HAT201 Report: Analysis of the Whitsundays Food and Beverage Segment

This report provides an analysis of the food and beverage segment within the hospitality industry of the Whitsundays, a region near the Great Barrier Reef. It emphasizes the high demand for local seafood and regional produce, which benefits the local community by increasing employment and supporting the local supply chain. The report discusses how political factors, such as government support for tourism, positively influence the segment. Socio-cultural factors, including the welcoming nature of the local people, are also highlighted. However, it also addresses the negative impacts of environmental factors like coral bleaching on tourism and the need for the industry to adapt to changing consumer demands. The report concludes by stressing the importance of strengthening the local workforce and supply chain to meet the high demand for food and beverage items, as well as the need for effective strategies to address ecological issues. This report is a valuable resource for students and professionals in the hospitality and tourism fields and is available on Desklib.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest as well as most popular coral reef ecosystem across
the world that spans approximately 2300 kiloliters. The Whitsundays region is situated near the
central section of the Great Barrier Reef. It is the perfect base for exploring this aquatic
wonderland. The Great Barrier Reef protects the Whitsunday Coast and Islands from enormous
ocean swells while providing the region with some of the safest as well as smoothest sailing and
cruising waters across the world. Considering the fact that a good number of visitors visit the
mentioned tourist place every year, the food and beverages segment of the hospitality industry of
the mentioned location ranging from fish and chips on the beach to exclusive delicacies in five
star hotels. In the following paragraph, the importance of the food and beverage segment for the
local community along with the impact of environmental factors on the same will be discussed.
Discussion
When it comes to the food and beverages available in the Whitsundays island, majority of
the menus contains local seafood as well as fresh regional produced features. The accent is on
simply prepared delicious flavours. The restaurants located in the mentioned beach offers
exclusive dining experiences that include fish and chips on the beach, full inclusive buffet meals
as well as five star experiences. The demand for regional food is found to be higher in the
Whitsundays Island compared to international food items. This has been highly beneficial for the
local community since, this has increased the number of employment (Torre 2016). Considering
the fact that the economic status of the mentioned region is highly dependent on the tourists, high
demand of local food has been highly favourable for the local supply chain. Raw materials are

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bought from the local sources and this, not only lowers the investment costs of the local
restaurants but also helps them to maintain the authenticity of the food items.
When it comes to the political factors that have the potential to affect the food and
beverage segment of the Whitsundays island, both local and federal government of Australia is
found to be highly supportive to the tourism and hospitality industry. This in turn has invested
positive impact on the mentioned segment (Authority and Council, 2017). Tax imposed on the
food items have been recently lowered down which in turn has enhanced the profit of the local
restaurants and hotels. When oot comes to the socio cultural factor, the local people of the
Whitsundays island are highly welcoming to the tourists. (Georgieva 2017) The tourist friendly
behaviour of the local people acts as a additional attraction of the tourists to visits the mentioned
place. Being a developed country, Australia is highly advanced in technology. The availability of
internet , network and 24*7 transport service makes it easier for restaurant to receive as well as
deliver orders to the tourists within the stipulated time. However, according to Authority (2017),
a wide spread bleaching is taking place in the Great Reef and Whitsundays Islands., which has
the potential to negatively influence the would be tourist contemplating a visit to the reef.
According to researchers, it is highly crucial for the local tourism industries to adopt the
rapidly changing consumer demand in order to enhance as well as maintain the economic
advancement. Currently, the local workforce is not enough to deal with the high demand of local
food items (Authority 2018). The supply chain of thee local restaurants also requires to be
strengthen in order to develop the potential to serving a huge population of tourists. In order to
deal with the ecological issue, the tourist planners as well as the government have already
implemented effective strategies.

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Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be clearly understood that the food and beverage
segment is one of the manor part of the hospitality industry of the Whitsundays Island. The local
food serve by the local restaurants are in high demand. For the Great Barrier Reef and
Whitsunday organization, it is highly crucial to enhance their local workforce in order to cope up
with the high demand of local food and beverage items. Not only this, the supply chain of the
mentioned regions also needs to be ensuring timely delivery and capacity to serve a huge
population during the peak season.

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Reference list
Aleksandrova Georgieva, A., 2017. Digital marketing plan: Ecoral Hotel.
Authority, G.B.R.M.P. and Council, R.G., 2017. Reef Guardian Councils: highlight reports
2016-2017.
Authority, G.B.R.M.P., 2017. Whitsundays plan of management 1998: includes the 2017
amendment as in force 2 August 2017 (SUPERSEDED). Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Authority.
Authority, G.B.R.M.P., 2018. Whitsundays Plan of Management 1998: Includes the 2017
amendment as in force 1 January 2018.
Torre, S., 2016. Literary Representations of The Great Barrier Reef. eTropic: electronic journal
of studies in the tropics, 7.