Discuss About The Analysing Tourism Stakeholders The Networks?
The topic of this report overtly highlights its essence. It seeks to give a comprehensive discussion of the development of a contemporary tourism policy meant to remarkably address the problem of labour and skills shortage impacting the quality of tourism service delivery in Australia. It demystifies the various aspects of the booming tourism sector particularly the labour aspects. The report is structured in five sections namely:
I work for G Adventures agency. It is a global travel agency which provides diverse styles of trip to meet different tastes alongside offering a wide array of departure dates and destinations (G-Adventures, 2013). However, the agency operates in the country at a national level (Australia, 2012). Our operations cover the Victoria state region particularly Melbourne city and port Campbell.
My chief role in the agency is to process the bookings for our clients. The bookings are largely done online. I receive the booking requests, go through them keenly and then approve them by processing the. All these are done in several minutes or hours depending on the traffic in the system.
It provides a wide range of tourism services. Such services include; adventure sports, tours to dazzling cities, beaches, animal parks, mountain climbing, hiking and caving among others (Tours, 2011). Additionally, it offers a broad selection of small group tours of up to nine people, expeditions, and safaris.
The agency values are remarkable. They include: love, lead, embrace, create and do (Tours, 2011). These are evidently the core values on which the agency is anchored. Essentially, it seeks to change the lives of people and visitors.
There are several internal and external influences in the agency. The chief internal ones are the agency`s culture, employees, the management and owners (Travel, 2014). These factors work for the benefit of the agency. Similarly, the external influences include: competitors, clients, regulations, partners, political, economic and sociocultural dimensions among others (Travel, 2014).
The policy goals include:
The objectives are:
The policy will address the issue in several ways. It will bring on board all the relevant stakeholders. The policy will advocate for the establishment of more tourism training institutions (Centre, 2015). Also, it will provide for proper remuneration.
The presence of low-cost airlines presents suitable opportunities for the sector (Francis, et al., 2006). This is because the number of tourists visiting the country is bulging immensely. This is attributed to the increase in preference for traveling by low-cost carrier flights (Francis, et al., 2006). According to them, there has been an upsurge of such flights from 54% in 2014 to 56.51% currently.
Another opportunity is the increase in international tourist influx. This implies that the number of foreign tourists visiting the country is immense. Evidently, this provides a potential to tap the lucrative market opportunity for the tours and travel entities, G Adventures inclusive.
An upsurge in participation in outdoor recreational activities is also evident. This means that there has been an increase in the number of both local and foreign tourists who are embracing outdoor leisure activities. As such, this translates into more market openings for the entities in this booming sector. Recently, there has been a high growth in adventure tourism with huge travellers seeking novel, exciting and challenging adventure experiences while on holiday (Tribe, 2015).
Protecting the environment is a paramount issue. A majority of the adventures and tourism activities involve the natural surrounding greatly (Tribe, 2015). This implies that such activities occur within the natural settings of the environment. For instance, camping, caving and hiking just to mention a few mainly involve the natural environment. This is because they occur in game parks and forests among others. As such, safeguarding such environment is a chief issue in the tourism sector.
Tourist safety is also a chief issue (Tribe, 2015). This is because many of the tourist and adventure activities revolve around dangerous aspects. For instance, hiking, animal parks, adventure sports and caving among others. Such activities present quite some dangers to the participants. Consequently, prior and prudent safety measures need to be considered.
One of the crucial impacts of these aspects on the industry is that they halt the productivity of the industry. This means that the sector`s production levels are slowed down quite significantly. Sadly, this translates into adverse effects on the country`s economy which is partly dependent on tourism. Similarly, the growth prospects of the lucrative sector are discouraged. This implies that the future development plans of the industry by investors both local and foreign are quite dampened. As such, the industry`s growth rate is slowed down which is detrimental.
Increasing popularity of glamping and RVs is a major challenge to the sector (Buhalis & Darcy, 2011). According to them, glamping depicts a glamourous way of camping that does not need one to pitch tents, no unrolling of sleeping bags and no lengthy journeys to find a bathroom. It is a way of experiencing immense outdoor devoid of sacrificing luxury. As such, this has posed a significant problem to the adventure agencies. This is because the tourist will not need such items which are provided by the travel and adventure agencies. On the other hand, RVs describes towable trailers meant for leisure activities like vacations and camping and are found in parks (Buhalis & Darcy, 2011). Resultantly, the travel agencies do not benefit.
The global economic crisis is another challenge (Buhalis & Darcy, 2011). This implies that the regular and unpredictable fluctuations in the worldwide economy are a threat to the sector. This normally involves changes in the exchange rates and other economic-related disasters. As a result, this hits the tourism sector adversely whenever it occurs.
Visitor numbers are essential in the tourism industry (Tribe, 2015). This means that visitor turn-up is indispensable for the operation of the tourism sector. Higher visitor numbers are the desire of every tourism enterprise. This is because increased visitor numbers usually translate into high revenues. The opposite is vividly true.
Nearly even income distribution among the visitors is relevant to the sector (Tribe, 2015). This is because it means more revenue from the visitors. Similarly, high-income visitors enhance the sector`s overall revenue and vice versa.
Full-time employees tend to spend quite more relative to their part-time counterparts. This means that the part-time workers spend sparingly. This is because they have to save for other activities considering they possibly earn less than the full-time employee.
Monetary policy is a chief economic driver (Dredge, et al., 2013). This means that such a policy should be favourable to the tourism sector. This is to ensure the proper functionality and performance of the indispensable sector in the economy.
Exchange rates are also equally paramount drivers (Dredge, et al., 2013). Constant and predictable foreign exchange rates are necessary for the smooth running and productivity of this diverse sector. This is because such stable exchange rates enable appropriate planning and more.
Political trends locally and overseas is a key driver (Dredge, et al., 2013). This is because such trends influence visitor numbers into the country. As such, stable politics are highly suitable for the frictionless functioning of the country`s tourism sector. Vice versa is evidently true.
Demographic aspects are part of the drivers too. For instance, they include aspects such as lower birth rates, increases in ethnic diversity and the inflow of young people into the cities. These adjustments cause different patterns in the consumption of recreation and leisure time (Dredge, et al., 2013). For example, older retired people can have many years of time to participate in recreation. However, their physical capacities diminish as they age. Additionally, people have children at a later age hence can spend more time on holidays.
The Internet especially smartphones is another driver. According to (Dredge, et al., 2013), people can make plans about their recreation and leisure time more quickly any time of the day. This promotes convenience.
Environmental drivers are also evident. In the rural areas, landscapes are increasingly being abandoned since farming has become less profitable. This may have beneficial effects on the environment since pollution is lowered and natural habitats upsurge (Dredge, et al., 2013). This results in attractive recreation places.
Examples and why the problem needs a new policy
Some of the examples drawn from the research include the use of online booking systems and inflation among others (Dredge, et al., 2013). These are among the most key driver elements in the sector.
The issue needs a contemporary policy. This is because the present labour shortage is impacting adversely on the general tourism sector (Whitford & Ruhanen, 2010). The impact is manifested in the poor quality of customer service delivered. As such, this requires immediate mitigation.
A plan or policy is indispensable when the need arises to satisfactorily and conclusively address a regional, national or international problem (Liu & Wall, 2006). This means that either of the two is usually better placed to sort any emergent problem that involves a significantly huge number of people or particularly a sector or industry. The chief reasons for the need of the plan are mentioned below.
To adequately boost and sustain the tourism industry. This implies that the policy will steer the ailing sector particularly its labour aspect towards enhanced service delivery and consequently sustainable remarkable performance.
To benefit the local people and increase their quality of life. This will be attained through increased employment and better pay
To significantly mitigate unemployment in the country. The policy is partly anchored on the need to reduce unemployment levels among the country`s population.
To identify training and education gaps and consequently address them. The policy will address the need to establish more education and training centers and institutions to adequately equip the existing and entry-level employees with the refined and competitive tourism skills.
The need to maximize productivity and efficacy in the tourism sector.
To improve recruitment and sustainability for the sector. The policy is necessary to ensure that the hiring and retention process in the industry is transparent, accountable, reliable and efficacious. Similarly, the retention of the staff needs to be based on merit and also incentives and other relevant motivations.
To promote workforce mobility and expand the existing workforce. This implies that there exists the need to facilitate the smooth movement of the workforce within the industry. Additionally, the expansion of the current tourism workforce is highly necessary to meet the increasing needs of the high number of tourist visiting the various destinations in the country.
The role of government forms a paramount and sophisticated aspect of tourism (Airey & Ruhanen, 2014). This means that the government plays a key role in the efficient running of the tourism sector in any given country. It does this under the ministry of tourism. As such, it is important to note that the government is central in managing the tourism industry.
One of the top government roles includes the protection of the environment and conservation (Airey & Ruhanen, 2014). This implies that the government is responsible for ensuring that the environment particularly the tourism surroundings are well protected and conserved. It can do this through relevant legislation and other government environment regulatory agencies.
The government is also tasked with the development of tourism resources (Airey & Ruhanen, 2014). As such, it has to mobilize the enhancement of resources in the tourism sector. For instance, the development of tourism infrastructure is essential.
According to (Airey & Ruhanen, 2014), training and education facilitation is another notable government role. This means that the government is expected to equip the interested people in the sector with the necessary and up to date skills. This is via setting up training institutions across the country. This will, in turn, translate into adequate and efficient service delivery in the sector.
There are various stakeholders in the tourism industry (Presenza & Cipollina, 2010). According to them, they include:
The Australian tourism sector employs about one million people (Davidson & Wang, 2011). They add that this translates into 8% of the country`s total employment. Nevertheless, there are presently 38,000 unfilled vacancies within the industry, and hence tourism enterprises are facing immense hiring and retention hardships as well as skills deficiencies. This is one of the major problems, and it is attributed to various trends in the country.
here are several such impacting trends. They include increased migration particularly from the rural areas to the cities, an aging population and the lack of smooth facilitation of transition from tourism education and training centers in the country (Davidson & Wang, 2011). As such, the movement of young people from the peripheral and rural areas of the nation to the urban areas causes an influx of people in those places. Sadly, a majority of them lack the necessary tourism skills hence the acute labour shortage.
Similarly, an aging population is a contributing factor. This is it leads to reduced number of young and energetic people who can be productive in this industry. Also, the disharmonious transition from tourism training institutions to the job market is an overt trend.
Challenges and agency response, likely reasons for government intervention and the likely desirable effects of the policy
According to (Cameron, 2011), the following are the present challenges namely:
Suitable responses to these challenges are as follows.
According to (Bramwel, 2011), the possible reasons for government intervention include:
The likely desirable effects resulting from the implementation of the policy are outlined below.
The two relevant approaches include rational and incremental approaches (Anderson, 2014). They add that rational approach involves comprehensive decision-making. This means that it encompasses intensive consultations which are inclusive and democratic. This approach will be suitable since the proposed policy touches on quite some crucial stakeholders who need to be consulted and adequately involved. Additionally, this approach considers all the possible alternatives considering the relevant social, political and economic aspects (Howlett, 2010)
The incremental approach involves the continuation of previous policy with small adjustments (Anderson, 2014). This implies that the existing elements of the present policy are polished and enhanced to adequately address the current issue, in this case, the shortage of labour and skills in the Australian tourism sector.
Policy instruments are tools that may be employed to overcome challenges and attain objectives (Bramwell, 2012). According to him, the most relevant instruments to this policy include the following:
It is possible to employ several instruments in the policy (Ferro, et al., 2013). Such instruments include money (monetary) and advocacy. This is because the two complement each other in a unique way. That is, to successfully advocate for the policy elements, there needs to be the use of monetary aspects.
The policy will provide the relevant frameworks within which all the recruitment and retention of employees in the sector will be based.
The planning process will be precise (Castellani & Sala, 2010). As such, the process will follow the following outlined steps:
All these will be executed by fully engaging all the relevant policy actors and stakeholders. This will ensure that the process is democratic and inclusive. As such, there will be less, if any, resistance to its implementation.
Who to consult, implementation, its review and the determination of its success or failure
According to (Liu, et al., 2012), the relevant parties to consult include:
The implementation of the policy will follow the following steps namely (Dredge & Jamal, 2015):
Its review will involve the assessment of its performance at regular intervals, for instance, annually.
Its success or failure will be done in the following two ways:
References
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Bramwell, B., 2012. 21 Interventions and policy instruments for sustainable tourism. Social policy, p. 406.
Buhalis, D. & Darcy, S., 2011. Accessible tourism: Concepts and Issues. S.l.: Channel view Publications.
Cameron, R., 2011. Responding to Australia`s regional skills shortages through skilled regional migration. Journal of economics and social policy, 3(14), p. 4.
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