Tourism Management: Contemporary Issues in Melbourne Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of contemporary tourism and hotel issues in Melbourne. It begins with an introduction to tourism management and highlights Melbourne's significance as a tourist destination. The report delves into the tourist market potential, focusing on the Millennial Travellers segment and its implications. It then explores transport development, examining environmental, economic, technological, political, and historical influences. Accommodation development trends, including tech integration, international visitor influx, sustainability, and unique perks, are also discussed. The report addresses crisis and risk management, identifying potential risks and outlining strategies for mitigation. The influence of social media on marketing and visitor experience development, including self-service and authentic experiences, are also examined. The report concludes by summarizing key findings and emphasizing the importance of addressing contemporary challenges to ensure the continued growth and success of Melbourne's tourism sector.

Running head: Tourism Management
Contemporary tourism and hotel issues in Melbourne
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author notes

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Tourist market potential.............................................................................................................2
Transport development...............................................................................................................3
Accommodation development...................................................................................................5
Crisis and risk management.......................................................................................................6
Social media influence...............................................................................................................8
Visitor experience development...............................................................................................10
Self-service and the currency of time...................................................................................10
Authentic experiences..........................................................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
Reference..................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
Tourism management can be described as an oversight of numerous activities related
to the hospitality and tourism industries. It is a multidisciplinary area, which comprises
individual shaving interest, experience, as well as training for managing different position in
the tourism industry. The concept of tourism management can also involve different
associations, enterprises and even public authorities that are responsible for marketing the
tourism services to the potential travellers (Robinson and Getz 2014). Melbourne is known as
the coastal capital of southeaster Australian. Recognized as one important tourist place, the
centre of this city is well-known for the modern Federation Square development, having
restaurants plaza and bars by the Yarra River. In the world, which is experiencing constant
environmental social, technical as well as economic change; the business of transporting,
sourcing, hosting and hence satisfying he tourists from emerging and established markets is
both important and complex.
This report aims to discuss about the tourist market potential of Melbourne. The
transport and accommodation developments for identifying the existing and emerging trends
is going to be discuss here. In addition, the existing potential risks and crisis that highly need
attention of the tourist managers are going to be explain here. With the emerging trend of
social media, the influence of different social media platforms on marketing of Melbourne’s
tourism business will be described. Lastly, the report is going to discuss about the visitor
experience development in context to the selected destination.
Tourist market potential
In order to analyse the tourist market potential it is essential to focus on the suitable
market segmentation for the destination. One of the emerging market segments of Melbourne
tourism is Millennial Travellers. Millennial are the generation, which is redefined completely

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what the adventure means to them and they are looking at world through more potential
perspective of world. Millennial tourists generates more than thousands of billion in the
annual revenue of tourism (Delbosc and Nakanishi 2017). For the brands in tourism industry,
this can be a great segment in the tourism market. They are very much interested to go abroad
than the older generation. The huge element of the desire for seeing the world is the aspect
that the millennial are entering the peak earning and they are becoming more able to pay the
amount of their travel. The millennial tends to be more adventurous than others are.
Millennial are looking for multiple opportunities constantly for diversifying the experience of
new cultures and lives. This culture awareness and diversification is becoming affluence new
makers. This potential of the millennial in the tourism of Melbourne can make the tourism
great emerging segment of this industry. Adoption of this type of segmentation will help the
tourist managers to serve their customers in a better manner. In addition, the tourist coming to
Melbourne can experience a better travel and hospitality experience, which on other hand will
create positive reputation for the selected place (Frost 2014). The geographical segment of
the market would be the appropriate market for the destination that has been selected.
Transport development
Transportation has always become the essential and integral part of a tourism industry and act
as an important interlink between the tourists and several tourist attractions. Melbourne,
being a developed city, evidences successful transportation systems. Moreover, there exist a
general agreement, which the tourism industry will enlarge more while there will be better
systems of transportation (Masiero and Zoltan 2013). The development of the transportation
system of the Melbourne tourism is to interact at various scales and through the effect of the
various factors such as:
Environmental

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In terms of technical challenges, environmental development can be presented for
constructing and maintaining the infrastructure, in which the climate is the more regional
aspect in terms of the conditions of the operations and construction of the transportation
development in Melbourne tourism industry (Yigitcanlar and Dizdaroglu 2014).
Economic
The process of the economy helps in shaping the development of the transportation as
the main purpose of this is to support the interaction and the activities of economy.
Technological
Technology of the transportation has the development scale to which the technologies
match better.
Political
The development of the transportation is the process, which is regulated and handled
by the political aspects of Melbourne. The zoning and local level is the framework, which
influence the development of the transport.
Historical
Settlement patterns of the transport development are affected by the cultural attributes
and this effects the local transport development (Yigitcanlar and Dizdaroglu 2014). The
historical process of the accumulation, this coordinates with the transport system
development and aims to connect with the tourism industry.
Melbourne is a well-developed tourist place and the tourism industry of this place
contributes a major to the improvement of the Australian economy. In order to provide better
tourist experience, it has provided various transportation modes. Rode, railway, water and air
are the important modes of transportation that the selected destination has facilitated for the

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tourists visit here (Khan et al. 2017). In addition, some special transportation such as cable
transportation, human powered transportation and many such facilities also provided to the
individuals dealing with certain kind of disabilities.
Accommodation development
Accommodation facilities have a very vital role in popularizing the tourist destination and
also identified as the basic requirements for facilitating any of the tourism activity. The main
motivation of accommodation is to create a home away from home for the tourists and
travellers. Some of the trends in the accommodation of the tourism industry of Melbourne
can be:
Tech explosion
Most of the travellers are tech-savvy and self-sufficient and they are using smart
devices. Therefore, the hotels should ensure that they are offering user friendly and up-to-
date network connection and websites (Khatter et al. 2019).
International visitor influx
The hotel should provide the services in tailored experiences and multiple languages
that are suited to the unique needs and culture.
Increased emphasis
The travellers are expecting more innovative option for their wellness such as healthy
foods and hygienic hotels, air purification, vitamin-infused shower water and yoga spaces and
so on.
Sustainability rules

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The hotels in Melbourne should install the solar panels and should update their system
so that the lights and conditioners switch off automatically when any guest leaves the room
(Khatter et al. 2019).
Unique perks
The hotels must offer free wine testing in the bars and lobbies and incorporate
sophisticated bathroom aspects and other sophisticated offers in order to satisfy the clients.
Successful delivery and maintenance of the accommodation facilities can help the
tourist managers to collect more number of customers. Furthermore, comprising all the
discussed type of accommodations, Melbourne has established a greater platform where the
tourist can enjoy their stay, can experience the facility of having foods of various categories
and hence enhance their travelling experience. Melbourne offers hotel stays, motels and
guesthouses for the visitors. With the wide range of packages and staying facilities it
becomes easy to manage the stays. However it has been observed that with the increase in
Japanese visitors the development of large international hotels has also increased. Moreover
the tourism industry has evolved a lot with time and thus the accommodation styles also. The
hostel stays and camping grounds stays has also increased over the years. For example: The
tourism group backpacker mainly focuses on selecting accommodation such as camping
ground and hostels.
Crisis and risk management
The primary goal is to fulfil the travel desire as well as holidays’ expectations of the
tourists. Therefore, for achieving these goals, it is essential for the tourist managers to
concentrate on the safety and security of the individuals (Gössling 2015). Tourism industry
has to face several risks and these issues can drive towards crisis. Below, there is a list of
different potential risks that the tourism industry of Melbourne can face;

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 There might be a possibility that the tourists might be robbed and may face some
other kind of crime and experiencing many difficulties.
 The cultural risks might encompasses communication gap, misunderstandings,
cultural gaps, inability of getting fit into a foreign lifestyle.
 Chances of not getting value for money and loss of money can lead to creation of
higher dissatisfaction among the tourists (Beckenand and Hughey 2013).
 Extreme weather conditions, political unrests, terrorist attacks, tsunamis, health
related issues of the travellers and earthquakes can also act as risk in this business.
Therefore, for delivering better hospitality and travel experience to the tourists it is
essential for the tourism managers of Melbourne to address all the above issues and ensure
that no such issue will happen in future. The initial step is to identify the inventory or starting
cause of this risk and after that developing different strategies for tackling the risk. Moreover,
formation of risk management plans should be considered on a priority basis (Ryan 2013).
Other steps of the risk management plan will comprise teaming up with the stakeholders,
training the staffs, testing the effectiveness of the plan, providing honest and transparent
crisis communication. In addition, the managers need to stay informed and updated for the
negative travel advises. The managers need to have additional plans and strategies that will
act as a backup for retrieving as well as repositioning the business from any kind of crisis
(Williams and Baláž 2015). The major crisis in the tourism sector of Melbourne are the
internal business risks and the level of region of Melbourne. Within the business are the poor
management or the leadership, the financial fraud, the loss of significant data, the destruction
of the place of the business because of fire or flood without the sufficient back-up or the
insurance cover and the external crisis are the war or terrorism, the crime waves, the political
upheavels and the anthropogenic changes in the climate.

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Social media influence
The worldwide utilization of social media along with the increasing number of Web
applications is the past decade has provided anew shape every single business including the
tourism business. The primary objective of conducing social media marketing is to generate
higher business exposure, improved search and increased traffic. It is also responsible for
collecting cost effective business for the organization (Zeng and Gerritsen 2014). Social
media has changed the way in which the tourists search about the place, find it, evaluate the
related information, trust and collaboratively participate in the value chain of the tourism
business of Melbourne. Consequently all the tourists can also be termed as the consumers
who not only participate in the production process but also show their involvement marketing
of tourist’s products. The travellers, taking the help of social media can also become co-
marketers, co-consumers co-producers, and can creating several user generated content
(UGC) along with social intelligence (Munarand and Jacobsen 2014). It has added verity of
platforms and channels for enhancing the communication and information sharing. Internet
and social media is used by almost every aged individuals in recent days; hence,
organizations can use it as the major opportunity for sharing the information about their
business. The ways in which the marketing of social media has enhanced the business of
tourism industry of Melbourne can be discussed as follows;
Reshaping the travel agencies
Social media has acted as blessing for the travel agencies; with the availability of vast
amount of information including the ease of self-service bookings have created a digital
platform for the travel agencies. Customers are now getting the facilities of booking their
travels anytime and anywhere (Hudson and Thal 2013). In addition, by providing information
in the social media platforms about the travel places, available facilities and many others, the
travel agencies can create advertisements and attract more number of customers.

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Changing loyalty program
Travel agencies are now aware that, acquiring the new clients is more expensive than
maintaining the existing ones. Loyalty program identified as a core element of the travel
business models. Social media has shown a great efffect on how the loyalty programs of
hotels and travel agencies are constructed.
Improved customer service
Customer services and satisfaction has become the ultimate goal of every travel
agencies. The Melbourne based agencies are now paying more attention towards gathering
and serving the customer in an improved manner. The reviews, ratings and feedbacks given
by the travellers in the social media platforms can put major impact on the business provided
by these industries (Leung et al. 2013). Most of the customers take their travel decisions and
plans based on the ratings and reviews given in the social media platforms. Therefore, it can
be said that social media plays a vital role in building the reputation of the travel and
hospitality sectors.
Rise in social sharing
Social media platforms have provided many opportunity of sharing the travel
experience, photos and videos of the places. Australia, especially, the travel places of
Melbourne always stays in top of the travellers. The attractive nature and beauty of the place
has attracted many travellers towards it. This on other hand has enhanced the business of the
travel agencies located in Melbourne. With the implementation of social media platforms in
the tourism industry it has been observed that the travel research has transformed widely.
Moreover social media use in Melbourne has led the tourists to have a wide access over the
internet. The customer can access the social media platform actively that further creates

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awareness among the people. Hence with the help of social media it is expected that the
number of tourist visiting Melbourne will increase.
Visitor experience development
The experience of visitors can be explained as a journey of discovering around the
travel services as well as the facilities provided by the travel agencies and the overall
experience gathered from the travel place. It is an important factor and can be a reason that a
business might be enhanced or broken. Melbourne is one of the most visited tourist place in
the world and evidences more than thousands of tourists in daily basis (Packer and Ballantyne
2016). Therefore, the tourism industries of this destination need to focus on some major
factors for collecting better visitors’ experience. The organizations need to enable two-way
communication and make the tourists feel comfortable in every way. It not only help the
business to gather more number of customers, but also beneficial in providing better
experience to them. Below, there are some factors explaining the contemporary visitor
experience sector for the selected destination Melbourne.
Self-service and the currency of time
With the emerging technologies, the power of immediacy has become real for the
customers by providing them faster and improved experience in case of traveling. The reason
behind this is social media and the new innovative technologies. People can now select their
place of travel, calculate the overall budget and book the travel by just a single click. Mobile
booking facilities provided by the travel industries is a great reason for delivering customer
satisfactory service (Bond, Packerand and Ballantyne 2015). Visitors can also collect the real
time pricing and other travel information, which on other hand can improve the overall
visitor’s experience.

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Authentic experiences
The trend of authentic experiences has become a path braking factor in past few years
as the travel mentality of the visitors has shifted from ‘tourist’ to ‘traveller’ to the 'experience
seeker'. By forming a digital connection people across the globe, the Melbourne based
tourism companies are now helping the travellers in every aspect for satisfying the travel
desire of every tourist.
The Melbourne tourist department has introduced several infrastructures for the
purposeof providing better services and commercial accommodation. The developed
infrastructure includes enhancement of Melbourne Airport, development of cruise ships and
public transport. In addition to this a better type off accommodation is also offered towards
the tourist. In order to offer better connectivity Wi-Fi has been included widely in public
areas.
Conclusion
Tourism industry has turned out to be an economic booster and contributing higher
for developing the Australian economy. More than just a feelings of luxury, people are
considering tours and travels as a necessity; this has provided a wider opportunity to the
travel industries for expanding their business. Australia, especially Melbourne has enriched
with many of the tourist places. Royal Botanic Gardens, Federation Square, national sports
museum, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne cricket ground, Eureka Stockade and many
others are some most visited tourist places in Melbourne. Thus it can be it can be stated that,
it is necessary for the tourist managers of the selected destination to pay more attention for
enhancing the provided service so that the visitors will gather better experience. In order to
enhance the business of this industry and providing improved travel experience to the tourists
coming to Melbourne, this report has discussed some important factors such as the potential