Sustainable Operations and Destinations

Running head: SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS AND DESTINATIONS
Sustainable Operations and Destinations
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1SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS AND DESTINATIONS
Individual Case Scenario
Question 1
The “Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park” located in the Northern Territory of Australia
is a protected area and in the recent times has emerged as one of the major tourist attractions
which the nation of Australia offers to the tourists (Parksaustralia.gov.au 2018). Furthermore,
the tourist destination is a part of the World Heritage property because of the natural beauty
as well as the cultural heritage that the park boasts of (Parksaustralia.gov.au 2018). In
addition to this, the park under discussion here is jointly owned by the “traditional owners,
(the Anangu1 people) and Parks Australia” and both of them share responsibility for the
effective management as well as the growth of the concerned destination.
The joint ownership of the park by the indigenous people as well as the governmental
authorities of the nation has contributed in a substantial manner towards the growth of the
park in the recent times (Smith 2015). However, at the same time, it needs to be said that this
poses various kinds of challenges for the park as well not only in terms of operations,
resources and brand image as well (Butler and Ivanovic 2015). For example, the case study
explicitly states that the process of joint management used for the management of the park
brings together the scientific as well as the cultural aspects of the nation and this in-turn
sometimes leads to conflicts of interest since it is not always that the two entities agree on the
same terms. Furthermore, the indigenous people hold the land to be a sacred place whereas it
is just seen as a commercial property by the other owner (Timothy and Boyd 2014). This
conflict of interest is clearly manifested in the operations management of the park and also
the staffing of the park as well. The case study states that “Park staff receive instruction in
aspects of social behavior that affect Anangu work practices”. In addition to these, the
Anangu people are very dissatisfied regarding the commercialization of the park and are

2SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS AND DESTINATIONS
against the photography and other kinds of acts of the visitors (Sharpley and Telfer 2014).
These in short are some of the challenges that the park is facing at the current regarding the
operations management of the park.
As already mentioned that the Anangu people consider the park to a very sacred land
and thus they do not concur with the Park Australia regarding the manner in which the natural
resources of the park are being used for the purpose of commerce. There is a conflict on the
topic of which places the visitors should be permitted to roam around and which places they
should not. For example, the Anangu people are very specific about the kind of knowledge
that is being imparted to the people and thus they feel skeptical about providing the
information about their sacred land to the wrong people. These in short are some of the major
challenges that the park is facing currently for the utilization of its resources because of the
policy of joint management that it is following at the current moment.
The disputes, which the Anangu people and the Park Australia are having at the
current moment is adversely affecting the brand image of the park. The park has a reputation
which was built on the basis of the cultural heritage as well as the scientific development of
the nation. However, the disagreements that the two owners of the park have regarding the
operations management and also the utilization of the resources of the park is causing a
significant amount of inconvenience to the tourists and this in turn can affect the brand image
of the park in a substantial manner (Wachowiak 2016).
Question 2
The “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (or Global Goals for Sustainable
Development)” can be seen as a collection of 17 goals or objectives which was given by the
United Nations as part of their “Resolution 70/1” (United Nations Sustainable Development
2018). The basic idea behind the articulation or the formulation of these goals or objectives