Positive and Negative Impacts on the Sustainability of South Australia - Case Study Example

The Tour Down Under University’s Name Submitted by Names: Tutor: Date: Introduction Tourism industry is becoming a key contributor of economic development around the world. Governments especially those of the developing nations are embracing these new development aspects with a lot of concerns. New tourism products and destinations are emerging every other day to cater for the raising demands and at the same time enlarge the business world. Sports tourism is one of the tourism products that attract many people in the world. Other than the satisfaction of tourism consumption for the tourists, sports tourism helps keep the stakeholders fit. Tour down under is one of the most remarkable sports events in the world. It is a cycling sports event based in South Australia, which attracts many people every year. For instance, it attracted to almost a million people this year to Adelaide. The event has received many rankings by the tourism sector as well as global ranking systems. The event makes experiential outcomes to all its stakeholders, hence making it an all-round and sustainable tourism activity (Smith & Stewart, 2010, p. 2). Event Impacts Tour down under has had both positive and negative impacts on the sustainability of South Australia. Recent reports indicate that the events have seen the country tremendous growth in economic terms. Every January of every year, Tour Down Under events attract many people from all around the world to both participate and be spectators of these great events. As a result, these events bring about millions of dollars to the Australian economy. Money amassed from these tourism events not only develop the tourism industry but also help in lifting up industries that appear to be going out of market in Australia. These events not only attracts many tourists but also has attracted the attention of the media group. Attracting media attention is a very helpful tool in marketing a destination and its products (Pike, 2008. P. 56). Today, the world is not just aware of the events but also the great lifestyle of the Australian people, an aspect that attracts cultural tourists. It is an event that affects all aspects of growth and development in the nation. Moreover, tour down under events have contributed towards environmental sustainability is so many ways. First, the management advocates for environmental conservation through proper waste management. This is done by placing recycling bin around the city hence encouraging people to dispose waste in a safe way. This move has led to many people advocating for the continuity of these events as the majority of residents see it as sustainable tourism product that not only aims at profit maximization but also giving back to the society (Weed, 2008, p. 112). In addition, the events advocate for use of efficient fuels that do not emit a lot of carbon to the environment. They also advocate for use of alternative transport means like bikes and animal transport to cut down carbon emissions and in turn reduce effects of global warming. Considering the raising concerns of environmental health and especially global warming problems, one can say that tour down under events are worthy undertaking. Conversely, these events have affected the social aspects of the residents in a negative way where during the events there is a lot of overcrowding leading to blockage of roads. Event Stakeholders Tour down under is a community event; therefore, it is made of stakeholders from all fields of life. Tourism activities are made by people, for people through people. Consumers of tourism products are the most important stakeholders of any tourist event. The customers are the reason why the events are performed, and without them, the product is irrelevant (Soteriades, 2011, p. 214). The events consumers or in other words spectators are composed of both locals and visitors. The second most important stakeholders are the service provider; the participants. Over time, the events have expanded to include not just the locals but also people from diversified localities. January 2013 events attracted around four hundred thousand interstate participants. It is needless to emphasize further on the vitality of this group of stakeholders considering the nature of products in the tourism industry. It is impossible to separate a tourism product from the service provider; they are more or less the same. Other than the participants, the cycling events usually involve professionals who oversee the progress of those involved in the race. Professional cyclists are helpful in these events for guidance where they give the participants advice on effective skills that can help reduce chances of accidents and injury during the race. As mentioned earlier, tour down under is a community-based product thus making the host community an important stakeholder. The host community involves the suppliers of the materials used in the events, local businesses that supply visitors with necessities during the stay, as well as the local people themselves. The government is also an important stakeholder in these events. The government acts as the both the sponsor and partner in the tour down under events. The government provides financial support to these events via the tourism industry and makes the regulations that govern public events just as the cycling events. Lastly, the management plays a great deal in ensuring the success of the entire activity (Candrea & Ispas, 2013, p. 63). The rest of the stakeholders can be termed as part time stakeholder, but for the management team, it is a full time business. They plan the whole thing throughout the year as well as taking part in ensuring that finances gotten from these events are put in the rightful use. It is one thing to raise a great deal of money, and another to make good use of it. For the event to remain sustainable for both consumers and the participants there is a need for effective and efficient financial management, which is the duty that the management team aims at achieving. Impacts of TDU on Stakeholder Tour down under events has several impacts on all its stakeholders. The activities are organized in a way that they bring an experiential impact to every party involved in consumption and production of the events. For the participants and the professional cyclists, this is not just another business. Sports are both a business and an exercise. Most people even those renowned persons in the sports arena do it for fun, satisfaction and as a means of earning a living. Self-actualization is more important for sports participants than the financial gain (Liu, 2006, p. 176). The cycling events help participants keep fit, not just during the events seasons but the entire year. Practice is what makes a great cyclist. Participants do practice for the better part of a year before they can participate in the events on every January. Health practitioners have indicated that people who take part in these events are at a lower risk of suffering from global diseases such as diabetes and heart problems among others. Self-identification and satisfaction is another impact that these events have on participants. This gives the participant a social status especially among lovers of sports. The greatest achievement of a tourist product is based on authenticity. Tourists have become so sophisticated, therefore, demanding authentic products. Technology an especially the use of the internet has cut down the need for travel from one place to another. One can consume a tourism product at the comfort of their home or office; therefore, there should be a distinction between internet consumption and real life consumption. Internet consumption can be biased in one way or the other, therefore, tour down under events offer original products to clients free from bias and other manipulations. The community benefits greatly from these events every year. Money accrued from this business is channelled back to the community for growth and development. Communities around tourist destination cannot be compared with the rest of the society in terms of growth and development. For instance, such communities enjoy the advantage of improved infrastructural and superstructure development. The Adelaide community has seen great development over time since the inception of this tourism product. In addition to community enhancement, these events provide an ideal socialization ground for the community hence ensuring that the community is well informed of the global trends (Woodside & Martin, 2008, p. 242). Business people in this community make increased profits every year arising from the visits. Professional cyclists involved in the tour down under events have indicated that these activities provide a better ground for them to practice their career. Giving guidance to other participants allows the professional cyclists to put in practice the knowledge they have acquired from personal experience and learning institutions. This way, one can know where they lie in their career path. In addition, these events give sports achievement and satisfaction to these lovers of sports. The government and the rest of the managements team benefits the most from these activities. The entire team satisfaction is a great achievement for the management team and in extension the government (Chalip, 2010, p. 3). Tour down under events are known to contribute greatly to the Australian economy thus enabling the government to carry out its operations with ease. In addition, these events attract the whole world to seeking the rich and diverse landscape and lifestyle of the local people. For the tourism industry in general, the events have assisted in brand awareness and destination marketing. Events and Destination Promotion Events in tourism terms are packages brought about with a perceived concept then customized to achieve the intention of such events. In simple terms, these are the core aspects of a tourism product or destination. Events are used to market a particular tourist product and in turn the tourist destination. The cycling events in Adelaide act as the pulling force to tourists and the entire world to South Australia. As much as the events receive much of attention, in the long run, the destination becomes a renowned tourist destination attracting a wide range of lovers of travel (Jayswal, 2008, p. 258). Destination planners use events to promote and market a destination brand. Tour Down Under events help deliver key messages about South Australia to the world and at the same time create a positive community image to the world. Events and destination are two different entities but serve each other in terms of promotion and marketing. Events attract media coverage; therefore, the destination is put in a spotlight something that is quite important when it comes to promotion (Lee & Brown, 2013, p. 11). The participant of the event travels to the destination in order to participate in the events activities but end up bringing a great deal of foreign currency to the destination and the entire nation. In general, events are powerful tools in marketing a tourist destination. Tour Down Under events have assisted in marketing and promoting South Australia as a tourist destination in so many ways. Following the cycling events, the demand for local businesses such as hotel accommodation, restaurant services and transport services has increased. In addition, lovers of nature and culture based activities find themselves extending their stay after these sports events to consume more of the destinations products. At the same time, these events have branded the destination an all-time destination, a destination that is not affected by seasonality (Wyludda, 2009, p. 31). Strategies to Attract More Tourists to South Australia TDU has the potential of attracting even more people to South Australia and making Adelaide one of the greatest tourist destinations in the entire Australia. However, proper planning and management is necessary to see through such success. The planning of the TDU events for January 2014 is underway, with the management team focusing on choosing the ideal host for the event, a host that will accelerate the core purpose of the events. An event’s ability to attract out of state visitors is depended on its ability to enhance tourism competitive appeal (Kozak et al., 2010, p. 77). Therefore, TDU managers have an obligation to ensure that their event offering are not just any other sport events by creating some level of uniqueness. First, the management need to diversify their products. One way of diversifying their product is by creating a tourism product, which does not only involve sports but also touches on the other aspects of tourism. For instance, the planners can include leisure events and culinary aspects of tourism in the sports package. In this case, one pays to watch or participate in the cycling events but later in the evening entertainment and culinary services are offered as part of the package (Amoroso, 2012, p. 3). This way, the event will attract a wide range of tourist not just those interested in sports, therefore, raising the number of tourists consuming south Australian destination products. Having he right market and the right product mix is not enough, right pricing determines a products level and rate of consumption. Over pricing or under-pricing a product reduces the level of consumption. Over pricing is exploitive while under-pricing lowers the quality of the product in consumers’ eyes. Customers are of varied types and most attach value price. In addition, under-pricing a package brands a destination cheap. Cheap destinations are not attractive to clients. In general, planners of TDU events need to price their events with certainty by considering their target market and the state of the destination; weather it is a well-known destination or it is moderately known. Lastly, the event planners should focus on maintaining a positive relationship with the media group. Moderate attention is necessary especially for ensuring that only the important and vital information reach the target market. Too much exposure to the media can lead to over emphasis on negative reports that deposition a destination. If the image of a destination is destroyed then it goes without saying that such a destination receives a reduced number of visits until they reposition themselves (Higham, 2005, p. 65). The cost of repositioning a destination is relatively high; therefore, to maintain and attract more visits to South Australia, destination planners must ensure right relationship with the media. These three strategies are vital for attracting new markets and raising the number of tourists to Adelaide. In conclusion, event tourism is becoming an integral part of destination planning and marketing with planners adopting this approach to grow their destination. Events serve both as a product and as a marketing tool where they not only bring financial contribution to a destination but also create a platform for the world to learn about such a destination. Sports and tourism are becoming more interlinked as days go by. They are the two opportunities that any nation can tap into and scale higher heights of growth and development. Sports events are one of the events being used in the tourism industry. It is necessary that events management strategies be integrated in the general tourism strategies to maximize the benefits that come along with events tourism (Kozak & Bologlu, 2011, p. 51). On the other hand, as matters of globalization continue to take root, it is vital for destinations to develop continually new products and packages to cater for the changing and diversified consumer wants. TDU has a chance of placing South Australia in the international market but only with the right strategies and planning. References Amoroso, S 2012, Tour Down Under-a police perspective, Australian Police Journal, pp. 1-4. Candrea, A & Ispas, A 2013, Promoting tourist destination through sport events. The case of Brasov, journal of tourism, vol. 10. pp. 61-67. Chalip, L 2010, Sport tourism can transform a city, bring major economic gains, says sport policy expert [online] Available at: Higham, J 2005, Sport tourism destinations: Issues, opportunities and analysis, Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford Boston. Jayswal, T 2008, Events tourism: Potential to build a brand destination, Tourism Marketing and Promotion, pp. 253-262. Kozak, M & Baloglu, S 2011, Managing and marketing tourist destinations: Strategies to gain a competitive Edge: Routledge, New York. Kozak, M, Gnoth, J & Andreu, L 2010, Advances in tourism destination marketing: Managing networks, Routledge, London New York. Lee, S & Brown, G 2013, The eventscape experience: Conceptual insights from the Tour Down Under in Australia, Tourism and Leisure Management, pp. 1-17. Liu, T 2006, Tourism management: new research, Nova Science Publishers, New York. Pike, S 2008, Destination marketing: An integrated marketing communication approach, Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam London. Smith, A & Stewart, B 2010, The special features of sport: A critical revisit, Sport Management Review, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-3. Soteriades, M 2011, Tourism destination marketing: improving efficiency and effectiveness, Lambert Academic Pub, Saarbrucken, Deutschland. Weed, M 2008, Sport & tourism: a reader, Routledge, London New York. Woodside, A & Martin, D 2008, Tourism management analysis, behavior, and strategy, CABI, Wallingford, Oxford shire Cambridge, MA. Wyludda, A 2009, The impact of a mega sports event for a nation Analysis of the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany, GRIN Verlag, München. Read More