Australia to Trial New China Visa Rules to Boost Tourism - Term Paper Example

AUSTRALIA TO TRIAL NEW CHINA VISA RULES TO BOOST TOURISM Report Course Code Student’s Name Date of Submission Abstract The Australian government announced the introduction of the trial new Chines visa that would boost the Australian economy and attract more young Chines to visit the region. The initiative comes with potential positive and negative impacts on the region. This report identifies the positive and negative impacts of tourism activities. The report also presents various possible recommendations to the impacts. Table of Contents Abstract 2 1.0.Introduction 4 2.0.The significance and the possible causes of the rules 4 3.0.The potential impacts on the new rules 7 3.1.Positive impacts 7 3.2.Negative Impacts 8 4.0.Applications of disciplinary knowledge 11 5.0. Recommendations 14 References 16 1.0. Introduction The Australian government will implement the trial new visa riles for Chinese visitors as a strategy to boost the country’s tourism sector and education. The Australian economy has been struggling with the demise of the mining boom which had been one of the greatest economic drivers. The trial new visa will make it easier for the Chines tourists to visit the country. Moreover, the initiative will allow Chinese to make online visa applications for the first time. Initially, foreign students from China had to go through eight student visa categories. The trial new visa rule will reduce the categories to two with a trial of a new 10-year visa to attract return without necessarily going through the paperwork. As the Prime Minister, Malcom Tumbul said, China is Australia’s most valuable tourism market. This statement is supported by the statistical data that reveals that more than a million Chinese tourists visited Australia in 2015 and contributed $6.38 billion to the Australian economy. After the demise of the mining boom, Australia has been looking for ways to boost the economy. Consequently, the government saw that Chinese tourists and students would be the way. The purpose of this report is to address tourism issue on the Australian tourism industry. This report also makes recommendations that will minimise the negative effects as well as maximize the positive effect of tourism in Australia. 2.0. The significance and the possible causes of the rules China has large population, it has become a large market in Asia Pacific Region, with the development of economy, and the number of outbound tourists is increasing dramatically. According to ………. there is a significant unfilled niche in China’s outbound tourist boom that countries have to take advantage. In 2015, china had 120 million outbound visitors who spent over $104.5 billion. This was an increase of 12% and 16.7% respectively as compared to the 2014 statistics. As Osmong, Tingzhen and Pearce (2015) argue, the major driving forces of the outbound tourism are the rise of the disposable income available to the individuals, favourable travel appreciation and appreciation of RMB. Also, Mao and Zhang (2014) argue that more convenient visa policies, more international flights and summer holiday travel peak are reasons for the growing outbound tourism in China. With the implementation of One Belt and One Road strategy, the outbound tourism market experience more opportunities. Figure 1: Outbound visits by travellers from the Chinese mainland Dan (2016): Chinese extend lead as the worlds’ biggest spenders on foreign travel With the growing number of Chinese citizens in the middle class, outbound travel shows a potential of doubling the expenditure recorded in 2014 to reach $225 by 2025. The improvement of the livelihood of the Chinese people has increased the living standards and consumptions level of the individuals. As a result, the number popular destinations in the world are increasing. The outbound tourists seek various tourism experiences that range from entertainment, public service, shopping, touring, lodging, transportation, visa granting, and food (Dan, 2016). Most outbound tourists prefer backpacking tourism that involves an intense and continuous interaction of the individuals with other cultures over a long duration of time. Moreover, the backpackers aim at exploring the destination’s culture, history and society, and experience the lifestyle of the local community. Also, Australia is a tourist country and has rich tourist resource. Australia is taking advantage of tourism to boost its economy. The Australian tourism industry incorporates a wide variety of tourism activities which include transport, accommodation, food and hospitality sectors. The government has various initiatives to develop the transport system. The development of the airport, air routes, airfares, roads, and bass strait ferry are transport resources that give the tourists a memorable experience. As a key component of tourism in Australia, tourist’s accommodation is one of the country’s establishments (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). Moreover, the value of proposed tourist related development includes the development of international hotels. Australia offer a variety and unique tourism experiences. The natural features of the tropical forests, beaches, and mountain ranges give a contrast to the isolated outback and historical nature attractions. The Australian government views Australian Tourism Industry as a growing sector of the economy that offers attractive opportunities for tourism development projects. With the rich tourism resources, Australia is taking an advantage of the industry to recover the ailing economy. Amid the struggling Australia’s economy after the demise of mining boom, the tourism industry provides a glimpse of hope as one of the critical and major sectors that can boost growth and create employment. However, since tourism is a highly competitive, it is significant for the Australia’s Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) have to keep pace with the developments to reap maximum rewards. Taking advantage of the Chinese outbound tourism is one of the strategies that would help the Australia’s economy. China is one of the largest tourism markets for Australia. Also, geared by the devaluation of the Australia dollars, Chines outbound tourists to Australia have increased in the past (Dan, 2016). Therefore, targeting the Chinese tourism would boost the economy. 3.0. The potential impacts on the new rules 3.1. Positive impacts Increasing Chinese tourists The partnership between the tourism industry and the government is addressing the issue of increasing the number of tourists visiting Australia. Tourism businesses are improving their knowledge of the digital platforms, creating web pages in Chinese language and social media channels. The trial new China visa would attract more Chinese to Australia (Loker-Murhy & Pearce, 2000). With the reduced number of visa categories and 10 year visa will encourage more Chinese tourist to visit the country as the paper work is eliminated. Moreover, as the Australian tourism operators tailor their products for the Chinese market, they are attracting more Chinese tourists to visit the region. Boost the economy Tourism activities boost the economic development of the local communities and well as the entire economy. According to Khadaroo and Seetah (2008), tourism drives development through various channels such as improving the quality of life, improving the profile of the destination, and improving, building and developing transportation networks. Destinations that have a higher concentration of industry are visitor focused and grow faster compared to others (Mao & Zhang, 2014). The increased number of Chinese visitors will generate more revenue and stimulate the development of tourism activities. Increase employment rate Tourism is a major driver for creation of employment, development and economic growth. Australia’s tourism industry would create more jobs, both directly and indirectly. However, despite making significant contribution towards employment and improvement of the country’s GDP, it is necessary to ensure that the growth remains sustainable, create decent employment, and socially responsible opportunities. Chinese tourists seek clean and green environment and native animals. When focusing on Chinese tourists, Australia will benefit in terms of protecting the country’s natural environment. Most Chinese visitors also love to actively engage in nature conservation activities of the destinations that they visit. Moreover, as Chinese travellers are becoming more independent, Australia has the opportunity to entice a proportion of the travellers to engage in local culture and contribute towards economic activities that may be outside the major tourist centers. 3.2. Negative Impacts Deteriorating natural resources The negative impacts from tourism happen when the level of the environmental use by the visitors does not cope with the environments ability to change. Increased tourist visits and uncontrolled conventional tourism has significant threats to the tourism sites. As identified earlier, Chinese tourists like green and clean environment. With time, the tourism areas that are green and clean may become overused hence resulting in degradation. Water resources are a critical resource that is often overused. Hotels, swimming pools and personal use of water by the tourists would result in water shortage and a greater volume of water being wasted. With the increasing number of visitors local resources such as food, energy and raw materials may be in short supply (Nyiri, 2011). High tourism activities exert pressure on the local resources during the high season, leaving the community less resources to depend on during the low season. Forests would also suffer from the increased tourism due to fuel wood collection and land clearing for new tourism developments. Cultural conflicts As identifies earlier, young Chinese backpackers seek to experience the culture of the destination’s local culture. The backpackers are self-actualizers and social seekers. According to Cheing (2005), the Chinese backpackers have a materialistic and self-centred culture. It has been found that most of the Chinese backpackers are often under attack from social media platforms and academia for being cynical, rebellious and equality-obsessed. The backpackers often demonstrate Chinese characteristics. The inevitable cultural conflict between the local community and Australia’s tourism industry is a great hindrance to the development and sustainability of the industry. The greater the economic, cultural, and social different between tourists and local people, the more likely the relationship will become unequal. Cultural conflicts often arise where there is a lack of understanding from the tourists’ side regarding the destinations culture and norms. Cultural conflicts between tourism and the destination occur in a regular basis on different levels between diverse interested groups. The figure below illustrates the dimensions of cultural conflict in tourism. Figure 2: Dimensions of cultural conflicts Paris, Musa & Thirumoorthi (2015): comparison between Asian and Australia backpackers using cultural consensus analysis. 4.0. Applications of disciplinary knowledge Target group The trial new Chinese visa targets the young people and international students from China. Moreover, the richness of the Australian tourism experience creates opportunities that target younger travellers. The trial visa would allow individuals between the age of 18 to 31 to travel and work in Australia. The commercial, political, entertainment and academic interest including greater freedom and affordability attracts young tourists who opt to either travel alone, with friends or family. Young travellers seek to learn new cultures and entertainment (Loker-Murphy & Pearce, 2000). With a clear target audience in mind, the trial new Chinese visa targets the young tourists (Rosen, 2009). By developing the easiest travel option, having a wide regional diversity and the uniqueness of the Australian experience, Australia would attract more young, fun-loving and innovative tourists from China. Cultural distance The difference in culture between China and Australia leads to cultural conflicts. As argued by different cultures have meanings and expectations that differ from other cultures. Accepted rules in one culture may not be accepted in another. The culture differences cause misunderstanding and misinterpretation of rules leading to confusion, conflicts, and difficulties when interacting and create tension between individuals. Most tourists break the destinations rules because they are unaware of them or they ignore them (Cheung, 2005). For instance, food is a great part of the Chinese culture. Most individual would spend their spare time eating out. Food is a social experience for the Chinese. Eating is communal. However, the Australians are not used to communal eating making. The Australians and Chinese view personal space in different ways. Most Australians take personal space for granted while the Chinese value personal space and proximity. Destination Competitiveness The Australian government is taking advantage of unique tourist resource and decreasing foreign exchange rate to increase Australian destination competitiveness. There are a number of regions that are turning to tourism and driving regional development. Development of new infrastructure is a major aspect that enhances Australia’s competitiveness. The infrastructure is user friendly, and the quality of tourism infrastructure serves to attract more tourists (Khadaroo & Seetanah, 2008). The collaboration of the Australian government and the tourism industry leads to a joint decision-making process among the key tourism stakeholders. The collaboration and cooperation ensure that solutions and destination management strategies and put in place to make the region more appealing and attractive to (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015) . Australia has a community vision that aims at developing a clear description of what the local community have to do to achieve a greater tourism potential. Various communities based planning and destination visioning has enabled Australia to become more competitive and attract more tourists. Localisation Localization is the emphasis the Local identity and provides more authentic experience to tourists. Localization is a key point in tourism industry. Most organizations in the tourism industries are launching websites in Chinese language to enable the Chinese tourists to obtain the information that they need. Most of these organizations are taking this initiative because when visitors land on the company website and cannot find the information in their native language, the visitors would definitely look for the information elsewhere. Localization of website entices tourists’ visits to hotels, cities and use travel services. Localizing opens up new opportunities for the travellers and companies are able to convert the potential leads to sales. Simplified travel experiences to the visitors, and other strategies implemented by the DMO focus on creating real experience. 5.0. Recommendations Get feedback from the trial group and adjust the rules accordingly in the future. The trial new Chinese visa comes with various rules and requirements. The initiative comes with an expensive health check, high visa fee and a high score on the International English Language. The feedback would enable the maximization of the benefits derived from the tourism industry as the tourists would be able to provide the information as to whether the initiative enhances the attractiveness of the destination. The new Chinese Visa rules would also be adjusted to attract more visitors. Putting an emphasis on local identity and providing authentic experience would enhance the tourists’ experience. By enhancing satisfaction, there would be a generation of positive feelings of the tourists that would encourage revisits. The attention, cognitive, affective and emotional experiences are appropriate for the tourists’ transformative experience. Interpretation id one of the elements of providing local identity to the tourists. Tourists love to engage in social interactions with the local residents. Interpretation would enhance appreciation and understanding that provides a sense of place to the tourists. Appropriately control the number of tourists and regularize the tourists’ behaviour in tourist attractions to protect natural resources. Controlling the number of tourists visiting a region is a sustainable tourism management strategy that controls the depletion of the natural resources. For instance, when the number of the tourists is controlled, the daily water usage will be controlled and the conservations of specific destination landmarks and habitats would be possible. Learning the cultural differences between Australia and China, would help avoid cultural conflicts. Learning the cultural differences assists an individual to appreciate the differences. As Cheung (2005) argues, leaning another culture is interesting, and there is no wrong in doing something different. The major problem of cultural differences is the misunderstanding. Learning about another culture enables an individual to view a similar situation in another perspective resulting to more understanding and development of sympathy. Understanding the cultural differences assists an individual to understand that there is more than one approach to life and that your approach might not be the best way (Cheung, 2005). Learning other cultures allows individuals from China and Australia to move outside their bubble and find new ways of thinking and approaching problems. References Australian Bureau of Statistics, Overseas Arrivals and Departures, November 2015 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3401.0/. Cheung, M 2005, ‘A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Gender FactorsContributing to Long-Term Marital Satisfaction.' 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