Contemporary Tourism Issues: A Report on the Gold Coast, Australia

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Contemporary Tourism Issues
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Executive summary
The present analysis focuses on the contemporary travel and hotel issues with respect to the
selected destination Gold Coast. It is a municipal district in the south of Brisbane on Australia’s
east coast. The coast is well-known for its extended sandy beaches, surfing spots etc. In regard
with addressing the selected destination, i.e. Gold Coast Australia it has been identified that due
to its popularity in the field of extended sandy beaches and surfing spots tourist authority of
selected destination would target the emerging market segment for the destination. In order to
ensure transportation development destination manager would also focus on improving the
parking efficiency through implementation of the new technology.
The current trends in the accommodation development focus on tech explosion that is the
majority of travelers are comfortable in using the application and mobile website for selecting
the required hotel in the selected area. The occurrence of natural disaster can adversely affect a
large number of individuals or the tourists that are arriving Gold Coast and this is the main risk.
In case of Gold Coast separate facebook page has been framed for this destination where list of
all the places to visit along with the unique attribute of every place is highlighted through the
Facebook page. Moreover, one of the contemporary visitor experience sector is visiting friends
and relatives (VFR). The entire analysis has supported in knowing the significance of growth and
development of the tourist destination
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
Body.................................................................................................................................................6
Tourist Market Potential..............................................................................................................6
Transport Development...............................................................................................................7
Accommodation Development....................................................................................................8
Crisis and Risk Management.......................................................................................................9
Social Media Influence..............................................................................................................10
Visitor Experience Development...............................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Gold Coast Destination.................................................................................................4
Figure 2: Gold Coast.....................................................................................................................5
Figure 3: Transport Development................................................................................................6
Figure 4: Accommodation Development.....................................................................................7
Figure 5: Crisis and Risk Management.......................................................................................9
Figure 6: Forms of Social Media................................................................................................10
Figure 7: Gold Coast Beach........................................................................................................11
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Introduction
In the contemporary scenario, the travel and tourism sector is gaining a significant pace with
increasing the ratio of travellers as they are highly motivated towards visiting the destination in
order to meet their leisure and recreational requirement (Sheehan, Grant & Garavan 2018, p. 30).
However, tourism can be well-defined as the movement of individual or tourists from place to
place with the key purpose of recreating provision of services for this movement. Apart from
this, tourism has also become a broad sector that is categorized as niche tourism, eco-tourism,
sports tourism etc. that motivate tourists towards the destination.
The present report focuses on examining the contemporary tourism issues in the selected
destination that is Gold Coast, Australia. It is a municipal district in the south of Brisbane on
Australia’s east coast. The coast is well-known for its extended sandy beaches, surfing spots
along with the extravagant system of internal waterways. In the present scenario, it is difficult to
draw attention towards the unique attributes and features of the Gold Coast destination;
therefore, it is required by the destination manager to indulge in marketing related activities that
will further support in their development.
Figure 1: Gold Coast Destination
(Source: City of Gold Coast 2017)
In addition to this, the report will also scrutinize and discuss regarding the contemporary
transport development trends and accommodation issues that might be faced by the leading
destination. It will also recognize the current and possible catastrophes and risks that should be
measured by destination managers in order to enhance the visibility of destination across the
world.
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Tourist Market Potential
In the past few years with the increasing tourism activities in Australia has resulted in increasing
the inward and outbound tourism activities along with enhancing the way in which culture is
viewed in the region. However, tourism has now turned out to be economically suppressive that
resulted in enhancing and growing the economy (Sainaghi et al. 2018). The indigenous people in
the urbanized state are taking the tourism sector as a new basis of generating income by targeting
a new market segment by offering a range of leisure and recreational activities. In regard with
addressing the selected destination, i.e. Gold Coast Australia it has been identified that due to its
popularity in the field of extended sandy beaches and surfing spots tourist authority of selected
destination would target the emerging market segment for the destination.
Figure 2: Gold Coast
(Source: City of Gold Coast 2017)
The emerging tourist market segment for Gold Coast would be young and adults those who
prefer to visit the destination that imparts services associated with surfing, water rides as well as
water sports activities. In addition to this, new data of Queensland tourism reveals that the
emerging tourism market has effectively boomed the industry. The tourism Minister “Kate
Jones” has stated that among the international visitors Queensland had collected around $5.3
billion in the year 2017 with noting an increased percent of 2.5 in the collection (Ivanova, Ivanov
& Magnini 2016, p. 112). Through addressing the data, a trend also revealed that ‘visiting friends
and relatives’ market segment has also shown positive growth in the region. Hence, it will be
required by destination to target the emerging market segment. Therefore, young and adults
visitors are the emerging segment that needed to be targeted by Gold Coast destination in order
to enhance their position in the global market.
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Transport Development
With the help of assessing the performance of the destination i.e. Gold Coast Australia it has
been stated that it has grown speedily over the preceding fifty years and have become the sixth
largest city in Australia. Subsequently, the Gold Coast also hosts around more than 10 million
visitors and tourist annually, placing increased heaviness on the town’s infrastructure and
transportation practices (dos Santos, Méxas & Meiriño 2017, p. 220).
As with the development of destination, it is required to protect the environment and
infrastructure with enabling effective practices towards transportation development as with the
increasing traffic congestion due to tourists and visitors significantly affect the economy.
Therefore, in the destination management transport planning as well as land use planning
powerfully persuades the traveling practices of the people. In order to develop the land use
government has engaged in developing the policy that has an effect on the demand for transport
while it also engage in determining the proper distribution of diverse land uses for diverging the
traffic to overcome the level of congestion (Kasliwal & Agarwal 2019, p. 520).
Figure 3: Transport Development
(Source: Gold Coast City Transport Strategy 2031 2019)
Hence, with the integrated approach towards the transport as well as land use planning is vital for
accomplishing the transportation vision at the chosen destination. In order to ensure
transportation development destination manager would also focus on improving the parking
efficiency through implementation of the new technology that includes a double deck parking
system at the crowded places. Apart from this, it also focuses on managing the supply and setting
of parking within centres so that they avoid the congestion and improper parking of the vehicles
that directly hamper the traveling activities (Schegg & Stangl, 2017, p. 205).
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In addition to this influence of contemporary transport development will also support the chosen
destination, i.e. Gold Coast in developing a safe, linked as well as accessible active transport
network to the residential people and visitors. Therefore, contemporary transport development
also focuses on increasing the route of flights towards the destination that will positively support
in growing the destination in the international market.
Accommodation Development
In addition to this, accommodation is considered as a vital aspect in the travel and tourism that
needed to be developed and enhanced in an effective manner so that it results in satisfying the
customers and visitors by providing relevant services. In the present scenario, with the
development of destination hospitality organization in the region is also focusing towards
implementing the new trends that are attracting visitors towards the destination. The current
trends in the accommodation development focus on tech explosion that is the majority of
travellers are comfortable in using the application and mobile website for selecting the required
hotel in the selected area (Jovicic 2016, p. 450). In addition to this, another trend in
accommodation development is the influx of international visitors that include tailoring the
required experiences and services that suited the requirement of international visitors. This
would further support the development of chosen destination, i.e. Gold Coast.
Figure 4: Accommodation Development
(Source: Trivago Business Blog 2018)
In addition to this, development and expansion of the hotels that are nearby the coastal region
would also positively influences the development of destination as the visitors prefer to visit such
places that are nearby the coast and beaches. With the development and expansion of the hotel, it
will cover the majority of the area and impart quality and leisure of experience to the visitors.
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Apart from this, the current trend in accommodation development also focuses on providing
unique perks to travellers and guests those who visit their hotels. For instance, some are offering
free services such as food and beverages services, free tasting of wine at the bars; while some
hospitality organizations are integrating the sophisticated informational screens in their bathroom
mirrors for the visitors and others are giving away the set lists of downloadable music to the
visitors (Sainaghi et al. 2018, p. 80). From the above assessment of different trends in the
accommodation, development would significantly impact the growth of the Gold Coast as a
destination in the international marketplace.
Crisis and Risk Management
The destination like Gold Coast possess the ability to attract a large number of tourists from all
over the globe. Further, it has been found that different surfing spots, beaches, waterways and
another form of places are present that are highly attractive. In case if the destination manager
wants to work on the development of this destination then in such case various risks and crises
are required to be undertaken. Gold Coast as one of the destination is known for different types
of surfing. So, in this case, the risk associated with the occurrence of a natural disaster is very
high. It is a well-known fact that natural disasters can occur at any time and they are quite
random (Hall 2017, p. 118). Therefore, in this case, the occurrence of natural disaster can
adversely affect a large number of individuals or the tourists that are arriving Gold Coast.
Managing or controlling the different natural disasters is not under the control of destination
managers. So, through this, it can be clearly stated that destination managers are mainly required
to consider the occurrence of natural disaster in case of the destination like Gold Coast.
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Figure 5: Crisis and Risk Management
Second main crises or risk is associated with a terrorist attack where it is a well-known fact that
this type of activity can surely spoil the entire tourist destination. The destination managers who
are associated with the Gold Coast are required to consider the chances of occurrence of a
terrorist attack. Wrong planning for the development of the different places within the Gold
Coast can also be regarded as the main risk (Romero & Tejada 2019, p. 12). Further, it has been
found that proper planning is necessarily required for the development of different places within
a destination. So, in this case, if the tourism managers or officials are indulged into the practice
of wrong planning then in such case it will be difficult to work on the development of the
tourism sector. Apart from this, the destination will be least preferred by the tourists and they
will not be influenced easily.
Social Media Influence
The overall influence of social media on the destination like the Gold Coast is very high from the
marketing point of view. Further, it is a well-known fact that different social media channels are
utilized for marketing purpose and in turn it assists a lot in highlighting the unique attributes of
the particular destination. In the case of Gold Coast separate Facebook page has been framed for
this destination where the list of all the places to visit along with the unique attribute of every
place is highlighted through the Facebook page. In short, it has been found that the influence of
social media on the marketing of the Gold Coast is quite positive (Aragon-Correa, Martin-Tapia
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Crisis and
Risk
Manageme
nt
Wrong
Plannin
g
Terroris
t attack
Natural
Disaste
r

& de la Torre-Ruiz 2015, p. 520). The tourism authorities along with the other agencies are
focusing on social media practice so as attract a different type of tourists and individuals from all
over the globe.
Figure 6: Forms of Social Media
In case if the marketing practices are not up to the mark then in such case it becomes very
difficult to engage or attract different types of travellers. Time to time the Facebook and other
social media platforms such as Instagram etc. are updated. The main benefit is that travellers are
able to gain a different type of information about the destination and in turn, they prefer to plan
their holidays in this particular destination. In the past when social media platforms were not at
all introduced then at that time it will difficult for the tourism authorities to carry out marketing
practices of Gold Coast (Marco-Lajara et al. 2018, p. 2012).
Fun related activities are also highlighted through Instagram and Facebook where these
platforms clearly state that Gold Coast destination can provide them a unique experience in every
possible manner. The social media platform from the marketing point view of point highlights
how the Gold Coast is different from other destinations. Without social media marketing it is
very difficult to highlight the unique attributes of Gold Coast destination and in turn, its
marketing related activities cannot be carried out. Through Facebook, the proper conversation is
carried out with the travellers and their queries related services is easily resolved and in the
proper manner. Worldwide publicity of Gold Coast has been done with the adoption of social
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Forms of
Social Media
Influences
Facebook Twitter YouTube

media and this is the main reason due to which demand for tourism services for this particular
destination is quite high. Each and every unique place situated in the Gold Coast is promoted
through the social media platforms and this influences the purchase behaviour of the travellers.
Along with this, the word of mouth publicity is also favourable due to the excessive use of
different social media platforms (Baum et al. 2016, p. 19). Hence, the overall analysis indicates
that social media has positively influenced Gold coast destination from the marketing point of
view.
Visitor Experience Development
One of the contemporary visitor experience sector is visiting friends and relatives (VFR). This
sector has the key potential to grow as different individuals prefer to visit Gold Coast as their
friends or family member stays in this destination. So, this has become one of the main reason
due to which demand for tourism is rising at faster pace within the Gold Coast as different
tourists or individuals are arriving Gold Coast in order to meet or hangout with their relatives or
the friends. This sector has potential to grow in near future also and it is acting as the good
source of revenue in case of the government (Anwar 2016, p. 56). In case if this trend will
develop at a faster pace in near future then it will be favourable for the entire destination in the
every possible manner. Hence, from this it can be stated that potential of this contemporary visit
experience sector is very high.
Figure 7: Gold Coast Beach
(Source: City of Gold Coast 2017)
Second contemporary visitor experience sector is the different activities that are very valuable in
case of Gold Coast. Further, it has been found that various activities are present within the
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