Opportunities and Threats of Tourism Tasmania Organization - Case Study Example

Opportunities and Threats of Tourism Tasmania Organization Name University Opportunities and Threats of Tasmania Tourism Organization Australia is the strangest land on earth. It has a wide variety of weird wildlife and endless horizon of magical landscape that can be found nowhere else in the world. When one moves away from its modern cities to the wilderness, it gives a feeling of being on another planet. It is a land of paradox whose centre is a burning desert with rugged mountains covered in deep winter snow. These natural endowments make Australia a major tourist destination in the world. Among many tourist organizations in Australia is the Tasmania Tourism. This paper examines the opportunities and threats of Tasmania Tourism Organization. Market size can be defined as the number of buyers in a particular market or the total amount of money that is exchanged in the market every year. Tasmania Tourism organization enjoys a large and diverse market size both internally and externally. Most tourists that visit Tasmania Tourism come from European countries, Asia and America among others. Australia has encouraged and promoted domestic tourism and this makes organizations like Tasmania Tourism to cater for domestic market as well. The size of the market deals with a turnover of worth over $1.4 billion a year which came from accommodation, tours, attraction and other goods and services. The state also receives about one million international and interstate visitors on scheduled sea and air services. Tasmania industry has experienced several challenges since its inception. Its growth was impeded by recession in European economies and reduced economic growth in Australia. The collaboration between Tasmania Tourism industry and Tasmania State in 1997 together with proper planning and strategies has made the company to grow tremendously over the years. For instance, when tourism 21- Joint Strategic Business Plan for Tourism was initiated in 1997, the amount of money spent by international and interstate tourists rose from $550 million to $1.4 billion in 2012. This was an unprecedented growth and the tourism industry still expects to see this number grow substantially. Currently the growth of global has slowed down substantially since the global financial crisis. This has also greatly affected the domestic tourism. The emergence of other tourist destinations and competitive airline fares has made tourists to consider several travel destinations. Tasmania tourism industry is all over Tasmania state which is an island part of Australia. It is 240 kilometres south of Australian continent and separated from it by Bass Strait. Tasmania has relatively large and un spoilt natural environment. Forty five percent of Tasmania is in reserves, world heritage sites and national parks. Tasmania island stretches 364 kilometers from north to south and 306 kilometers from east to west. The capital of the state of Tasmania is Hobart. Hotels for accommodation are mainly found in the capital, Hobart and other cities like Clarence and Glenorchy. Tasmania tourism industry posts huge profits every financial year. The profits come from tour and travel industries, accommodation and hospitality industry and from national park and game reserve gate passes among others. For instance, the hospitality industry alone can manage to get a profit of about $177 million in 2011. The Tasmania tourism industry however faces several challenges and this affects the profits. Even though the profits realized keeps on increasing the Tasmania tourism industry needs to do much so that they can maximize the profits because it has a large potential to grow (Tourism Tasmania, 2012). Market segmentation is a marketing technique and strategy that entails dividing an entire target market into sections such that consumers with common need and priorities are put together and then a marketing strategy is designed to satisfy their needs. Tasmania tourism industry has several market segments. To start with, there is a market segment that targets the middle class the upper class. Facilities like accommodation and travel are tailored such that they meet the needs of both classes. However most tourists that go to Tasmania are middle class and that makes the Tasmania tourism industry to build hotels most of the hotels to target the middle class visitors. The services and food that is provided in these hotels are also tailored to suit the needs of the middle class tourists. Market segmentation also represents the diverse backgrounds of the tourists that visit Tasmania. The Chinese and Americans, for example, prefer different types of food. This makes the Tasmania tourism industry and in particular hospitality and hotel sections to learn the needs and preferences of tourists from the two regions. Most of the tourists that visit Tasmania also prefer accommodation in urban areas and for this reason several accommodation hotels are built in towns like Hobart, Launceston, Devonport, Burnie and Kingston among others. The few tourists that prefer accommodation in rural areas always face challenges because in these areas there are inadequate accommodation facilities. Tasmania state government together with Tasmania tourism industry have tried to promote local and interstate tourism by charging low prices in accommodation and entry fees to parks and reserves. This makes many Tasmania State residents and the Australians to promote tourism industry. International traditional markets such as Japan, United States and Europe have reduced their expenditure due to hard economic times. The future of tourism in Tasmania still looks bright because it is expected to attract emerging markets like Singapore, Malaysia and China. Currently the arrival of these Asian countries in the Tasmania tourism market is growing rapidly in expenditure and arrival. The high opportunity market segment being targeted by the Tasmania tourism industry is the Asian tourists. The middle class Asian tourists are expected to grow rapidly because of the current technological advancements and improved economy that they are experiencing. The future of this market segment looks brighter and the industry is currently strategizing on methods of making Tasmania a major tourist destination (Tourism Tasmania, 2012). Competitive airline transport to and from Tasmania to the Asian countries is one of the strategies they are putting in place so that the visitors can arrive in large numbers. Accommodation and hospitality is being improved both in standard and volume. Marketing for international tourists is also done through co-operative campaigns and promotions. The promotions involve tour operators, inbound tour operators, in-market trade partners, airlines and Tourism Australia. Tourism Tasmania offer educational opportunities to international travel buyers and assist them in experiencing tourism Tasmania and Tasmania through trade missions, familiarizations, workshops and sales calls. The lower market segments being targeted by Tasmania tourism industry is the domestic tourists and tourists from United States and Britain. For the domestic market the industry offers cheap accommodation, transport and reduced entry fees to the parks, reserves and heritage sites. Tasmania tourism industry invests millions of dollars yearly on destination advertising and other activities to promote tourism throughout Australia marketing and promotion activities include use of a wide range of media like digital, television advertisements, print, cinema, trade shows, advertorials, public relations and media articles and programs. Sometimes the Tasmania State itself promotes tourism by subsidizing the entry fees to the park or reserves. Domestic and international Tasmania tourist industry has varied preferences and choices that influence buying decisions. The decision to buy or not to buy a product or service depends on several factors. To start with, they prefer buying excellent hospitality services and products as well as excellent accommodation facilities. International tourists are likely to choose to visit Australia because it provides: excellent hospitality services which are way beyond customer expectations; cheap and competitive transport services; cheap accommodation facilities; variety of tourism destination options; proper and intense marketing using a variety of media including internet; excellent weather conditions; variety of unique animals and landscape which cannot be found anywhere else in the whole world. Domestic tourists on the other hand decide to use the services of Tasmania Tourism industry because: it offers a variety of natural experiences; domestic tourism is relatively cheap and is affordable to many; there is a variety of accommodation services to choose from; the tourism industry does intense marketing and charges cheap entry fees to national parks and game reserves; the domestic tourists get information from other Tasmania state residents about their experiences in the tours and visits to national perks, game reserves and heritage sites (Lindstrom, 2013. Beckwith, 2013). Tasmania tourism industry gets competition from other tourist destinations all over the world but mostly from other Australian states. Among the states of Australia, Victoria and New South Wales are the major competitors. The two states offer greater competition to Tasmania tourism because of several strengths. Firstly, they have a historical appeal to tourists and most of the tourists who have visited the places always pass the information to their friends when they go back to their countries. Then, the two states have a better proximity to the external market, that is, the international tourists. This makes the destination easier and cheaper to access. Thirdly, the regions receive both high class and middle class tourists due to their location. Most of the tourists that wish to travel to Tasmania have to pass through one of the destinations. Lastly, the two regions are have major towns and are more developed with good transport network and excellent hospitality and accommodation services. The two tourist destinations have large tracks of land and therefore more heritage sites, national, parks, game reserves and species of animals and plants. They receive greatest number of tourists who visit Australia and this has made them to expand and dominate the Australian tourism market. The two states also have a long tradition in tourism which means that they are more developed and offer competitive services to domestic and international tourists. (Tourism Tasmania, 2012) Victoria and New South Wales market trends are slowing down and newer tourist destinations are now receiving large number of visitors every year. The Asian countries economic growth continues to be felt more by Tasmania than the other tourist destinations. Although the two states continue to get profits through tourism, their profit ratio is lower compared to Tourism Tasmania. (Tourism Tasmania, 2012) In conclusion, tourism Tasmania has employed intense and strategic marketing strategies over the years and continues to see the positive impacts of such strategies. Considering its size and location, it can be said that it is at its apex as far as tourism promotion is concerned. The support from Tasmania State and political stability has enhanced a productive business environment. References Beckwith, Harry. (2013). Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing. Hachette Digital Inc.: New York. Lindstrom, Martin.(2013). Buyology: Truths and Lies About Why We Buy. Random House Audio: New York. Tourism Tasmania & Paddy Pallin, Scott Leggo, Kathyrn Leahy, Rob Burnett, Melinda Ta, and Dorset Council. (2012). Tourism Tasmania Strategic Scan. Tourism Tasmania: Australia, 6-25. Read More