International Tourism System in Tasmania: Visitors, Attractions, Impacts and Policy Implications

This report discusses the international tourism system in Tasmania, including the number of visitors, major attractions, issues related to tourism and destination development, positive and negative impacts of tourism activity, and policy implications for sustainable tourism outcomes. Tasmania is a small island state of Australia that is famous for festivals, food and drinks, national parks, and world heritage sites. The report analyzes the economic, environmental, and socio-cultural impacts of tourism activity in Tasmania, and suggests policy implications for sustainable tourism outcomes.

Running Head: Tourism System
Tourism Tasmania
International Tourism System

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Visitors in Tasmania........................................................................................................................2
Major attractions in Tasmania.........................................................................................................3
Issues related to tourism and destination development...................................................................4
Positive and negative impacts of tourism activity...........................................................................6
Economic impact..........................................................................................................................6
Positive impact.........................................................................................................................6
Negative impact........................................................................................................................6
Environmental impact..................................................................................................................7
Positive impact.........................................................................................................................7
Negative impact........................................................................................................................7
Socio-cultural impact...................................................................................................................7
Positive impacts........................................................................................................................7
Negative impact........................................................................................................................7
Policy implications to attain sustainable tourism outcomes............................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Any travel and stay for not more than one year irrelevance to the purpose is known as the
definition of tourism. International tourism system is a crucial aspect for every country as its
contribution is effective towards economic development. International tourism leads to bring
extra revenue for the country because spending of foreign tourists are treated as extra income for
the country while domestic tourism does not leads to enhance the revenues for the country as
money circulates within the country only. There are numerous types of tourists such as budget
tourists, luxurious tourists, business tourists, etc. Apart from this, tourism is of two types i.e.
international and domestic. When tourists travel within the country is a part of domestic tourism
and when tourists visit other countries irrelevant to their purposes is known as international
tourism.
This report will focus over the international tourism system in relevance with Tasmania. It is an
island state of Australia and famous for festivals and sensational food and drinks. This island
state is mainly known for national park and world heritage. This state is a small state in Australia
but it is an attraction for tourists. The Tasmanian tiger is quite famous and according to survey,
1.28 million people visited Tasmania in one year till September, 2017. Approximately, 8% rise
has been noticed in the number of visitors visited last year. Apart from the number of visitors,
spending by tourists has also been increased. Tourism Tasmania is the authority with all powers
in terms of handling all operations with regards to the tourism in Tasmania (Lovely Planet,
2018).
This report will focus over the number of tourist visitors in Tasmania along with determining the
major attractions of small and attractive island state of the country. Further, issues related to the
tourism and destination development will be discussed along with discussing the positive and
negative impacts of tourism activity. The last part of the report will focus over policy
implications by the government to attain sustainable tourism outcomes.

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Visitors in Tasmania
Number of visitors (12 months to September
2017)
1.28 million (approximately 8% more from
last year)
Visitor spending $2.3 billion
Total nights spend by tourists in the same
year
10.73 million (Tourism Tasmania, 2018).
International visitors Increased by 17%
Growth rate Growth rate of Tasmania was recorded
higher than the national average
Table 1: Visitors statistics
H o l i d a y V F R B u s i n e s s E d u c a ti o n E m p l o y m e n t O t h e r r e a s o n s
75.46
14.19
5.37
2.64
2.24
0.08
76.38
14.08
5.43
2.39
1.6
0.1
purpose of internati onal visitors
Dec-16 Dec-17
Figure1: purpose of visit of international tourist
Year Visitor’s nights Average nights
June 2012 28,20,493 20
June 2013 32,25,530 21
June 2014 27,52,493 17
June 2015 32,18,347 16
June 2016 34,11,604 15
June 2017 39,49,374 16
Table 2: Average number of nights spent by international tourists

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Figure 2: Total visitors in Tasmania
(Source: Tourismtasmania.com.au)
Major attractions in Tasmania
Tasmania is one of the smallest island state across the globe along with full of attractions which
attracts tourists. Approximately, 1.28 million people visited from other countries to Tasmania
which shows the popularity of a small island in Australia. According to research, Tasmania
growth rate in September 2017 was higher than the other Australian states and it is also higher
than the national average growth rate. Tasmania is famous for all activities which are crucial part
of tourism industry. In relevance with attracting tourists from other countries, Tourism Tasmania

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has adopted some of the trending digital marketing strategies in order to promote tourism in
Tasmania (Discover Tasmania, 2018). Tasmania’s major attractions are as follows:
 Museum of old and New art (MONA)
 Salamanca market
 Kunayi/ Mt. Wellington
 Freycinet National Park
 Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
 Mount Field National Park
 Royal Tasmanian botanical gardens
 Mount Wellington
 Tasmanian music and art gallery is the 2nd oldest museum in Australia
 Museum of Old and New Art
 Lake St Clair
Apart from these places, there is lot more to do and experience along with the great wild life in
Tasmania. This attracts tourists from different parts of the globe. This small island state is
majorly dependent over tourism activities and most of the income for this state also comes from
tourism industry. People in Tasmania follow their culture strictly and they are also found very
emotionally attached with their city. From beautiful destinations, attractive and clean drive roads,
national parks to self-drive itineraries to world heritage are available in Tasmania and climate
and weather conditions also supports Tasmania to attract international tourists for a relished and
peaceful experience (Tourism Tasmania, 2018).
Tourists’ perception for visiting a country is motivation for visit and the major motivation for
tourists to visit Tasmania are natural beauty, world heritage and beautiful destinations. Along
with this, Tourism Tasmania has made the state attractive for all types of tourists. Apart from
this, various big hotels, resorts are situated in Tasmania which provides all type of services to the
tourists as per their requirements. With the help of these services provided by big hotels and
resorts, number of budgeted as well as high spending tourists increases which ultimately
enhances the revenues for Tasmania. With the effect of tourism, Tasmania’s growth rate has
been analysed higher than the other states of the Australia and higher than from the national
average growth rate in 2017. These services and attractions are the major motivation for tourists

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along with providing various types of services in terms of targeting number of tourists. Tourism
is linked with the satisfaction of human desires and in order to satisfy tourist’s desires and needs,
Tourism Authority in Tasmania has taken various effective measures and steps so that tourists
could feel safe and secure along with numerous experiences. Iso-Ahola’s theory of motivation
for tourism industry states that tourists gets motivated towards a destination with the effect of
interpersonal escape, personal seeking, interpersonal seeking, and personal escape. Tourist seeks
for satisfaction and attaining worth in terms of services and products as per their spending.
Issues related to tourism and destination development
In Australia, popularity for Tasmania has been increased from the tourism perceptive and this
has helped the small island state to enhance various job opportunities for the unemployed along
with enhancing the contribution towards economic development. Tasmania is a tourist place for
all types of tourists as the place is full of attractions and as being one of the most visited places
across the globe, there are issues and challenges in relevance with tourism and destination
development which are faced by Tourism Tasmania:
 Due to high number of visitors, traffic increases and this lead to emission of carbon and
other harmful gases. This is affecting local lives along with Tasmanian economy is also
getting affected (Wang & Pizam, 2011).
 Tasmania is a small island state, thus, illegal activities such as export of fish have been
increased rapidly due to which sea bodies are getting affected. It is also affecting the
natural beauty of the place along with increasing threats for tourists.
 Due to high number of visitors, Tourism Tasmania is required to arrange appropriate
accommodation facilities and for the same, natural habitat of the state is getting
destroying.
 Increased air traffic is another primary reason for decreasing breathing air quality.
 Water wastage and irrelevant utilisation of other natural and scarce resources is also
affecting the natural beauty of Tasmania (Kusluvan, et. al., 2010).
 Tasmania has various national parks and amongst those national parks, number of unique
animals exists and for the same, number of tourists visits these national parks and to

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arrange appropriate accommodation and other facilities, hotels and resorts needs to be
constructed through which lives of animals is getting affected (Mayaka & Akama, 2007).
 Illegal hunting and dealing of animal skin is another major challenge faced by Tourism
Tasmania.
Tourism industry includes various aspects such as accommodation, travelling services and
shopping. Globalisation is another major challenge and issues faced by Tourism Tasmania. All
these sectors contribute towards economic development. Along with the benefits, there are
various challenges and issues which Tourism Tasmania needs to face in terms of development of
the destination so that more target market segment could be enhanced along with approaching to
the various parts of the globe:
 Harmful gases emission: International travelling industry is a major contributor for
harmful gases and it is crucial segment of tourism industry. Development of international
travelling industry is leading to increase traffic in air and thus, it is causing breathing air
in negative manner. Due to this, risk for local people along with the tourists increases due
to inhaling the harmful and polluted air (Bharwani & Butt, 2012).
 Tourism is a great source of revenue generation and job creation: Tourism industry
is a great contributor for a country’s economy. Tasmanian household incomes and wealth
were approximately 26-30% which is below the national average till 2014-2015. It was a
big challenge and issue for the government authorities to improve the living standard of
the Tasmanians. Tourism Tasmania adopted appropriate marketing and promotional
strategies so that the attractions of Tasmania could be showcased to the foreign tourists in
order to motivate them to visit. This has helped the Tourism Tasmania to improve
conditions in Tasmania along with improving the local lives of people. This development
has enhanced Tasmanian GSP (Gross State Product) as per the national average along
with increasing various job opportunities for the unemployed people with the objective to
enhance income diversification. For further development, it is necessary for the Tourism
Tasmania to analyse foreign tourists’ demands, wants and desires along with the latest
trends followed by other great tourist destinations so that the number of tourist’s visits in
a year in Tasmania could be increased (Kang, Lee & Huh, 2010).

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 Wastages of natural resources: Due to increased number of visitors in Tasmania, hotels
and resorts have been increased along with various attractive services. These services
consume high amount of energy resources. This affects the lives of local people as their
part of energy is also consumed by hotels and resorts. Apart from this, traffic on roads
also increases due to high number of tourist visits and due to this local lives gets affected.
Tourism industry is also not able to develop other attractions and facilities for the local as
well as for foreign tourists to motivate them with regards to the visit Tasmania (Choi &
Murray, 2010).
Positive and negative impacts of tourism activity
Tourism industry has both positive as well as negative impacts and in this scenario, impact of
tourism activity will be analysed in over Tasmanian economic conditions as well as over other
sectors. On one side tourism industry leads to generate various opportunities for the country and
improves wealth conditions whereas it also generates certain negative impacts on the country
through which natural life, local individual’s life and lot more gets affected (Deery, Jago &
Fredline, 2012). Following are certain crucial positive and negative impacts of the tourism
activities:
Economic impact
Tourism industry has improved Tasmanian economic conditions. Till 2014-15, Tasmanian
household income was less than the national average household income decided. Apart from this,
Tasmanian GSP (Gross State Product) was $18,300 in 2014-15 which is also below than the
national average. After application of appropriate marketing strategies by Tourism Tasmania,
number of foreign tourists has been increased in recent years. Along with this, Tasmania has
gained an effective place amongst the Australian Tourism market. It is a small island state which
is full of attractions and various other activities. In relation to this, government authority which
controls the activities of tourism sector in Tasmania adopted certain effective measures so that
the economic conditions could be improved along with motivating tourists for repeat visitation
(Kaplanidou & Vogt, 2007).
Positive impact
 Contribution towards GSP of Tasmania

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 Purchasing power of local people increases
 Employment opportunities increases
 With the increased wealth conditions, local public gets motivated to preserve their
natural resources along with developing infrastructure to attract tourists (Alegre &
Garau, 2010).
 In the last one year, 1.28 million people visited Tasmania which is the record and it is
approximately 8% hike has been noticed in comparison to the previous year’s visits.
 In the last one year till September 2017, $2.3 billion spending by tourists were recorded.
This helped the state to improve its wealth conditions along with taking appropriate
measures to improve amenities for tourists along with improving living standard of local
people (Wang & Pfister, 2008).
Negative impact
 Landscape damage
 Private cost increases
 Price of local goods increases because tourist pay more for the same goods and services
and it affects local people’s life
 Huge spending towards promotion of attractions of Tasmania to attract foreign tourists
(Lee & Chang, 2008).
Environmental impact
Mostly tourism activities affects environment in negative manner. Tasmania is a small island
state, thus, its major attractions for all age groups are peaceful environment, natural beauty,
national parks, and world heritage. Due to small state, there is not much big hotels and resorts for
welcoming tourists, hence, to increase number of tourists, accommodation facilities needs to be
arranged. This action will directly affect the natural ecosystem of the state.
Positive impact
 Local people gets aware for preserving natural ecosystem of the state
 Tourism Tasmania has adopted certain policies to preserve the state’s natural beauty and
with regards to those policies, penalties will be imposed on defaulters (Guttentag, 2009).
 Wildlife is another crucial aspect of Tasmania and in order to restore, tourism authority
has adopted appropriate strategies and policies.

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Negative impact
 Due to high number of visitors, natural beauty is getting affected
 Due to increased air traffic, air pollution is getting affected
 Natural ecosystem is affecting for constructing luxurious and attractive infrastructure to
attract tourists (Wang, 2009).
Socio-cultural impact
Tourism industry in Tasmania has helped local people to improve their economic conditions as it
has increased job opportunities and revenues for local businesses have also been increased. Local
people of Tasmania are aware that their state is majorly dependent over tourism activities, thus,
appropriate measures needs to be taken so that negative impacts of the tourism activity could be
reduced along with enhancing the positive impacts (Castellani & Sala, 2010).
Positive impacts
 Job creation
 Improves standard of living of local people
 People are aware for preserving their surroundings so that natural attractions could be
preserved
 Various measures have been taken by local public to improve tourist satisfaction such as
providing varieties of services as per the tourist’s budget
Negative impact
 Increasing congestion and traffic which affects local public’s lives
 Emerging economic conditions are attracting MNCs towards Tasmania due to which
local businesses are getting affected (Lozano-Oyola, et. al., 2012).
 High number of tourists leads to increase risk for terrorist attacks in order to destroy the
natural beauty of the state.
Policy implications to attain sustainable tourism outcomes
 Tourism Tasmania has adopted appropriate policies to develop effective relations with
the tourists. This motivates tourists for repeat visitation.

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 To enhance tourist’s satisfaction and their interaction with the local culture and a part of
world heritage culture. Along with this, Tourism Tasmania has also developed policies to
improve safety and security of the tourists (Hall, 2011).
 In order to spread awareness amongst the target audience, Tourism Tasmania has
adopted appropriate marketing and promotional campaigns. These have helped Tasmania
to gain large number of tourists (Choi & Turk, 2011).
 In order to boost up the revenues from tourism industry to strengthen the economic
conditions of Tasmania, government has introduced several programs under which new
start-ups in tourism industry will get rebate in taxes and in other duties for initial years.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that tourism is a significant part in terms of enhancing economic conditions
of the country. This report has been developed with regards to the impact of international tourism
in Tasmania, a small island state in Australia. Australian tourism is one of the largest tourism
industries across the globe and it is one of the most visited countries across the globe by tourists.
Tasmania is a great location for those visitors who loves nature, wildlife and world heritage. This
report concludes various aspects of the tourism industry in Tasmania. Major attractions of
Tasmania, issues and challenges faced by tourism authority in Tasmania and positive and
negative impact of tourism activities are key highlights of this report.

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