International Hospitality Industry - Essay Example

International Hospitality Industry The Rocks, Sydney, remains one of the most visited historical site located within urban Sydney, within New South Wales State. This tourist attraction area borders Bradfield Highway, which directly leads to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, another world renowned tourist attraction within Sydney. Established immediately after the formation of Australian colony, the region continues to maintain historical structural designs, developed several centuries back (Richards, 2012).

Though most of the building remains constructed through traditional designs, numerous modern shopping centres and restaurants remain located within these buildings. This provides international tourists with a blend of Australia’s traditional and modern cultures within a single location. The site provides visitors with unique experience for individuals seeking cultural experiences through tourism. The buildings located within this site have maintained their traditional design, though they house modern restaurants and boutiques.

The region houses Australia’s oldest pubs like the Fortune of War, and also presents visitors with some of the newest pubs within urban Sydney (NSW Government, 2013). With over twenty bars and hotels, the region leaves visitors split of choices regarding the places to visit for evening drinks. Majority of these entertainment places have long historical information regarding their construction and survival through the years. Many of these entertainment places normally present visitors with a mixed experience of traditional ambience, while offering numerous internationally available drinks.

Majority of these entertainment places have long historical background going back to the 19th century and early 20th century. The region itself continues to face numerous existence challenges, which continue to threaten the existence of the region. During the twentieth century for example, plague outbreaks and world wars threatened complete destruction of Rocks heritage and cultural site (Douglas, 2010). The region remained commonly housing poor urban residents, and was previously classified as slum area.

Upgrading of the site, however, ensured improvement and modernisation of Rock, consequently increasing the quality of life experienced within Rocks. As an historical site, the area continues to face numerous challenges regarding modernisation. While modernisation remains essential in enhancing the quality of the structures, undertaking modern development should remain controlled to enhance retention of traditional designs. Dilapidation of traditional building for example, could be attributed to the demolition of Observer Tavern and Waterman’s Arms, to pave for construction of the modern day Observer Hotel in 1908.

The government continues to provide legislative protection from the region seeking to bar private developers. Located within beautiful urban scenery, Rocks continues to attract the attention of numerous developers seeking to establish modern storeyed buildings, to transform the skyline of Rocks. This transformation, however, would completely destroy the cultural experience tourists receive when visiting Rocks. The traditional design of the building located within Rocks remains the major tourist attraction, construction of modern skyscrapers, therefore, would destroy the cultural experience of tourists (Crook, et al., 2005). The traditional design of structures within this historical site remains the tourist attraction element of Rocks.

Destruction of the traditional design would consequently result in reduced tourist numbers. This would result in reduction of the earnings gained from the historical site, hence economic evaluation remains fundamental before adopting design changes for various structures. The Rocks cultural site provides a blend of modern and traditional Australian cultural experience to visitors. The cultural experience however, remains constrained within the structures housing various tourist establishments.

These establishments continue to offer numerous international products, aimed at attracting increased tourist numbers. The tourist establishments should include other cultural products within the services offered to customers (Richards, 2012). The establishments should consider increasing the number of cultural foods and drinks available within their menus. This would make cultural visits to the rocks region comprehensive, and presenting numerous components of the Australian culture. While the establishments continue to offer international menus, aimed at catering for the large numbers of international tourists, increasing the cultural cuisine would relatively increase appeal to the Australian culture.

Through the development of Rocks Cultural and heritage site, the Australian government created unique tourist products for international visitors. This cultural site also serves the function of preserving Australian culture; hence becoming a source of cultural education for future generations. Through the available legislation the government continues to protect this heritage site from developers seeking to transform the cultural site into a modern dwelling (Seal, 1989). Though legislation exists, the Rocks region still remains threatened by external factors, like economic pressure.

The land occupied by Rocks remains attractive for construction of modern skyscrapers, however, a balance between the economic benefits and preservation of culture remains beneficial in deciding future plans for Rocks. While other uses would provide more financial benefits, the cultural experience presented by the site lacks financial value, but presents numerous benefits; including economic and financial benefits. References Crook, P. J., Murray, T. & Ellmoos, L., 2005. Keeping up with the McNamaras: a historical archaeological study of the Cumberland and Gloucester Streets site, The Rocks, Sydney.

Sydney: Sydney NSW : Historic Houses Trust of NSW. Douglas, T., 2010. How plague almost demolished historic Sydney. Australian Geographic, 16 August. NSW Government, 2013. Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority Websites. [Online] Available at: http://www.therocks.com [Accessed 6 June 2013]. Richards, D. M., 2012. Destiny in Sydney: An epic novel of convicts, Aborigines, and Chinese embroiled in the birth of Sydney, Australia. Manassas: Aries Books. Seal, G., 1989. The Hidden Culture: Folklore in Australian Society.

Melbourne: Oxford University Press.