Tourism Industry Reforms and Impacts on the Australian Economic Growth

Running Head: TOURISM INDUSTRY REFORMS AND IMPACTS ON THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH 1
TOURISM INDUSTRY REFORMS AND IMPACTS ON THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH
Student Name
Institutional Affiliation
Facilitator
Course
Date

TOURISM INDUSTRY REFORMS AND IMPACTS ON THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH 2
INTRODUCTION
Australia is ranked among the rich nations of Asia Pacific region. It has a free economy
with its economic freedom score about 79.9 and is ranked among the top five countries with
most free economies in the 2018 index. The Australian industries are open to foreign competition
and international highly skilled labor force is readily available for the industries (Roberts &
Enright, 2013). For these reasons among others, Australia has been enjoying economic
expansion for the last 10 years since the 2008 economic recession, where it still posted a positive
result despite the recession and hence has been attracting investors internationally.
The tourism industry of Australia has been chosen for discussion. The tourism industry in
Australia is very crucial as it contributes much towards the economic growth of the country
(Crouch & Ritchie, 2009). Tourism occurs as people travel to different places within the country
for various purposes which may be education, business and other leisure activities. Tourism
industry in Australia is broad and is composed of the other industries which directly or indirectly
involve themselves with the tourist activities. These activities may be accommodation and travel
services among others. Tourism activity in Australia involves both the residents and international
tourists. Tourism industry in Australia contributes almost more than 3 percent of the Australia’s
gross domestic product whereby more than a third of the 3 percent is from international tourists
(Choi & Sirakaya, 2015). The number of international tourists has been increasing with time
where it almost doubled during the year 2014 as compared to the year 2000. Tourism activity in
Australia is anticipated to do much better in future as numerous reforms have been done by the
government in the industry. In a nutshell, the tourism industry in Australia posts a significant

TOURISM INDUSTRY REFORMS AND IMPACTS ON THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH 3
contribution towards the country’s gross domestic product and hence should be seriously
reformed as it promises a bright future.
The Tourism Industry Reforms in Australia
The tourism industry of Australia is very crucial in as much as economic growth of
Australia is concerned. The government of Australia has been and is still undertaking important
reforms in the tourism industry to improve and maintain its contribution towards economic
growth of the country (Anderson, 2016). For the past ten years the government reforms
introduced in the industry have been doing great towards streamlining its operations and this has
seen the industry contribution to the gross domestic product improve and it is still anticipated to
do much better in future. The reforms are mainly carried out by the government and have
improved the regional tourism which in turn has attracted much of the international tourism into
the country. The various reforms include:
i. Encouragement of investment in the industry and implementing the regulatory
reform agenda
Investment in the tourism industry of Australia has been poor for the past ten years.
However, a significant improvement has been observed for each of the following year (Higgins-
Desbiolles, 2011). The other sectors of the economy are almost twice better of the tourism
industry in as much investment is concerned. This was the case during the year 2009 whereby
the investment in the tourism industry grew by just half the pace as compared to other economy
sectors. This was as a result of inappropriate regulatory policies by the Australian government in
this industry. These policies act as barriers to investment in this industry and hence discourage
investment in the industry. The government of Australia has been working hand in hand together

TOURISM INDUSTRY REFORMS AND IMPACTS ON THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH 4
with investors in this industry to bring about favorable economic climate in the industry and
hence attract more investors to join the industry (Harris & Jago, 2011). The government has been
trying its best to remove the barriers to investment in the industry. For the past ten years more
businesses have been observed to enter the industry investing in visitor accommodation and
hospitality. The Australian government has seen the success of this reform by undertaking the
following:
a. The government has come up with a plan which identifies and supports various business
investments in the tourism industry according to their needs geographically. Businesses
located in different locations have different needs ranging from financial to security
needs. Businesses located in remote areas require more government support due to
hardships in these areas.
b. The government has been working hand in hand with the investors in the industry to
identify various investment opportunities within the industry and encourage new
investors to undertake the identified investment opportunities (Jenkins, 2011).
c. The government has come up with favorable regulatory policies which do not hinder
investment in the industry. The business compliance costs have been minimized and this
has attracted more investors to join the industry.
d. The government has encouraged and implemented the use Destination Management tool
which enables the operators in the industry to manage the economy of their tourists. The
tool also enables the Australian government to predict future economic trends in the
industry and make informed decisions. It also enables the tracking of the utilization of
government resources and identifying industry areas requiring greater assistance.
ii. Supply of labor reforms