SWOT analysis - Assignment Example

Strengths Fremantle prison is a tourist attraction for many tourists both international and local. The site has seen the number of tourists increasing since 1991 when it was closed as a prison and turned to a museum. Fremantle prisons have various sites where tourists can visit and experience different types of views including underground cells, which make the site unique and attractive (Chasse 2011). The prison is located at the tourist attraction centers with various sites for tourist like Roundhouse, Fremantle markets, Perth old public building, WA Maritime Museum and The South Terrace cappuccino strip (Ashworth, et al 2004).

The site can be easily accessed by road, boat or rail any time by tourists or any interested individuals. The numbers of tourist frequenting the sites are many with registration of up to 150,000 in the years 2006 and 2007 (Elspeth and Leanne 2001).WeaknessesOne of the main weaknesses found in the site is that it has to use the fee paid by tourists for maintenance of the prison, for example, the fee will be used to reconstruct and paint old building to last long. This means that low turnouts due to various factors would reduce the efficiency of the site.

Additionally, the heritage site does not have enough parking area for buses and small cars forcing tourists and visitors to park their cars in town before accessing the site. The site is also not clear of sharp and dangerous objects tourists (Tours n.d). OpportunitiesThe biggest opportunity for the Fremantle area is that it has various industries with different economic effects and different lifestyles caused by different structures such as entertainment. The proprietors can also improve ways of accessing the site with the use of available materials on archives and tourism guides available online (Kumar 2008).

Additionally, Fremantle prison is integrated as one of the world heritage sites; the site was nominated by the Australian government as Australian Convict sites making the only heritage sites in Western Australia (Chassé 2011).ThreatsThe threat to the existence of the heritage site is that minimal accommodation is available in the area, thus forcing visitors to look for accommodation elsewhere making them visit the site less number of times (Tours n.d). Another threat is that there is no clear investment for services to be provided to visitors.

There are competitions from other heritage sites within Fremantle city ReferencesAshworth Susie, Turner Rebecca and Egger Simone. 2004. Western Australia. Australia: Lonely Planet.Chassé, Sonia. 2011 Conference proceedings world heritage and tourism : managing the global and the local, June 2-4, 2010, Quebec City, Canada: Presses Université Laval.Frew Elspeth and White Leanne (ed).2001. Tourism and National Identity. New York: Taylor & Francis.Kumar, Kapil, 2008.The convict heritage tourism: a case study of Fremantle prison, Australia, New Delhi, India: Indira Gandhi National Open University. Tours (n.d),welcome to Fremantle prison, viewed on 13 October, 2013, on < http://www.

fremantleprison.com.au/VISIT_US/TOURS/Pages/default.aspx >