Resolving Barriers to Travel Visas, Reduced Tourists, and Travel in Canberra, Airlines Services - Essay Example

RESOLVING BARRIERS TO TRAVEL By: Professor: Class: University: City: State: Date of submission: Resolving Barriers to Travel Introduction Globally, there have been rising on the activities associated with tourisms. In Canberra, the facts are clear considering the increment in the travel and tourism. Currently, the travel and tourism industry sector contribute more than 9.5% of the GDP translating to $7 trillion and one of the major sectors offering numerous employment opportunities. A study undertaken by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) revealed that the travel and tourism industry is projected to continue growing at a rate of 4% yearly. In addition, the council revealed that the sector is growing at a faster rate compared to the financial services, manufacturing, and transport. With such projections, the industrial growth seems unstoppable and worth considering for investment (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2016). Although some countries have been enjoying the booming tourism and travel sectors, in some countries, there have been severe influences from the geopolitical tensions and security threat. One of the primary criteria for selection of the tourism destination is security, as most tourists require safe and stable environment. In the past years, there have been tensions associated with geopolitical issues in various countries dominating the news headlines and deterring tourists from travelling in certain locations (The Saigon Times Daily, 2015). A significant reduction in the number of tourists contributes to revenue losses. With increased radicalization and terrorism activities, countries have been enacting laws that are barriers to travel. Reduced Tourists and Travel in Canberra Globally, there are about 7,246,000 international tourists; however, Canberra only receive 203,000 which reflects the lowest number of tourist visiting the states and territories. According to the Australian Capital Territory, Canberra registers an insignificant number of people due to the dull national icons, non-enticing climate, perception on lack of activities, and expensive domestic travel (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). The major flights operating within the territory come from Singapore and New Zealand; however, in the future, it expects flights from China especially with the Chinese origins spending most of their time in Australia and increasing the ACT market to be recognized internationally (ACT Government, 2011). With these factors, it is important to ensure efficiency in the provision of visas, passports, airline services, delays, and fees, which form the basis of the factors that challenge tourism and travel in the country. With increasing challenges associated with economic tantrums, most flights have been increasing their charges in a bid to manage the cost of operations. However, the cost of traveling tends to deter the visitors. Considering that Canberra is the capital city of Australia, it receives many tourists compared to other Australian destinations, which makes it more competitive. To ensure that the country boosts tourism and travel activities from the additional markets, there is need to ensure extension of the budget flights beyond the Canberra and Melbourne. Visas Visa is a legal document that gives permission to the non-citizens to transit or remain within another country for a particular period. With increasing number of immigrants, cases of radicalization, and security threats, countries have been keen on issuing visas to limit the number of foreigners entering the country. These laws are barriers to travel. Australia continues to attract both tourists and investors due to improvement in the national travel facilitation policies and enhance of the electronic visa system, which has been on the forefront to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the activities that involve tourism (Border.gov.au, 2016). According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the issued visa is applicable to both the inbound and outbound travellers, are based on the agreement with other countries globally. Additionally, to attract more travellers and tourists Australia needs to continue offering varied visa types including Partner, Electronic travel, Working and Holiday visa, and Visitor visa. Through enhancing the visa process, the process could facilitate the travel, which in turn makes huge differences. However, it is important to have a look at the barriers in place, eliminate those considered unnecessary, and apply various technological aspects with an aim of reducing the travel times while improving the level of security. Recently, the World Economic Forum launched its Smart Travel report, which revealed that collaborative efforts among the relevant public and private stakeholders would help improve visa provision efficiency. However, the forum also proposed an integrated model for the facilitation of travel (Department of Immigration and Border Protection, 2016). The specific proposal for the improvement of travel is consideration is travel consideration as the pillar of the bilateral and regional trade negotiations and agreements. Besides, these activities also form the basis of reviewing and streamlining the current visa and the process of crossing the border. In addition, at the national level, it is important that countries develop their tourism and travel destination with an aim of reaping the benefits associated with the growth and creation of the job and facilitation of travel through implementing electronic visas. Passport The Australians seeking to travel out of the country needs passport. Those travelling domestically within Australia do not require passport; however, the international travellers and tourists entering Australia need to present valid passport and other important documents. As of 2016, Australia received visitors majorly from Japan, Singapore, China, United Kingdom, New Zealand, USA, and Singapore (VisitCanberra, 2016). Besides presentation of a valid visa, the Australian law requires the travellers to present a fully completed Incoming Passenger Card. Without such vital document, the Australian authorities could delay or refuse the entry (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2016). In Australia, the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) provides authorization for travelling to and entering Australia, which is linked to the passport electronically. The screening processes for the genuineness of the passport take time. Besides, the requirements for issuing the Australians with the passports is quite complex. These complex processes reduce the morale of people travelling to Australia, which have impact on tourism activities (ACT Government, 2014). To resolve the barriers, the Australian government needs to embrace technology to allow easy confirmation of the passports and application among the Australians. Moreover, even the foreigners who have misplaced their passports have to look for temporary passports, which is an intensive legal process that takes time and money. Monitoring of the travellers activities should be done through the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Moreover, to ease passport processing and verification, countries need to develop their government websites and portals. These activities would reduce congestions and delays taken to receive the passports. Airlines services Most travellers seek comfort, efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability of the airline service providers. However, the Australian airline industry has been experiencing turbulent times, which led to decline in the international tourism due to united state’s September 2001 terror attack. Most international passenger terminals within the airports lack specialized designs for accessibility by the disabled; however, the airlines with such services often require early registration of the disabled passengers for use, which involves a series of complex processes. In a research undertaken by the Open Doors Organizations, the report revealed that travellers with disabilities contribute about $17.3 billion within the travel and tourism industry without the addition of their companions, which double the amount. Even with such immense contribution, most Australian airlines and airports lack specialized facilities for the disabled persons (City News, 2016). The airlines also have various restrictions which could limited the number of travellers including those suffering from the infectious diseases, pneumatically operated devices, and electrically operated device. To improve the efficiency of the services and encourage more travelers in Australia, it is important to eliminate communication barriers within the airlines and offer reliable and efficient services that meet the needs of the potential customers. Increasing the number of attendants committed to the satisfaction of the needs of the customers is inevitable (Beech, 2016). Moreover, the Australian government need to set a business environment that encourages the investors within the airline industry to execute their activities effectively. Fees For the international travellers, visas are frustrating necessity. In some countries, there are labyrinthine forms, which the states charge hefty fees. These designed fees tend to dissuade all except the most determined tourists. For example, in Britain, there is need for Chinese travellers and tourists to fill a ten-paged form using the biometric registration requirements. With such procedures, only 18% of the Chinese visiting Europe end up Britain. According to VisitBritish, the country’s visa policies cost the country £2.8 billion. The cost and process of applying for the travel and tourist documents determines the number of travellers and tourist that the country receives. Therefore, it is important that the government reduce the cost of processing the visas, passport, and airline services. This is achievable through establishing the laws that adequately regulate the activities within the tourism and travel industry (Tourism & Transport Forum, 2010). With the current hard economic times, most travellers are seeking for countries, which offer travel documents at considerably lower costs. In Australia, every visa applicant has to pay for the application-processing fee depending on the visa category under application unless there is no need for the application fees (Tourism Research Australia, 2016). Important costs to reduce include border-crossing fees for both the adults and children, visa fraud prevention and detection fees, and passport replacement fees. In most cases, the foreign travellers incur many expenses and costly procedures of replacing the lost passports and retrieval of the visas. These factors continue to deter the growth of Australian travel and tourism sector. Delays Improvements In tourisms and travelling sector, efficiency and reliability of the services offered is important. Besides the state airlines, there are also private entities providing the required airline services in an efficient and manner that meets the needs of the potential clients. Moreover, most states have been experiencing strikes of the workers within the tourism and travel sectors. Continuous occurrence of such activities reduces the morale of international travellers from visiting such country. In Australia, irrespective of the place the passport is applied, it takes about three weeks. Such duration need to be reduced to encourage more travellers and tourist (Economists, 2013). The striking workers could delay the take off time for the airlines, which could, in turn, lead to disorientation in the plans of the travellers. As a result, it is vital to establish schedule plans that prevent the occurrence of such strikes and adequate communication in case there would be a delay to avert complaints from the clients. The cases associated with delays in the issuance of passports, visas, and other travel documents needs to be accelerated, and communication made to the recipient for picking to prevent delays during retrieval. Within the airports, there is need for more terminals to prevent congestions of the travellers and ensuring there are employees within the airports to issue direction to the clients (Passports.govt.nz, 2016). Moreover, there is need for stability in the freight charges, application fees for the passports and visas, and any other additional charges. In case of any changes, there is need to ensure adequate communication with potential customers. Without establishing adequate solution to the barriers of travel associated with delays, it is clear that the industry is likely to collapse or experience prolonged losses due to reduced number of potential clients seeking such services. Enhanced Development Australia has numerous factors that attract the travellers and tourist. Moreover, most of the strategies to improve the tourism sector mainly encourage international travellers without realization of the significance role played by the local tourists in ensuring adequate development of the sectors (McIlroy, 2016). The major thematic areas that often attract the travellers and tourists are arts and culture, food types, funs that consider the families and outdoor adventures which continue to attract most Australian travellers. In regards to the Australian arts and culture, the country has numerous activities reflecting its cultures ranging from the products to the people. However, there is need for the country to provide the clients with the reasons of visiting and triggering for repeat visits (Department of Immigration and Border Protection, 2016). Moreover, there is need for the creation of contemporary and ever-changing feel through organizing new events and various ways of experiencing the existing attractions. As a metropolitan city, Canberra has various foods and wines reflecting the different cultures. However, it is important to highlight food precincts with an aim of lifting vibrancy and fostering the Australian food culture, developing the experience of the travellers not just the reputation of the food offered, and ensuring adequate integration of the cultural events, wines, and arts (Tourism Research Australia, 2014). Tourists and travellers are attracted with areas with fun activities, which the Australian government needs to encourage. There is need for developing new ways of ensuring interaction with attractions for various age limits. Conclusion Globally, there have been increments in the number of travels and tourist activities. As a result, various countries have been establishing practices and adjusting legal frameworks to utilize the opportunities presented with such activities adequately. The paper focused on the various barriers that have negative impacts on the travel and tourism sectors in Canberra, Australia, and development the recommendation of solving the barriers. Some of the common barriers include visas, passports, fees, airline services, delays, and issues associated with development. Australia has a complex process of issuing both the visa and passports, which could have an impact on the number of travellers that it, receives. However, with a reduction in the fees of issuing these travel documents and durations that the potential clients have to wait to receive their documents, Australia would have the opportunity is improving efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability in the services provided. 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