Analyzing Tourism in Melbourne: A Comprehensive Research Report

This report presents a research study on tourism trends in Melbourne, Australia. It investigates the motivations of tourists, the proportion of domestic versus international visitors, and popular tourist destinations, including the 'I'm free walking tour.' The research employs both descriptive and exploratory methodologies, collecting primary data through questionnaires administered to tourists. The findings reveal that domestic tourism is dominant, with the majority of tourists coming from Australia, followed by developed countries. The report analyzes sources of information about the 'I'm free walking tour,' awareness of similar programs, and the preferred accommodation of tourists. Key attractions like the Great Ocean Road and Mount Buller are highlighted. The study acknowledges limitations, such as a small sample size, and recommends strategies to attract more international tourists, including online promotion and affordable tour packages. The report concludes by suggesting directions for future research.

Tourism in Melbourne
Contents
1.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Aims and objectives of the research.............................................................................................1
1.3 Research Question.......................................................................................................................1
1.4 Research Methodology................................................................................................................2
1.4.1 Data collection.....................................................................................................................2
1.5 Results and Discussion................................................................................................................2
1.6 Limitations of the study...............................................................................................................7

1.1 Introduction
Tourism industry is one of the most significant components of the Australian economy which
contributes around 3 % the total gross domestic product. In Australia, domestic tourism is
contributes around 70 % of the total tourism(World Travel and Tourism Council 2017). In terms
of the international tourist around 35 % comes from the Asian countries. Since tourism is
significant part of the Australian economy, this research has been conducted to examine the
tourism trends in Melbourne, which is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Australia.
1.2 Aims and objectives of the research
This study is aimed to examine the trend in the tourism in Melbourne. Major objectives can be
listed as:
 To examine the major reasons for tourist visit in Melbourne
 To examine whether the domestic tourists are higher than the international tourist
 To identify the major tourist places in the Melbourne
 To examine the awareness about the “I ‘m free walking tour” among the tourists in
Melbourne
1.3 Research Question
The current research is aimed to answer the following question:
 What are the major reasons for visiting Melbourne?
 What is the proportion of the domestic tourists in Melbourne?
 What the major tourists’ places in Melbourne?
1.4 Research Methodology
There are three different research methods which can be used, based on the aim and objectives of
the research. The first research method is exploratory, which is used to understand the ideas and
the concepts on the research area. The second research method is the explanatory research
method which is mostly used in that research where the main aim is to examine the relationship
between the variables(Creswell & Clark 2011; Rajasekar et al. 2013). The nature of data in the
exploratory research is mostly qualitative in nature whereas on the other hand the quantitative
data is used for the explanatory research. Similarly one can also use descriptive analysis to get
the overview about the population based on the collected sample.
In this research both the descriptive and the exploratory research methods has been used to
answer the proposed research questions.

1.4.1 Data collection
In this research primary data been collected from the tourists in Melbourne who was part of the
“I am free walking tour”. Primary data are those data which are collected for the first time and
the data are collected as per the requirement of the study. To collect the data for the current
study the questionnaire was prepared which included both the close ended and the open ended
questions. The close ended questions were included in the questionnaire to collect the
quantitative data whereas the data from the open ended questions will be used for the qualitative
analysis.
Primary survey was conducted among 15 tourists in Melbourne, however 2 respondents do not
fill the entire the questionnaire and one respondent do not return the respondent sheet. So, the
total sample size for this study is `12. All the participation in the survey was voluntary and no
one was forced to participate. The respondents were explained about the purpose of the study,
before collecting data from them. Similarly other ethical considerations were taken care during
the primary survey.
1.5 Results and Discussion
In this section the results from the data analysis has been discussed. In the first part results from
the descriptive analysis has been discussed whereas in the second part the major findings from
the qualitative analysis has been presented.
Australia Germany Greece India netherland UK USA
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
Country
Country
Figure 1 Distribution of respondents on the basis of their country
As shown in the figures above most of the tourist in Melbourne are the domestic tourists as the
highest percentage of the tourists are from Australia. There were some tourists who were from

Melbourne itself. After the domestic tourists, majority of the tourists are coming from the
developed countries such as Germany, USA and UK. The percentage of tourists from developing
countries such as India and Greece is less as compared to Germany. However the proportion of
the tourists in Australia from the developing countries is increasing rapidly. Affordability is one
of the main reason the tourists from the developing countries are not coming to Australia as
compared to the developed countries. So if more programs like “ I;m walking free tour” will be
launched more and more people will be able to come and visit.
Family friends internet Travel brouchers
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
Source of information
Source of information
Figure 2 Major sources of information about the
When asked about the source of information about the “I m free walking tour”, majority of them
said that they got the information from internet which was expected. As the world is becoming
smaller day by day due to development in information, technology and communication, one can
get instant news and updates about any part of the world. In this case also internet comes out to
be most important source of information. Apart from that family & friends and travel broachers
are other sources of information.

No Yes
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
100.0
Heard of another free tour company
Heard of another free tour company
Figure 3 Awareness about other free tour company in Melbourne
To study about the awareness of the tour programs in Australia, respondents were asked whether
they have heard of any other programs similar to the “I’m walking free tour”, majority of the
respondents says “No”. Only a small percentage said that have heard about the other similar
programs in Australia. This shows that the current program is unique in itself and this has helped
the tourism industry to grow further. To attract more international tourists, such programs should
be promoted in other places also.
City
limits Crown Family Friend Friend's
house Ibis N/A Net's
place own With
family
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
Where to tourists stay?
Where to tourists stay
Figure 4 Major staying places for Tourists in Melbourne

Results from staying pattern of the tourists in Melbourne shows that majority of them are staying
at hotel (City limits and Crown). Also the proportion of visitors staying with family and friends
is also quite high. This is due to high proportion of the domestic tourists in the sample.
0 2 3 more than 5
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
Number of previous visits in
Melbouren
Number of previous visits in Melbouren
Figure 5 Number of previous visits of the respondents
To know whether the visitors are new or returning visitors they were asked whether they have
visited Melbourne before or not. Results show that most of the respondents were first time
visitor. Interestingly majority of them have visited more than 5 times. However new visitors’
proportion was higher as compared to the 5 times visitors.
Yes No
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Will you visit melboure again
incoming 5 years
Will you visit melboure again incoming 5 years
Figure 6 Visitors expectation about coming again to Melbourne

When asked ,whether they will come back again to Melbourne after 5 years more than 80 % said
that they will visit again, where rest of them said No. Higher percentage of return visitors shows
that the tourists are satisfied from their current tour.
Walking and nature
Honeymoon
Cultural holiday
Festival
Active holiday
Family visit
Relaxing
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
Reasons for coming to Melbourne
Reasons for coming to Melbourne
Figure 7 Reason for visiting Melbourne
One of the main objectives of the current research was to find the major reasons for tourist visits
in Melbourne. To find the same respondents were asked about the reasons of their visit. As
shown in the figure above the main reason is active holiday followed by family visit and
relaxing. Since majority of the tourist are domestic so family visit has come out to be one of the
main reason. Apart from that relaxation, walking and nature and festival were other major
reasons
Similarly results from the qualitative data show that most of the people visit Queen Victoria
Market, Cazino, Botanical Garden , Mount Buller, Federal square, Great Ocean Road , National
park and Venus Bay. Among all these place tourists found Great Ocean Road and the Mount
Buller most attractive. However this may not be the true case for overall population as the
sample size in the current research is low. Similarly when asked about the changes they want to
see in Melbourne most of the tourist said that some of the tourist places are too crowded and
management of the tourist can be improved. However no other major problems were mentioned
by the respondents who were included in the data set.
1.6 Limitations of the study
In this research the sample size was very small and so no inferential analysis was conducted.
Similarly the relationship between the different variable was not presented to get more depth
information about tourism in Melbourne. Apart from that there were limitation related to time
and cost involved in the research.

Recommendations are future research
Results from the research shows that still the domestic tourism is contributing a majority part of
the tourism industry in Australia. However the government should focus on attracting the
international tourist also. They can offer discounts on the tour package and also introduce
package which are affordable by the average person in the developing country. Similarly the
online promotion and advertisement should be paid more attention as compared to the offline
advertisement. Also the major tourist attractions places should be preserved.
The future research can be conducted with same objectives but large sample size which can give
the more accurate information about the target population. Similarly inferential analysis can be
conducted to find the impact of such free tourism package on growth of tourism industry in
Melbourne. Similar research can also be conducted in other major cities in Australia and
compare the trends in different cities.
References
Creswell, J.W. & Clark, V.L.P., 2011. Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research 2nd
ed., California: SAGE Publications.
Rajasekar, S., Philominathan, P. & Chinnathambi, V., 2013. Research methodology, Tamilnadu
India.
World Travel and Tourism Council, 2017. TRAVEL & TOURISM ECONOMIC IMPACT 2017
AUSTRALIA, London.