THE101 Module 3: Sea World Resort and Industry Interconnections

This report offers an in-depth analysis of Sea World Resort on the Gold Coast, examining its historical development and current operations within the context of the tourism, hospitality, and events industries. It explores the resort's interactions with other organizations, providing practical examples of collaborations and partnerships. The report also investigates the impact of socio-cultural, economic, and environmental trends on Sea World Resort's operations, including the challenges and opportunities presented by these trends. Furthermore, it identifies and discusses the strategies implemented by the resort to address these trends, such as channel management and technological innovations in booking processes. The case study concludes by highlighting the significance of Sea World Resort's adaptability and its role in the broader industry landscape.

Running head: MARKETING
Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality and Events
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
The objective of the report is to provide an investigation into Sea World Resort in Gold Coast
and its relationship with the hospitality, tourism and event industries. The report commences
with a brief overview of history and the current operations of the organization. The report also
provides an insight into the interaction of the chosen organizations with other organizations via
practical examples. The report also shows the impact of the socio-cultural, economic and
environmental trend on the chosen firm along with a mention of the strategies that it adopts in
dealing with the trends.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Brief Overview of the History and Current Operations of the Chosen Organization.....................2
Two Practical examples Showing How Chosen Organization Interact with other Organizations
within Hospitality, Tourism and Events Industries.........................................................................3
Impact of Socio-Cultural, Environmental & Economic Trend and Their Impact on the Operations
of Chosen Organization...................................................................................................................4
Two Strategies Implemented By Organization to Address Trends Highlighted Above.................5
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................5
References:......................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction:
The report aims at providing an investigation into the relationship between the
organizations with tourism, hospitality and the event industry. The organization chosen for this
particular study is Sea World Resort in the Gold Coast. Travel for the purpose of leisure evolved
from the experience reserved for only few people to something that is enjoyed by most people.
Traditionally, the ability of travel had been reserved solely for the upper class and the royalty.
From the Roman times through 17th century, the younger men of higher standing had been
stimulated to travel across Europe on ‘Grand Tour’. The middle ages however portrayed various
societies to travel for the purpose of religious pilgrimage.
Brief Overview of the History and Current Operations of the Chosen Organization
Sea World, opened in the year 1971 by Keith Williams, had been a pioneer of tourism in
the Gold Coast and represented the first theme park of Australia (seaworld.com.au, 2020).
Originally known as ‘The Spit ‘underwent immense renovation and became known as Sea
World. The changes included the introduction of the dolphins along with various marine exhibits
and a massive swimming pool, restaurants, resorts and the gift shop. In the year 1976, Keith
William spend $1.2 million for buying Marineland, the only competitor of Sea World. This
acquisition acted as a major strength for Sea World. Nowadays, Sea World embraced the hat of
educator and has become a well-known destination for educational field trips since it plays a key
role in training the marine biologist of the upcoming generation. Thus, it is considered as one of
the famous tourist destination that provides an additional bonus in terms of accommodation in
the Gold Coast. Sea World Resort has been one such popular accommodation located in Gold
Coast.

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Sea World Resort has been an extension of the Sea World Park that not only provides
accommodation but has been a source of the constant innovation. Presently, it is amongst one of
the first Australian resort that offer free access to internet. The resort also initiates Nickelodeon
characters who would greet the children in lobby (Macdonald, 2015). It also provides an
exclusive and complimentary education program of dolphin discovery particularly for the guests.
The resort tries to put across ultimate experience through constant introduction of new exhibits
and revamps in the resort and park. In the past years, Sea World not only refurbished its
beverage and food court but also opened up a Nickelodeon land and also creates of deep exhibits.
They also provide good deals for the clients.
Two Practical examples Showing How Chosen Organization Interact with other
Organizations within Hospitality, Tourism and Events Industries
The Sea World Resort is located on the Broadwater and is linked by the monorail to the
Sea World and is located at a 15 minutes waking distance from the Surfer’s Paradise and the
shopping area located in Marina Mirage. This is a 4.5 star rated hotel that features waterfall,
lagoon pool, aquatic playground and a hot tub. The easiest means of reaching the resort from the
airport is through cars, taxi service and the shuttle buses.
The resort offers rooms that are not only spacious but boast of contemporary décor. Each
room remains fitted with a patio or balcony that offers the views of either the surrounding
gardens or the broad water or the pool (booking.com, 2020). The resort makes sure that the
guests are able to access free Wi-fi as well as wired internet in the room.
For example, the resort interacted with Japanese restaurant Hatsuhana and went into a
collaboration with it so that the guest are able to get a taste of the Japanese cuisine cooked in the

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Tepinyaka-style from the fresh ingredients and sea food. The lounge in the lobby also offers
varied meals from light to the delicious snacks. Besides this, to make things uniquely hospitable,
guests had access to the aqua playground located in pool area. The other activities had been the
light show in the evening. The location of the resort provides an access to the surrounding public
beaches which are also considered as prominent tourist destinations.
Another example shows how Sea World Resort in Gold Coast connects itself with the
event industry through events like Dolphin Discovery (seaworld.com.au, 2020). The guests of
the resort are provided with a complimentary presentation of Dolphin Discovery. Set in one of
the exquisite beach theatres of Sea World, this presentation provides the guest with a sneak peek
into the sessions of Dolphin training. It also throw a light on the extraordinary work put forward
by Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation. Few guests are however lucky enough to get
themselves clicked on having a closer encounter with Dolphin.
Impact of Socio-Cultural, Environmental & Economic Trend and Their Impact on the
Operations of Chosen Organization
The socio cultural trend that primarily encompass the attitude, belief and values of majority of
the population has an impact on Sea World Resort (Crane, Kawashima & Kawasaki, 2016). The
distribution of the class amongst the population restricts the resort from promoting its facilities and offers
to the masses. Hence, they seem to rely on niche marketing which in turn has an impact on its
profitability. Sometimes the difference in the educational background between marketers and target fails
in effectively drawing the target market. Hence, the organization must keep a tab of not losing connection
with the priorities and interest of target market. Besides, the resort also needs to be completely aware of
maintaining a higher level of health standards.

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Again, given the standards put across by environmental trend in context of ensuring protection,
Sea World Resort should ensure the protection of any endangered species, failure to which might lead to
severe consequences from the general public. To contribute towards the sustainability of the environment,
Sea World Resort try and depend more on the renewable energy (Therivel et al., 2013).
On the other hand, the economic trend will also have a direct impact on the operations of Sea
World Resort. The rate of growth in the GDP within the country will have an influence on the growth of
the organization in the future (Yamin et al. 2015). The rate of interest that represents the willingness to
borrow as well as invest can impact the business either positively or negatively. The higher interest rate
will lead to greater investment and thereby increased level of growth for the organization and vice versa.
The effective operation of the financial market also have an impact on how Sea World Resort would raise
its capital keeping in mind the supply and demand.
Two Strategies Implemented By Organization to Address Trends Highlighted Above
To address the trends Sea World Resort has adopted strategies based on the online
technology for distribution. Two of its strategies are mentioned as follows:
 The organization has streamlined the channel management which increased the
productivity of staffs and reduced the overhead cost. Channel manager has helped in
increasing the online presence of the resort in close to 17 websites. Sea World is now
able to connect itself to the topmost booking sites using a cloud application.
 The organization also put across an unique technology that offers easier and faster two
click process of booking thereby providing the guests an opportunity of booking round
the clock with the help of either Facebook app or a mobile device.

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Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be said that Sea World Resort is quite a renowned resort in
the Gold Coast. It interacts with various tourism, hospitality and event industries to provide
varoious facilities to the guest. The resort is hugely impacted by the socio cultural, technological
and the environmental trends. The report also portrays how the resort adopts new strategies for
handling the impacts created by the growing trends.

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References:
booking.com, (2020). [Online]. Retrieved from https://www.booking.com/hotel/au/sea-world-
resort-water-park.html
Crane, D., Kawashima, N., & Kawasaki, K. I. (2016). Culture and globalization theoretical
models and emerging trends. In Global culture (pp. 11-36). Routledge.
Macdonald, E (2015) .Sea World resort is among the most popular in Australia.
[Online].Retrieved from https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/sea-
world-resort-is-among-the-most-popular-in-australia/news-story/
095ef1cdbf1898bd959f0d01306ddc22
seaworld.com.au, (2020). [Online]. Retrieved from https://seaworld.com.au/
seaworld.com.au, (2020). [Online]. Retrieved from
https://seaworld.com.au/resort/resort-info/activities-and-entertainment
Therivel, R., Wilson, E., Heaney, D., & Thompson, S. (2013). Strategic environmental
assessment. Routledge.
Yamin, M., Sinkovics, R. R., Lee, J., & Gereffi, G. (2015). Global value chains, rising power
firms and economic and social upgrading. Critical perspectives on international business.