Sunshine Coast Tourism and Gold Coast Tourism - Research Paper Example

A Comparative Analysis of Sunshine Coast Tourism and Gold Coast Tourism Table of Contents Introduction 3 Gold Coast Tourism 3 Sunshine Coast Tourism 3 Comparison of Visitor Satisfaction between Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast 4 Sunshine Coast- Domestic Visitation 6 Gold Coast- Domestic Visitation 7 Sunshine Coast- International Visitation 8 Gold Coast- International Visitation 9 Total Visitation- Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast 10 Challenges Faced by the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast 11 Conclusion 12 References 13 Bibliography 15 Introduction This project aims to initiate a comparative analysis between the Sunshine Coast Tourism and the Gold Coast Tourism in Australia. Both these places have been the favourite hunt of tourists. Australian tourism has been performing significantly well for the last few decades. It has contributed significantly to the growth of the economy. Some of the key reasons behind the successful performance of this sector are the availability of extremely flexible labour market, the existence of a competitive and highly efficient business market and the role played by the Australian Government. The tourism sector in Australia has contributed substantially to the creation of job opportunities, increased export earnings and catalysed the process of regional development. In this regard, special emphasis is given to bring forth the comparison between the Gold Coast Tourism and the Sunshine Coast Tourism. Gold Coast Tourism The Gold Coast in Australia is a very diverse and interesting city which offers a number of surprises to its visitors. It has 10.5 million people visiting this place every year. It has families, couples, business delegates, and solo travellers visiting the place all round the year. The city offers different kinds of experiences and packages to different people in accordance to their budgets. The Gold Coast is said to have the maximum number of venues each of which is extremely popular among the countries of the southern hemisphere (Very Gold Coast, 2010). Sunshine Coast Tourism The sunshine Coast on the other hand is a more peaceful and calm tourist destinations in Australia. It is characterised by the unique combination of both country and coast. It is considered to be the perfect place for unwinding and relaxing. This place is also famous for offering the best cuisine, adventure and action. The cost is specifically famous for being picturesque round the year. The temperature remains moderate all around the year which makes it the dream holiday destination in the country (Sunshine Coast, n.d.). Comparison of Visitor Satisfaction between Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast Customer satisfaction is the most important aspect on which the entire tourism industry thrives. Many tourist spots have been competing with each other with a view to maximise and maintain high visitor satisfaction. Hence companies are stressing more on understanding and studying the factors which are responsible for influencing customer satisfaction. Recently a number of studies were conducted to assess the performance of the tourism industry in Australia. It was found that customer satisfaction in case of non tourism services and products increased along with the increase in age and personal competence. On the contrary, it decreased with education (Spinks, Lawley and Richins, 2005, p.2). The visitors in this coast include local people, intrastate, interstate and people from every nook and corner of the world. Research has revealed that previous experiences along with learning and origin influence customer satisfaction to a greater extent than gender and age. The respondents have even emphasised on the fact that they consider the local market as the best place for buying regular products. The research tried to find the way in which the visitor characteristics influenced their behaviours and satisfaction associated with the place. It was found that origin, age and gender plays a vital role in influencing the visitor’s perception about the place. The study has also revealed that different age groups respond differently and that their satisfaction level also remains different from one another. It suggests that tourist managers market their services and products based on demographic and geographic segments. They also need to align themselves with the needs of the customers and the offerings of the destinations (Spinks, Lawley and Richins, 2005, p.10). A survey was conducted on the visitors of Gold Coast. Visitor’s satisfaction and participation was assessed for a number of services and activities. Results showed that participation level was substantially high for activities like swimming, getting suntan, meeting the local people and experimenting with food and wine. A service called “limousine” (Sparks, 2002, p.18) was reported to have the highest number of participants. The respondents were found to be extremely satisfied with the service. 65% of the people enjoying this service said to be extremely satisfied. Among the other activities and services which reported to have wide acceptance among the participants is water sport. Some of the places which were most visited were National Park and also the hinterland regions. A survey was conducted to assess the reaction of participants after they had visited the coast. One third of the participants said that they would be most willing to re-visit the gold coast within a year. 17% of the participants said that they would be likely to return back to the coast. Another one third said that they were not likely to return and the remaining 8% of the participants remained neutral to the subject (Sparks, 2002, p.20). A large number of participants said that they would recommend the coast to potential visitors as a favoured holiday destination. These people constituted 75% of the visitors. 45% of the participants said that they were likely to recommend the coast to other people. 14% said that it is likely that they would recommend the cost while only 4% declared that they would suggest the coast to other visitors. 8% of them remained neutral to the subject. A large number of the participants were of the opinion that the coast hadn’t undergone much change since their last visit (Sparks, 2002, p.20). Sunshine Coast- Domestic Visitation Following is the information provided by the data on the number of international and Australian visitors to the Sunshine Coast. It also throws light on the trend of Australian tourism and its growth. The following figure shows the number of visitors visiting the Sunshine Coast. Figure 1: Sunshine Coast- Domestic Visitation (Source: Tourism Queensland-a, 2009, p.1) It is evident from the figure that the number of people visiting the sunshine coast has declined over the years. The interstate declines were primarily evident for people visiting relatives and friends. Interstate visits were mainly dependent on holiday visits. Intrastate visitors increased their visit to the coast and this increase was primarily driven by people living in Brisbane, the local people and residents of the adjoining region. It is true that the interstate visit of the region declined substantially, but on the other hand the decline was compensated by enthusiast visitors from Melbourne. In 2009, “day trip visitors” (Tourism Queensland, 2009, p.1) increased substantially. Thus it can be concluded that budget conscious visitors are opting for a single day’s trip instead of a night stay (Tourism Queensland-a, 2009, p.1). Gold Coast- Domestic Visitation Figure 2: Gold Coast- Domestic Visitation (Tourism Queensland-b, 2009, p.1) The number of people visiting the gold coast declined substantially. It is evident that people have a tendency to travel to places which is close to home. Residents of Brisbane increased travelling to coats for visiting relatives and friends. They even increased their day trips to the coast and the adjoining region. The families living in the region particularly increased their visit to the coast. The overall picture was that there was a decline in the total number of visitors to the place but on the contrary, visitors from Melbourne increased substantially (Tourism Queensland-b, 2009, p.1). Sunshine Coast- International Visitation Figure 3: Sunshine Coast- International Visitation (Source: Tourism Queensland-a, 2009, p.1) As seen in the figure there was a 1% decline in the number of international visitors to the coast. This decline was less than the number of international visitors visiting the state. The Coast encouraged visitors from UK. There was substantial increase in the number of youth below the age of 30 years visiting the place. There was also an increase in the number of youth travelling from Continental Europe to the region (Tourism Queensland-a, 2009, p.1). Gold Coast- International Visitation Figure 4: Gold Coast- International Visitation (Tourism Queensland-b, 2009, p.1) Number of people from across the world increased and this rise was primarily for those who were travelling during holidays. Japanese visitors topped the list. This was the first time since September 2005 that the number of Japanese men visiting the place increased. The number of people coming from China also increased. China forms the third largest global source market for this coast. Similar to the Sunshine Coast, young European travellers visiting the coast also increased significantly within one year (Tourism Queensland-b, 2009, p.1). Total Visitation- Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast Figure 5: Sunshine Coast- Total Visitation (Source, Tourism Queensland-a, 2009, p.1) Figure 6: Gold Coast-Total Visitation (Source, Tourism Queensland-b, 2009, p.1) December 2009 witnessed a total of 2,95,7000 numbers of visitors to the sunshine coast. But this was a 4% decline in the number of visitors from the previous year. On the other hand, number of visitors to the Gold Coast was 4,019,000 in the year 2009, which was a 2% less from the previous year. Thus it is seen that the Gold Coast is a more popular holiday destination in comparison to the Sunshine Coast which explains its nominal decline of visitors in comparison with the former. In 2005, the Sunshine Coast successfully adopted the “Commonwealth Australian Tourism Development Program (ATDP)” (Sunshine Coast Tourism Opportunity Plan, 2009, p.3). The plan was primarily meant to develop the management and marketing plan for the coast. The plan focussed on market demands, competitive advantages and advantages of the coastal destinations and aspirations and values of the local community. Challenges Faced by the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast A gradual shift of the population towards the Sunshine and the Gold Coast has been registered. These two coasts emerged as the two most populated places in the country. In 2004, the Gold Coast had surpassed Canberra in terms of population. At the same time, the Gold Coast had become the “tenth largest urban centre in Australia” (National Sea Change Taskforce, n.d., p.1). The Australian population is growing rapidly, thereby posing a serious threat to the coastal regions. The tourism industry is finding it difficult to keep pace with the rapidly growing population. Another challenge faced by the Gold Coast is the increase in the number of tourist destinations in different parts of the world. Today, the Australian tourism industry aims at making the Gold Coast an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable holiday destination. It is also trying to ensure that the coast is flexible enough to deal with any opportunity that might arise in the future (Gold Coast City Council, n.d., p.1). However, it is known that any attempt to develop a business is time consuming and requires extensive research in that field. The tourism industry, in particular, requires extensive infrastructure for its development. Infrastructure including accommodations involves huge investments that promise dividends in the long time run (Glover & Prideaux, 2008, p.1) Conclusion The Australian tourism industry has made significant contribution to the economic development of the nation. The Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast specifically have emerged as the favourite hunt for tourist, not only among the Australians but also for the people around the globe. Surveys show that the industry has grown rapidly over the years. Visitors to both the places have shown immense satisfaction and a large number consider the two coasts as the best place to travel. Both these travel destinations are putting immense efforts with an aim to diversify their tourism products. The manner in which they are encouraging international visitors to visit these places is indeed commendable. This has been done to encourage tourism product development and generate more awareness regarding tourism products, which in turn would result in growth of the industry. References Glover, P. & Prideaux, B. (2008). Identifying Tourism Demand: The Gold Coast and Cairns in 2020. Retrieved on September 25, 2010 from http://www.griffith.edu.au/conference/cauthe2008/refereed-papers/RP003.pdf. Gold Coast City Council. (No Date). The Gold Coast Tourism Visioning Project. Retrived on September 25, 2010 from http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/attachment/Tourism_Profile1.pdf. National Sea Change Taskforce. (No Date). The Challenge of Coastal Growth. Retrieved on September 25, 2010 from http://www.seachangetaskforce.org.au/Publications/The%20Challenge.pdf. Sparks, B. (2002). Visitor Satisfaction Survey on the Gold Coast. Retrieved on September 24, 2010 from http://www.sustainabletourismonline.com/destinations-and-communities/destination-performance/visitor-satisfaction.aspx. Spinks, W., Lawley, M. & Richins, H. (May, 2005). Satisfaction with Sunshine Coast Tourist Attractions: The influence of individual visitor characteristics. Retrieved on September 24, 2010 from http://www.jcu.edu.au/business/idc/groups/public/documents/journal_article/jcudev_012889.pdf. Sunshine Coast. (No Date). Welcome to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Sunshine Coast. Retrieved on September 24, 2010 from http://www.tourismsunshinecoast.com.au/. Sunshine Coast Tourism Opportunity Plan. 2009. Sunshine Coast Tourism Opportunity Plan, 2009-2017. Retrieved on September 25, 2010 from http://www.tq.com.au/fms/tq_corporate/destinations/sunshine_coast/Sunshine%20Coast%20Tourism%20Opportunity%20Plan%20lo%20res%20(7_12_09)%20(for%20web)pdf.pdf. Tourism Queensland-a. (December 2009). Sunshine Coast Regional Snapshot. Retrieved on September 24, 2010 from http://www.tq.com.au/fms/tq_corporate/research/destinationsresearch/sunshine_coast/09%20December%20Regional%20Snapshot%20Sunshine%20Coast.pdf. Tourism Queensland-b. (December 2009). Sunshine Coast Regional Snapshot. Retrieved on September 24, 2010 from http://www.tq.com.au/fms/tq_corporate/research/destinationsresearch/gold_coast/09%20December%20Regional%20Snapshot%20Gold%20Coast.pdf. Very Gold Coast. (2010). Fun and Diverse. About the Gold Coast. Retrieved on September 24, 2010 from http://www.verygoldcoast.com.au/about-gc/. Bibliography Burns, P. M. (2006). Tourism and social identities: global frameworks and local realities. Elsevier. Donald, D. (2003). East Coast Australia. Footprint Travel Guides. Medik, S. (2003). Dictionary of travel, tourism and hospitality. Butterworth-Heinemann Saee, J. (2006). Managerial competence within the hospitality and tourism service industries: global cultural contextual analysis. Taylor & Francis. Stimson, R. J. (1996). Tourism in Australia: an overview of trends, issues and prospects. Bureau of Tourism Research. Read More