Hodgkinson and Garner 2008, pg 59). Current state of tourism in ACT Since the emergence of mass modes of transportation such as a cruise ship and a Jumbo jet after the Second World War, the tourism sector has continued to grow rapidly. ACT region has hotels and resorts that can accommodate 15 or more rooms, private rooms or motels that can accommodate 15 or more rooms as well as apartments that have 15 or more units.Tourism sector in ACT is made up of a wide range of transactions from large stock exchange companies all through to smaller businesses like bed and breakfast operations. The industry is playing an important role in the development of ACT by creating employment opportunities to the people in the area. The changing composition of the visitor markets appears to be engrained like a long-term trend. Early 2013, the insights presented information on the latest tourism strategy, according to the ACT tourism forecast group which indicated that the Chinese market share is forecasted to increase significantly. The share was at 6%, but it is forecasted that it will increase to 10% by 2016 while that of UK market share is forecasted to decline to 9% compared to the current state of 9% (Moscardo 2013, pg. 197). According to the research that has been carried out on the tourism market trends, most of the other visitor market shares are likely to remain stable within the same period. Strategic challenges of sustainability of the sector in light of climate change Unlike many business industries, tourism is a unique industry that moves its customers to their point of consumption. Depending on the means of transport, the industry consumes a lot of its resources by ensuring that the visitors are satisfied. In case of any climate changes, the industry incurs more costs to enhance its sustainability and to maintain the number of the tourists (Painter 2013, pg. 114). These costs are incurred as a result of the following challenges: Direct climatic impacts The climate of a region is a principal factor that tourists consider before touring any place. It determines the sustainability and the locations of the specific tourists’ activities as well as determining the best periods for which the tourists can visit the region. In ACT, the seasons are affecting the cold weather and tourists have few to be constrained within specific periods of visit. Not all people are suited by the periods of visit and this reduces the overall income of the tourism industry in Australian Capital Territory. Climatic changes also influences operating costs such as snowmaking, heating and cooling, water and food supply, insurance costs and irrigation. As studies indicate, ACT tourism is affected by the wintry conditions and snowfalls which may at sometimes persist for long periods. Research also shows that weather is likely to become less predictable whereby hotter days, storm intensity, severe droughts and intense precipitation can be experienced (Ritchey 2009, pg. 212). Such weather patterns will automatically affect the tourism sector and consequently increase the cost of sustaining the business in the region. These direct impacts in the sector affect the future of the industry because this kind of investment depends on the customers decisions. Human efforts only make a little impact in sustaining the visitors because visiting the tourism destination depends on the suitability of the weather conditions. Indirect environmental change impacts One of the major determinants of ecosystem is climate (Hume 2009, pg. 54). Therefore, its rapid changes will automatically change the habitats and as a result the sites will no longer be attractive to the tourists. This is an indirect impact that leads to losses in the tourism industry. Also, change in availability of water, reduced landscape aesthetic, increased natural hazards, flooding, biodiversity loss, altered agricultural production and infrastructural damages will all affect tourism in varying degrees (Pelling 2011, pg. 143). Areas that are considered to be highly sensitive to climate changes are mountains, coastal and island destinations. All these areas are tourism market segments. Most of the species that ACT features in its tourism marketing are whales, polar bears, caribou and otters. If climatic changes are to be experienced in their habitats, their lives are endangered and the species will shift to other areas. As a result, the tourists will have no sites to visit thus no income for the business. Sustaining the business will require the leadership in ACt to work on the impacts of weather conditions on the environment. However, controlling the occurrences is not easy since such changes like falling snows is natural. The only remedy to these changes is ensuring that the animals can get another suitable place to live in within the region which may be costly and sometimes impossible (Harding, Hendriks and Faruqi 2009, pg. 176). The animals may end up shifting to other areas because of weather changes in their habitats. Therefore, sustaining the industry in such climatic changes is a challenge. Mitigation policies on tourism sector International and national mitigation policies for example, carbon taxes which are designed to internalize all external costs that are associated with the use of fossil fuels will eventually affect the final consumer by increasing their costs. The increased cost of visiting tourist sites will discourage tourists. This will reduce the overall demand and also affects the travel patterns. Such policies should be formulated with respect to the economic conditions of the Australian Capital Territory in order to consider the costs that will be absorbed by the consumers. Internalizing the cost is not the best way of controlling the use of fossil fuel rather it impacts the costs of travelling in the transport sector (Schneider, Rosencranz, Mastrandrea and Kuntz-Duriseti 2010, pg.312). Since the transport sector cannot sustain the cost, it transfers the costs to the tourists who will eventually avoid such visits because of the reduced utility they get for the money that they pay.Since customers are the first priority in any business, their affairs should also be considered to avoid their withdrawal. In most tourism industries, people tend to take advantage of the tourists, especially those who are not aware of the charges. However, in the long run, such tourists will cease from visiting such countries or sites after realizing that the charges of their tour is not worth the utility that they get (Lomborg 2007, pg. 189). To prevent such reductions in demand for the tourism services, mitigation policies that aim at internalizing costs such as carbon taxes should be avoided. Major stakeholders and their roles Tourism Australia in ACT The major tourism agent that represents the government in ACT is Tourism Australia. The government agency is responsible of attracting international tourists into the ACT to tour sites as well as encouraging people from the region to travel domestically. Tourism Australia motivates other stakeholders to ensure that there is a collaborative approach that will enhance a successful marketing and promotion of all indigenous tourism within the capital city of Australia. The Indigenous Tourism Group (ITG) Another stakeholder in tourism promotion in ACT is The Indigenous Tourism Group which focuses on the ways in which the tourism industry in this region can increase its quality of services and also the quantity of indigenous tourism (Gautier and Fellous 2008, pg. 390. The group is responsible of developing strategies and products that can be offered to the visitors when they are in the tour sites and during their entire visit. The purpose of coming up with this group is to identify, discuss and suggest ways in which the industry can improve awareness, demand as well as perceptions of the indigenous tourism experiences (Moscardo 2013, pg. 185). The group also investigates on the best ways of supporting growth and development of a sustainable indigenous tourism business that is able to meet the needs of all customers in the sector. Possible strategic responses and preferred approach The greatest challenge affecting the tourism is unpredictable changes of the climate. If the tourism agencies are able to control the situation or come up with strategies that can prevent disturbances from such changes in climate, the business industry will run smoothly and will be able to attract many visitors into ACT (Moscardo 2013, pg. 156). There are common problems that are associated with changes in climate that negatively affect the success of the industry. Such challenges include: increase in the cost of operations, reduced number of tourists and infrastructural challenges. The agencies can overcome the challenges in the following ways: Flexibility of budget The budgets allocated to the business sector should not be fixed to the obvious expenses that occur in daily transactions. Due to unforeseeable changes in the climatic conditions, the agencies should draw a budget that is accommodating to drastic changes in the climate which may result in a reduction in the demand of the services (Measham and Lockie 2012, 231). Extra budget allocations will help to overcome challenges like cost of transportation due to poor infrastructure. Policy formulation Policies that are formulated should be fair to both the visitors and the industry at large. The extra costs that are transferred to the visitors may result to a mass reduction of demand for the services. Therefore, to prevent such reductions the agencies should avoid exploitative increase in the cost of visiting the region. Government intervention The government should intervene by repairing the infrastructure that is destroyed by climatic changes such as floods in ACT. Revenue generated from tourism in the area contributes to the total revenue of the government in the entire country and to avoid losing the revenue, it should generate mechanisms of responding to damages made on the roads without delays (Richardson 2005, pg. 114). It should facilitate smooth transport means to the visitors because the needs of the consumers must be met in order for them to demand such services in future. Implementing the preferred strategies The future plan of the industry of achieving high demand by 2016 should be enhanced through a cross supervision of the implementation process to ensure that the entire team works towards the set goals. This involves organizing the leaders in the industry so that they can motivate other stakeholders. The whole process of ensuring a smooth operation in the business should take about seven months in order to take advantage of the expected tourists within the year. To accomplish this mission, the management of the business should assume the following roles and measures; Clarification of the strategies: all strategies should be known to all the stakeholders so that each party can play its part. Communicating the strategies; this involves informing the stakeholders of the intensions of the business and the means to achieve the goals (Machin 2013, pg. 167). Communication is very important to ensure that every ne in the industry is working in the same direction of achievement. Conclusion The term sustainable tourism is frequently used by many tourism industries globally. However, most of the industries have not assigned quantifiable measures in order to ensure that the sustainability progress is monitored. In most regions, climatic changes have a great impact on the success of tourism sector. These changes may not be altered because they are natural phenomenon. However, control measures can be employed to reduce the impact of these changes on the tourism industry. Tourism is a source of revenue that boosts the budget of the government. To ensure that the sector is successful in the economy, the government should ensure that there are strategies that have been put in place so that the quality of services offered are improved. Like any other business, tourism is a business that depends on demand and supply. The demand of the tourism services not only depends on the natural attractiveness, but also the quality of services offered.Success in the sector requires coordination of all the leaders in the industry and the organizations that have well organized services will always have many customers. The stakeholders of the tourism industry should be well organized and mobilized so that they can help in promoting the region’s tourism services. To achieve success in the implementation of the sustainability strategies, the stakeholders should work together with a common goal. The aim of implementing the strategies is to ensure that the visitors are satisfied by helping them to get maximum utility of their payment. Successful implementation requires good organization of the leaders in the industry. Just like any other region within the country, ACT is vulnerable to changes in climate which affects the tourism sites such as game reserves. Such changes in climate are inevitable and will continue to happen in the future. Intervention from theleaders is also important to ensure that the source of revenue is maintained and that the demand for the services is high. There are different ways in which the government can intervene to ensure that it improves the services of the tourism sector. These improvement services include: development of tourism related infrastructure, for example airports, resorts, accommodation and access roads are some of the most important factors that the stakeholders should consider in their effort to improve the quality of services in the tourism sector of ACT. References Gautier, C and Fellous, J-P., 2008Facing Climate Change Together. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK Harding, R, Hendriks, C.M. and Faruqi, M., 2009.Environmental Decision-Making: Exploring Complexity and Context. Federation Press: Annandale, NSW Hodgkinson, D and Garner, R., 2008.Global Climate Change: Australian Law and Policy. Nexis Lexis Butterworths: Chatswood, NSW Hume, M., 2009Why We Disagree about Climate Change. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK Knight, E., 2013Why We Argue about Climate Change. Redback: Collingwood, Vic Lomborg, B., 2007Cool it: The Sceptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming. Marshall Cavendish: London Machin A., 2013Negotiating Climate Change: Radical Democracy and the Illusion of Consensus. Zed Book: London Measham, T. and Lockie, S., 2012Risk and Social Theory in Environmental Management. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood, Vic Moscardo, G. et al., 2013Sustainability in Australian Business: Principles and Practice. Wiley: Milton, Qld. Painter, J., 2013Climate Change in the Media: Reporting Risk and Uncertainty. IB Taurus & Co: London Pelling, M., 2011Adaptation to Climate Change. Routledge: London Richardson, J. I., 2005. 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