HOS804 Visitor Behaviour And Management: Umbrella Model And Butler Model Assessment 3 Answer

Answer :

Visitor behaviour and management

Executive Summary

The tourist attraction and visit are significantly low at the time of offseason. This accounts in lowering the profitability of the business for the tourism sector. In this report, the emphasis is being laid upon the improvement of revenue for the tourism and hospitality sector in Sydney during the low season. The nature attractions, marine activities and the snow activities are some of the lesser-known tourism actions, which attract many customers during the summer season but fails in attracting the tourists during the wintertime. In this report, the strategy for improvement of tourist attraction is being discussed with the help of the Umbrella Model and Butler Model of Tourism Development. Appropriate recommendations are also being suggested for promoting the tourism destination in Sydney.

Introduction

The aim of the report is to mitigate the issue of a low number of tourists in Sydney during the winter months. The tendency of the tourists to avoid visiting Australia in the winter season is due to the cold weather and perceived idea of lack of activities to do. However, the cold climatic conditions to make it difficult to go out for beach activities, but other outdoor festivals still make Sydney very entertaining in winter. The report will highlight the events and entertainments during winter in Sydney and provide a framework of services and facilities to accommodate the increase of tourists. The application of the management theories in improving hospitality services would help develop the strategies for attracting tourists in Sydney during the winter season.

FindingsNewer Events in Sydney during winter months 660

Marine Events: Several marine activities can be done in the winter months in Australia. In the earlier days of winter, the warm waters are favourable for doing water activities. Scuba Diving, snorkelling are popular all over the world, and the adventurous experience will attract a vast number of tourists, even in the off-season. The variety of marine life and the underwater experience would provide the boost of tourists. There are also other options like whale watching where the winter migrations bring in the largest mammals to the coast of Australia. This would also be a great experience as this period is the best time to observe marine life in Australia. The low humidity and mild temperatures of the water also provided tourists with the ability to swim with the whales. Some facilities allow interaction with the whales and enjoy the marine life with the maximum capacity. There are also penguins and dolphins that migrate to the coastal regions during that time of the year.          

Snow Events: The tourists who like to enjoy the snow, there might be activities that can be done like skiing in the mountains of Southern Australia. The outdoor experience of mountain climbing, snowboarding and hiking in the mountains would be an exciting experience to increase tourist influx. Australia in the winter seasons attracts the largest number of snowboarders and skiers with the vast landmass dedicated to the sport. Some resorts and accommodations run solely on the snow activities on mountains. This provides an opportunity to increase the potential business of the hospitality industry during that time of the year. There is also a number of hot springs to enjoy for the tourists and add to the adventure offered by the region. The winter wildlife can also be enjoyed in the mountains during that time of the year. There are also several trekking sites with snow covering all sides of the mountains that are attractive in the winter months in Australia. These places are a paradise for adrenaline junkies who prefer the best snowshoe trekking experience.   

Nature Events: Winter in Australia is the time to witness the Southern Lights, which is incredibly rare and occurs in the Northern Hemisphere as well. The sight the whole sky lighting in different colours of light would definitely be attractive for the tourists. The sight is worth visiting Australia in the winter seasons. This is also an attractive time of the year to witness wildlife in Australia. The tourists can visit national parks with kangaroos, koalas, turtles etc. The attractions in these locations include the interactions with the animals, which provide an up-close encounter with wildlife. Crocodile observing is also another attraction, which can be exciting for adventure seekers. The access to numerous gorges, plunge pools and swimming hubs open up during the winter months. The nature activities would definitely invite many tourists from all over the world. There are also rock arts from aboriginals, which can be witnessed in these places. Nature tourism attractions would also include the vast display of refreshing greenery, dense forests, waterfalls and natural pools in the national parks of Australia.  Stargazing can also be an option for astronomy enthusiasts in the winter times. The clarity in the night sky allows observers to enjoy the installations in the chilly nights. The distance from the city makes the stargazing easier as the installations are allowed to shine throughout the night sky. Winter is also one of the best times in Australia to go on road trips. The winter months also offers the tourists with attractions from the vineyards where wines are produced in mass quantities. The natural beauty of the inter-season in Australia will attract tourists with proper knowledge. These attractions will be potential for local business owners to increase the income in the winter seasons. 

Infrastructure and Service Support to increase visitor number

Transportation and Airlines: The country of Australia is an island country, and therefore all communications with the civilisation are dependent on the airlines' industry. The tourists need to be provided with comfortable and fast aviation services interconnected with the rest of the world to increase the visitation during the winter months. The country will have to increase the domestic connectivity to allow the tourists access to different destinations for the tourists during leisure. The air and land transportations need to be interconnecting to let the tourists into the nature events, marine events and snow event spots all over Australia safely. The air transportations are bound the decreased capacity of carting passengers in one flight. This needs to be increased so that the tourist visitations can be increased with time. The Australian government is investing its resources in improving the capacity of the airlines' industry for increasing the tourist visitation by 2020 (Tourism Infrastructure Policy & Priorities, 2019). In order to increase the communication of the airlines' industry, the airlines' authority has published the protocol, resources and infrastructure needs. One of the major demands of this publication was the improvement of public transportation services and terrain roads all over Australia.

Cruising Services: The Australian government has greatly benefitted from the cruising industry as it has been designated the fastest growing tourism sectors. The tourists can be attracted to Australia during the winter months with additional ice diving and other winter sports entertainment in the cruising services (Boniface, Cooper & Cooper, 2016). The culinary tourism-based services would also require the cruise lines to provide food, drinks and entertainment for the visitors in the winter months in Sydney (Tourism Infrastructure Policy & Priorities, 2019). The cruise services can facilitate the marine events within the coastal regions of Australia. The cruising services can also be promoted as a medium of transportation between destinations. Increasing the capacity of the cruise ships within Australia would solve the issue of low visitor numbers in winter. The development of multiple ports is necessary to increase the connectivity and better networking of roads, to match the freight and tourist movements.   

Recreational Services and Facilities: In order to increase the visitor increment in Australia during the winter seasons, it is important that the recreational services and public precincts are open during that time of the year (Boniface, Cooper & Cooper, 2016). The suggested culinary tourism practices in Sydney would also require access to different public precincts for attending the events. The attraction of local as well as international visitors would be facilitated if such events and activities were marketed through advertisement (Tourism Infrastructure Policy & Priorities, 2019). Adjacent to the event spots then recreational facilities would keep the tourists entertained in their way to adventure. The multifunctional facilities would be useful for attracting a large group of visitors with the different recreational services and facilities being offered. The visitors will tend to stay longer if the innovative and culturally rich service offerings are provided to the visitors. This also makes it easier for hospitality service providers to obtain more revenue. 

City Accommodations: This would essential in case of attraction visitors in Sydney during the winter. The occupancy rates within Sydney during the off seasons would need to be managed to encourage the visitors for attending the culinary festivals during winter. In major Australian cities like Sydney, the occupancy rates have increased to 80% throughout the peak season. This needs to be maintained in the cities and efforts need to be made to improve the capacity of the accommodation services. The cost-effective packages need to be promoted to ensure that the leisure experience. This will ensure the effectiveness of cost dispersal of the visitors, deprivation of the local business and the loss of revenue generation of the neighbouring locations is lowered (Tourism Infrastructure Policy & Priorities, 2019). The limitations of the visitor occupancy in the cities inhibit the generation of revenue and hospitality services. Development of the tourism and hospitality property by the administration in the industry is equally important as developing the residential, retail and commercial properties. The activities of the culinary tourism attractions chosen for promoting Sydney tourism in winter months would require increasing occupancy in the cities. There needs to be specific accommodations in distant adventure locations in order to harbour the tourist influx in off-season.   

Outdoor event services: In case of the suggested attraction of the food feasts, which occurs in Australia during winter would require management of the outdoor guest services. The organisers need to provide the necessary sitting and display arrangements to ensure that the visitors are able to enjoy the events. The management of the spread of food also needs to be predetermined top help the visitors make the most of their leisure time. Trained staffs need to be employed to serve the guests in these attractions (Yumatov et al., 2017). The preference and allergies of the visitors also need to be managed in the outdoor events. This will increase the experience of the visitors with the hospitality service in Sydney during the culinary feasts. The management of the safety of the guests are also important to be provided during outdoor events; therefore, security surveillance would be necessary.

Target Market Attraction and Measuring 

One of the most effective marketing concepts that control the sales and revenue generation of the business are maintained through market segmentation. This process allows the identification of the consumers directly for the business service being offered. The tourism organisations in Sydney would need to identify their target segment of consumers from the consumer data. The customer data will provide information like the preference, behaviour and need in the market. In tourism, the motivation of the consumers to travel to a different destination for leisure and relaxation needs to be determined. It was estimated from research by the Australian government that 26% of the visitors in Australia proffered the food and wine services being provided to them (Food and Wine - Our Campaigns, 2019). Australia ranks second position in the world for culinary services and providing food and wine services to the visitors. It was also determined by the Australian government that the country has the potential to become the world's largest provider of restaurants in the world. This would greatly facilitate the tourism events that occur in Sydney during winter as a marketing advertisement. The initiation started in 2013 when the food and wine tourism was initiated in Australia (Byrd et al., 2016). In 2014, Australia hosted the event, which invited the celebrity culinary experts in the world to facilitate the process. The opening of one of the best-known restaurant chains called the Noma was inaugurated in Australia to increase the gastronomic offering in 2016. Australia hosts many world-renowned restaurants and food services to attract the attention of the visitors. International visitors coming to Australia have increased their expenditure in the country to 5.8 billion dollars as of 2017. In a global ranking of presenting food and wine to visitors, Australia ranks 8^th position, for those who have not yet visited the country and 3^rd position for those who have (Food and Wine - Our Campaigns, 2019). This would add to the attraction of the tourists for the nature, snow and marine events in winter.

Tourism Theories to manage the tourism influx in Sydney during Winter Months

Tourism Umbrella

The brand strategy of umbrella suggested by Walker usually concerned with the brand positioning within the region. The goals and principles of brand management are included in the umbrella model to improve the brand architecture. 

Fig 1: Tourism Umbrella

Source: (Walker, 2007)

Walker (2007) described, in the tourism industry, the management of the different sectors include the travel, lodging, assembly of event management, culinary services and recreational services. In order to increase the increment of the visitors in a particular destination, the travel needs of the consumers need to be provided. The air, cruising, railways, automobile and ecotourism services increase the visitor attraction in the region. These facilities are one of the primary facilities, which the visitors seek in leisure destinations. The development of the travel services would be facilitated with the contributions of the government. The government does the investments regarding the improvement of infrastructure and property to increase the capacity of the tourism industry within the region. The accommodation or lodging facilities are generally the options of hotels, resorts and motels being provided by the destination for leisure. Scheyvens & Biddulph (2018) opined that developed nations like Australia generally have all-inclusive facilities like resorts for the entertainment of the visitors. The restaurants and the managed services also increase the desirability of the destination. The assembly and the event management services include the conventions, meetings, conferences and business expositions to attract corporate clients. The recreation services include the attractions, gaming, parks and recreational activities to entertain the tourists. The event management covers the area suggested attraction of food festivals that occur in Sydney during winter seasons. The management of the food and outdoor entertainment services in Sydney during the winter season would need to be efficient to increase customer relationship management. As per the umbrella theory, the hospitality business owners need to increase their service attraction by providing discounted pricing strategy, and enhancement of the recreational services. 

The Butler Model of Tourism Development

Richard Butler proposed this model of tourism development in 1980 in consideration of the carrying capacity and sustainability in the tourism industry. The theorist observed that the attractiveness of a tourism destination was inconsistent, which required careful management to avoid exceeding the capacity limit. The proposed model has six stages, which helps hospitality organisations collect information regarding a destination to undertake groundwork. 

Fig 2: Butler Model of Tourism Development

Source: (Streimikiene & Bilan, 2015)

Streimikiene & Bilan, (2015) identified In the exploration stage; the tourists visit the destination in small numbers due to lack of information of the region. The revenue is generated due to natural or cultural attractions as primary factors. The secondary tourism factors are not yet developed in the region, which does not provide the desirability of the destination. The local residents are not efficiently benefitted from tourism revenue.  In the second involvement stage, the local residents bring in their contribution to developing the desirability of the location. The secondary tourism attraction emerges in the destination and accommodation services are developed. The seasonal preference of the destination is also generated in the destination. The government starts taking the initiative to improve the transportations in the region to facilitate development. The development stage is recognised by the increase of the visitors in the peak season exceeding the local residents (Lundberg, 2015). The well-defined tourism market is obtained through marketing, but the involvement of the local community as a tourist attraction is declined.  The secondary tourist attractions are provided by corporate organisations. The changing of the natural landscape might be seen with the involvement of corporate organisations. The consolidation stage provides the recreational business services in the tourist attractions contributing to the economy of the local inhabitants. The franchising and the major tourism chains represent the primary attraction of the region (Camilleri, 2018). This might be seen in case of the food feasts during the winter months in Sydney. The stagnation and the organisations have exceeded their carrying capacity within the region. Lastly, in the decline stage of the stage is identified by the lowered attractiveness of the region. The innovation and rigorous m marketing strategies need to be promoted for the attraction in Australia in winter to prevent it from going into the decline scenario.

Conclusion

The discussion directs the tourism strategy of Australia during the off-season like winter towards the culinary and recreational services. The popularity of culinary or gastronomic services in the world has the potential to attract visitors. The food and wine services in Australia are exquisite and preferred all over the world, which can be used as a promotional advertisement. The developments in the management of the visitors by improving the pricing and capacity of the tourism services during winter could be effective in improving the revenue generation within Sydney. The tourism and event managers need to build better coordination and communication to ensure the visitor service is improved. Consideration of the Tourism Umbrella in managing the services in different hospitality sectors would be effective for the local business owners. The management of the different sectors described in the umbrella model would ensure the all-inclusive approach of hospitality management. The consideration of Butler's life cycle of tourism destination would help in to gather the information and determine the state of the hospitality service within the region. The development needs for visitor attraction are also determined with the help of the life cycle model. Adherence to the management model by the business organisation would increase the visitor intake within the winter months. 

Recommendation

The short-term Goals

The short terms goals include making the sales value priority by marketing and advertisement. The promotions of the culinary attractions within Sydney all have the potential of attracting visitors from different locations. This will help to create brand awareness all over the world and increase the scope of generating revenue. Improving the customer feedback generation would be essential in case of the promotion of newer services to international visitors. In order to improve the daily services provided to the consumers, it is essential to maintain transparency within the internal organisational environment. The Good Food and Wine Show, Hunter Valley Food and Wine Festival as well as Bondi Feast, would be impacted with a rigorous advertisement. The service providers would obtain the increment of the domestic as well as international visitors through promotional advertisements. 

The Long-term Goals

The long terms goals include the training and education of the staffs for increasing the service competency. The competency needs to be a top class from the administrative officials, employees and other staffs in the service organisations within Sydney to increase the efficiency of the customer experience (Yumatov et al., 2017). Performance management would be practised to maintain professional skills. In terms of the culinary service, the Sydney hospitality and tourism, enterprises need to monitor and maintain health and safety standards of the government. The market research regarding customer demand analysis would be beneficial for the business owners involved in visitor management. In order to increase the desirability of visitors, business owners could create cultural and community awareness.