The Australian Gold Coast - Essay Example

1. The Australian Gold Coast: Market Review The finest of all touring experiences can be felt on the Gold Coast, the most marvelous beach in Australia. The Gold Coast is a well-developed tourist destination located just south of Brisbane on the east coast of Australia. The city is spectacular with a wide rage of attractions like fabulous beaches, waterways, and shopping centres. Beauty of the events is facilitated by the arcades of marvel making art and craft markets. Night shoppers have no worry as they have access to shopping centers, theme parks, and halal food. Beach sports and games are another attraction of Gold Coast; they cover a wide range of surfing experiences. When it matters speaking about ‘The Australian Outback Spectacular’, it is sure there is no location to replace it in the world. A night out experience at the spot leaves you an everlasting experience filled with spirits of courage, humor and excitement of ‘Heroes of the light Horse’(Critall, Atkinson, Llewellyn, & Mylne, 2009, p.367). The Australian Outback Spectacular is generally packed with the festoons of illuminated decorum supplemented with magnificent horses, charging bulls, stampeding camels, a wide range of wild vehicles and sometimes, demonstrative helicopters ready for show (Critall et al. 2009, p.367). International and Domestic Tourism Market for Gold Coast The specifications of the statistical studies prove the importance of this beautiful city in the international marketing segment. It offers a large share of foreign exchange to the country’s gross earnings. The major portion of total tourist population to Australia comes from Asian Countries. The purpose of international visits can be mainly grouped into holiday visits, visiting friends or relatives, and business visits. According to Tourism Queensland’s international tourism snapshot statistics (2010), in the year ending 2010 March, 1,013,000 Asian tourists (including Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, and Indonesia etc) came to Australia only for holiday purpose. In the year ending March 2010, contribution from Europe (UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Italy etc.) and NZ was 869,000 and 454,000 respectively. Although Americas (US and Canada) ranked least among all, there was a considerable growth or annual change with it (6%). In the same way, while considering the other groups of visitors also, like VFR (visit friends or relatives) and business visitors, Asia stands first. The total contribution of Asian continent for the year was 1,983,000 with 3% annual change and 8% change in average night stay. In contrast, Americas ranked 7% annual change in visits and -6% in night stay. If we analyse the statistics of visitors to Queensland in particular on country base, China holds the highest status in contribution. For instance, there was 7% increase in QLD’s visitors from China. On the contrary, the number of visitors from Japan continued declining at an annual range of -17%. Among the European countries, France and Switzerland showed considerable change rated 22% and 18 percent respectively. Despite the decline in the total contribution, Japan’s contribution to Gold Coast alone is considerably positive. For the year, 114,000 Japanese tourists visited Gold Coast which attained an average change of 5%. Meanwhile, China’s growth was quite higher (15%) with a total number of 106,000 visitors. Total number of visitors from UK was 82,000 which in fact indicated 22% annual change; whereas NZ remained stable 0% with a total number of 207, 000 Visitors. In the total number of visitors to Gold Coast, NZ remains top, followed by Japan and China in second and third positions. As compared to US, UK and Continental Europe hold the higher rank. However, the analysis of the variation of annual change shows that UK is more potential when China and Continental Europe have comparatively lower rate of change. Regarding the domestic market, there has been notable decline both to Queensland and Gold Coast for the recent years. However, the average length of stay for international visitors to the Gold Coast has continued to grow (Gold Coast Regional Snapshot, 2010). International Tourism Snapshots’ statistics of International visitors to Australia shows a hopeful chart in spite of the down fall in the revenue. From 2002 to 2004 Australia hosted over 4,400,000 tourists on an average every year. From there till 2010 the graph has been raising gradually every year to touch the mark over 5,200,000 visitors now. Comprising the total number of visitors to any pat of Australia, Gold Coast alone bore 829,000 people with an annual change of 5% with average stay of 9.9 days. Interestingly, over 660,000 of the visitors opted for Holiday with an annual change of 6% from the previous year (International Tourism Snapshots). Tourist Accommodation Data Sheet (2010) statistics shows a -1.4 % down flow of RNA (room nights available) in all 348 establishments of paid residence amounting to 7,078,684 with a -2.6% change over RNO (room nights occupied) at 4, 595,742 which is at -3.0% of the expectancy. Room occupancy has also brought down to 64.9% which is at -3.0% lower demands. Revenue from tourist residence has shown an average $635 i.e. with a -3.7% change. The diminishing demand forced the establishments to cut down the prices and the resultant factor was the average room rent falling to $138.10 at -0.6% change in the estimated rent. The ultimate report shows that the average yield falling to $89.66 with a depletion of -1.1% over the previous year (Tourist Accommodation Data Sheet, 2010). International marketing sector in Australia has shown a great progress over the recent years in trade and conventional marketing but the Gold Coast remained to post a specific mark as a favorite pleasure city for both international and domestic travelers. 2. Gold Coast and Cross-Cultural Issues Gold Coast and the splendid theme park- fondly referred to ‘Outback spectacular’ -are the major tourist destinations in Australia with strong international linkage. Irrespective of the recent economic downfall, international and domestic tourism flow to this region has been highly intensified. Although the destination has its own unique features that attract millions of people from all over the world every year, there are numerous cross-cultural issues that require genuine concern of the tour operators. The major issues are associated with food, religion, language, ethnicity, and hospitality. Though cross-cultural issues are the common challenge of tourism and hospitality industry, unlike other international destinations Outback Spectacular has to deal with large international audience at a time. The show is intended to provide audience with insights into the Australian outback culture and competitive spirit. The total audience is split into two groups and all are given a coloured hat to identify their station. The performers consist of 22 men and women who introduce themselves to be the part of either station. It promotes a spirit of competing throughout the show. Perhaps the most attracting item of the show is the unbelievable horsemanship performed by Australia’s leading stunt riders. The service rendered at the function hall is fantastic and unbelievable – as many as forty people serve beer, wine and soft drink to everyone present in the party in an amazingly record time. That is the way the greatest party, ‘The Australian Outback Spectacular’ usually goes. Language is one of the major issues the industry has to resolve to ensure customer satisfaction at the show. The dinner and show in a 1000 seat arena is comprised of a large pool of diverse customers from all over the world. The show offers modern technical backup to make audience understand the commentary in their own regional languages. As an emerging trend, remarkable share of tourists to this area is contributed by the United States, Japan, China, and gulf countries. The ‘multi-channel language translation system’ has been installed at AOS to provide information and language assistance to these segments of tourists (www.tag.com). Despite these provisions, obvious discontent has been reported as people do not understand many aspects of the cultural displays and explanations. As Reisinger & Turner (2003, p.240) state, the expectation of the show (exotic, adventurous, sporting) is not met as they are boring and comparatively costly. Another issue is the dietary sentiment of people who belong to different religion and culture. During the 90 minute show, 3 course of Aussie barbecue- style meal is offered to the audience. Notably, people from Gulf regions are highly concerned about the quality and purity of food. Gold Coast offers Halal food for them which is the clear indication of genuine effort that enhances cultural integration in the show. Halal food refers to food permissible according to Islamic law. In fact, there is a Gold Coast Halal Certification Services which is authorized to certify that a particular item is halal. In addition, people are of different concept regarding timing, quantity, and quality of food they consume. However, it has been said that the Australian tourism industry as a whole fails to meet the requirements of international tourists. Japanese tourists could be taken as an example to illustrate this argument. “in the early stages, Australian Tourism industry did not manage the servicing of Japanese tourist requirements in the terms of language, food, bathing, and other cultural issues” (Kusluvan, 2003, p. 514). Despite recent developments in the service area, the tourism and hospitality industry still requires further initiatives to meet customer satisfaction especially in terms of food, language, and religion. Obviously, food and socializing is one of the major features of Australian Outback Spectacular. It also intends to convey the outback culture to domestic and international tourists. Regardless of all cross-cultural barriers, Gold Coast Outback Spectacular remains to be the major tourist attraction of the world. In addition to revenue generation, Gold Coast and the adventurous night life at AOS cause inestimable cultural interaction and fellowship that an entertainment industry could ever do. References Australian Outback Spectacular. (n.d.).Retrieved from http://www.tag.com.au/content/view/29/ Critall, R., Atkinson, L., Llewellyn, M. & Mylne, L. (2009). Frommer’s Australia 2010. Edn 5, Wiley Publishing, Inc. International Tourism Snapshots. Year Ended 2010. Tourism Queensland retrieved from http://tq.com.au/fms/tq_corporate/research%20%28NEW%29/Summary%20Visitor%20Statistics/10%20March%20International%20Tourism%20Snapshot.PDF Introduction to Australia’s Gold Coast Marketplace: Jones Lang Lasalle Report. Hospitalitynet.org, Feb. 2002. Retrieved from http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4010812.search?query=current%20international%20visitor%20segments%20to%20the%20gold%20coast Kusluvan, S. (Ed.). (2003). Managing Employee Attitude and Behaviours in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry. Nova Publishers. Reisinger, Y & Turner, L.W. (2003). Cross-Cultural Behaviours in Tourism: Concepts and Analysis. Butterworth-Heinemann. Tourist Accommodation Data Sheet. Year Ended March 2010. Retrieved from http://tq.com.au/tqcorp_06/research/summary-visitor-statistics/summary-visitor-statistics_home.cfm Read More