Comprehensive Report: South West Australia Tourism Destination

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the tourism industry in the South West Australian region. It begins with an introduction to the region's economic reliance on tourism and the importance of understanding its value for effective management. The report then delves into the application of systems theory to regional tourism, exploring the interconnectedness of various elements like tourists, destination regions, and the environment. It identifies key stakeholders, including public authorities, local communities, and business enterprises, and outlines their respective roles in tourism development. Furthermore, the report examines the target market and segmentation basis, highlighting the diverse needs and preferences of tourists, including international, interstate, and day-trip visitors. It also explores the array of tourism experiences available, from outdoor adventures to cultural and culinary encounters, and discusses the potential and challenges confronting the destination region. Finally, the report offers recommendations for enhancing tourism management and growth in South West Australia.

Tourist

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Evidence of a Systems Approach..........................................................................................................4
Stakeholders and roles...........................................................................................................................5
Target Market and Segmentation Basis.................................................................................................7
Array of TLE Experience......................................................................................................................9
Potential and Challenges confronting the destination region...............................................................11
Recommendations...............................................................................................................................12
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................13
References...........................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction
Western Australia’s economy’s largest contributor is tourism and also plays a role in the long
term prosperity of the state. A diversified range of regional economies is encouraged by
Western Australia’s tourism industry along with offering of long term development
opportunities in the regional areas. To the primitive communities, tourism offers business
development, employment and maintenance of culture. The tourism industry along with
offering economic opportunities, it also mutually supports as well as relies on the objectives
of environmental conservation. The local and regional managers need to understand and
communicate the value of tourism in order to enhance the level of management and to access
resources for strategy development. Along with their focus on economic value of tourism, it
is equally important to focus on the techniques of social access, and cultural and
environmental value. The south west destination of Western Australia is not just a destination
but also offers multiple experiences, quirky and wildlife encounters along with breath-taking
scenery. The South West Australian region offers natural beaches, forests, caves, beautiful
vineyards, which all can be enjoyed in a single day. The West corner of Western Australia is
around twenty-three thousand kilometres, which consists of thousands of kilometres of
coastline. The destination has multiple national parks for the nature and wildlife experience.
The South west corner of Australia stretches from the Bunbury to the Bremer Bay. This
region is divided into five sub-regions, namely; the Great Southern region, the Margaret
River Wine region, Geographe, the Blackwood River Valley, and the Southern Forest
(O'Donnell, 2015).
The key objective of the systems approach is to explore the structure and processes for
encouraging innovation. The regional tourism in the systems approach gives the
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understanding of the connection between individuals and the organization and have a
common interest in the region’s tourism, economic, social and environmental development.
The systems of regional tourism are very closely related to the organizations that are outside
the region. These organizations include the organizations of the tourism industry, the transit
regions, organizations, and the organizations responsible for the region’s education,
legislation, facilitate and regulations (Australia's South West, 2018).
The report explains the systems theory in application to the destination region. The
systematic framework also helps in examining the various environments of tourism like
economic, social, cultural, and physical. This paper also identifies various stakeholders and
their roles in the tourist destination development. The below map shows the geographical and
shire boundaries of the South West Australian region.
(Tourism Western Australia, 2010)
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Evidence of a Systems Approach
The systems theory refers to the explanatory structures that help in getting a framework for
specific systems methodology. In this theory a system is the interlinking network of different
parts that demonstrates synergistic properties resulting in greater value of the whole than the
sum of all the parts. It also helps to study the environment’s influence on the system as in a
systems perspective while studying a complex situation, it considers the numerous
interactions between the elements. When a systems approach is applied to tourism destination
regions, it helps in understanding the complexities of the economy, tourism industries,
multiple interactions, local communities, and the environment and hence helps in resolving
problems associated with the tourism industry. Hence, this approach helps by providing the
means to explain the complexities of the activities associated with tourism as well as its
management in the destination region (Barnett, 2017).
The tourism system comprises of five elements (1) tourists generating regions, (2) the
departing tourists, (3) tourist destination regions, (4) returning tourists, (5) transit regions. All
these elements in combination enable the practical occurrence of tourism. These elements are
in consideration with the humanist approach as there is an inclusion of people or the tourists
in the elements because in absence of tourists, the tourist system would not exist. All the
elements of the tourism system interact with the environment which can be social, cultural,
technical, political, legal and economic. All these environmental factors in some or the other
way, shape the tourism system and the tourism system in turn affects the environmental
factors.
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(Carson & Macbeth, 2015)
The tourism destination regions are the traveller’s destination category chosen for their stay
in that particular destination for gaining experience. When the tourism destination region is
studied, it involves consideration of the destination region in relation to the remaining four
elements and the system environment.
Stakeholders and roles
Stakeholder group Contribution to the destination (using
two/three bullet points)
Public Authorities  Creating, implementing,
administering and regulating the
legislations and regulations.
 Marketing and promotional activities
 Conservation of natural resources
and heritages
 Work towards tourism development
 Protect and develop the destination
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Tourist
generating
regions
South West
Australia
Departing Tourists
Returning Tourists
Transit Route Region
Other
International
regions
Intracountry
tourists
Environment – Social, Cultural, Economic, Political,
Technological, Legal, etc.

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region
 Support and fulfil the public
facilities like security, water supply,
electricity, telecommunication, etc.
Local Communities  Practice conservation of culture and
nature as a regular way of life
 Help in establishment of guidelines
for protecting the valuable natural
resources (Dolnicar, 2008).
 Foster tourism management
 Help in providing local produce of
products and services
 Be friendly with the tourists to help
them also practice ecotourism and
help them get the cultural
experience.
Stakeholder refers to any group or individual who affects or in turns gets either positively or
negatively impacted by the achievement of particular organization’s objectives. There are
multiple stakeholders in tourism who directly or indirectly participate in activities of tourism.
These stakeholders include the public authorities, local communities and indigenous groups,
and various business enterprises in tourism, tourism professionals, governmental and non-
governmental organizations, voluntary actors, and the media (O'Donnell, 2015).
In a regional destination the external stakeholders hold a huge importance in building the
capacity of that destination. These external stakeholders represent the education, health,
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transport and emergency services of a certain destination, this also includes the tourism and
stakeholders with economic interests. The other stakeholders in destination management
other than the stakeholders from tourism industry are government of the country, local
community living in the destination region. All these stakeholders need to work
collaboratively for development of the destination region.
Target Market and Segmentation Basis
Tourists travelling to destinations have different needs and differently feels attracted by
different tourist destinations, have different expectations from their travel, want to indulge
into different activities, make use of different entertainment facilities, etc. While all tourists
are different, many also enjoy culture tourism, or just leisure activities, many require
entertainment facilities for children at the destination, etc. This reason forms the basis of
market segmentation that every tourist is different and the industry cannot cater to everyone’s
need separately.
The market segments of South West Australian destination are International, Interstate,
Intrastate and Day Trippers.
The international market segment being the most revenue generating segment as the growing
number provides an opportunity to the South West Australian region to increase its tourism.
To take advantage of the growth in the international markets, the region needs to increase its
international visitors as compared to the other states of Australia. The international visitors
and the interstate visitors prefer to visit the Shire Augusta Margaret River and the coastal
areas. The inland of the South West Australia is noted to receive only thirty-five percent of
visitors as mostly prefer going to the city of Busselton. The international visitors are
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generally within the age group of 25 - 65 years, they are either families and friends or free,
independent travellers, who look for self-drive cars and Motorhomes, want to indulge into
culture, heritage, adventure, wine and food. The international travellers can also be the age
group of 18 -35 years who travel for casual work, or stay with friends, do camping, seek
adventure and culture, and get self-drive experience in the nature (Wanga, et al., 2014).
Another target market of South West Australia are the Day Trip visitors who live within the
half an hour to two hours travel distance. These visitors visit for popular sites or the sports
enthusiasts, family groups, or groups of families, for socialising purposes, to indulge into
nature, adventure-based activities, shopping, etc.
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Array of TLE Experience
Travellers in today’s time travel mostly or select a particular destination not just for the visit's
purpose but also to gain experience. Such travellers are experienced travellers, they are
always on lookout for authentic and personal experiences that they can talk about after their
travel, they mostly involve into one or the other activities to get experience, are very social
and enjoy interacting with local community people, they always travel with research of the
destination region, are mostly adventurous and enjoy a variety of experiences, and for them
contrasting experiences on a trip holds high value.
Experiences Location in the destination
region
Type of experiences
(natural/cultural/urban)
Climbing and Abseiling Brides cave near Margaret
River
Outdoor adventure
Four Wheel Driving Fitzgerald River National
Park, Bremer Bay, Cheyne
Beach
Outdoor adventure
Skydiving Busselton Outdoor adventure
Whale watching, country
gardens, Wildflowers,
Beaches, Waterfalls
Biodiversity Hotspots Nature
Local food and wine
experience
Perth Eat and drink
Paintings, Jewellery,
furniture, indigenous art
Ngilgi Cave, Bunbury City. Culture, History and Arts
Wellness and days spas, Beaches Relax and reconnect
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beachside holiday,
The primary objective of the South West Australian tourism is to increase the number of
visitors from the various segments to generate yield and help in the facilitation of growth and
prosperity of the region and the tourism industry of South Western Australia. With focus on
its objectives, the marketing campaigns designed are to inspire the consumers for a holiday in
South West Australia, make a flow in the thought and planning of the consumers from their
being aware of considering to planning a holiday in South West Australia, and to increase the
amount spent by the visitors (Murphy, 2017).
Keeping its objectives in focus, the destination region applies its marketing strategy across
the domestic and international markets. It works with various retail travel brands, online
travel agents, airlines, etc. as these all have ability to sell a wide range of products and
packages and to promote the destination region and attract the travellers to visit South West
Australia. The promotional activities and advertisements are mostly to capitalize on raising
the awareness related to the region’s experiences, adventure activities, culture and heritage. It
all helps in driving the conversion and bookings and yield for the South West Australian
tourism. The campaigns enable in creating awareness of key travel periods in the relevant
markets.
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Potential and Challenges confronting the destination region
Challenges:
1. A challenge for most of the South West Australian region is its similar climate,
topography, geography and visitor experience, which largely affects the destination’s
branding and positioning. The other competing regions have similar offerings in terms
of experiences and few of the competing regions offer unique differences. The
challenge is to develop a regional brand to create a difference from the nearby
competing regions and captures the soul of the region.
2. The growth should be from the leisure segment in the domestic market, which poses
various challenges. The interstate travel in Western Australia has been steady in the
last decade. The main reasons for it are time, cost and distance which impacts the
growth of leisure segment (CEDA, 2016).
Potential
1. The Australia’s South West Destination development strategy defines the priorities
for its regional tourism. Keeping a focus on its objectives and the target market, the
strategy identifies certain potential experiences that it can offer to its visitors. It has
the potential to enhance its food and wine indulgences that can target the group of
friends, couples, and the travellers who are food and wine enthusiasts and the
interstate and intrastate visitors. This can offer the travellers a short getaway with a
variety of attractions. It can offer secluded and scenic nature based discovery
experience to the nature enthusiasts.
2. A holiday experience that targets retirees can also be a growth segment for its regions.
This will have the opportunity to increase the visitors from interstate and intrastate
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locations considering that the ageing of the population continues. The marketing of
such tourism focusses on what the target consumer wants and differs from the
historical offerings of the region (Solutions, 2015).
Recommendations
The two recommendations identified for South West Australian destination region are:
Tourism Infrastructure - The South West Australian region can enhance its infrastructure to
increase the range and scope of its visitor experiences. These include the inland driving at the
Kepwari Like and Stockton lakes and the to the Black diamond pool. It should develop the
Gnomesville as a tourist attraction place and a stopover, enhance the adventure experience of
the Wellington National Park by upgrading the infrastructure of the national park, improve
the recreational amenities along the Blackwood River (Tourism, 2018).
Positioning - The South West Australia can improve its positioning of various attractions to
attract visitors of diverse interests. This includes, the improvement in positioning the
experiences of adventure and nature, culture, food and wine indulgence, heritage, events and
shopping experiences. It needs to do a unique positioning that offers appealing sustainable
advantages to the travellers. It can position its adventurous travellers towards mountain
biking destinations like the Collie and Wellington National Park, Donnybrook and Balingup.
The travellers seeking for nature and adventure during their trips can be eyed by positioning
the Ludlow Tuart Forest national park and the Wellington national park along with the
nature’s experience with the river valleys, dams, beaches and forests (Carson & Macbeth,
2015). The positioning should be a combination of adventure, nature getaway with boutique
experiences in the wine, food, shopping, culture and heritage. Such a positioning enables the
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region highlight its natural features that appeal to the outdoor adventure seekers and the
visitors who want a nature based travel and help them also indulge in the boutique services
that are also available.
Conclusion
Tourism offers wide range of cultural and economic benefits to the community. This project
gains the understanding of destination region of South West Australia by linking the systems
approach with the various elements and the environment. The document also gives an
understanding of the various stakeholders involved in the development of a tourist
destination. Stakeholders generally use the concept of tourist friendly destination to promote
destination tourism. This concept offers positive value by creating reasonable costing
packages, hospitality, helps in gaining right distribution to the target customer. Stakeholders
play a very critical role in creating a tourist friendly destination. For the selected destination
of South West Australia, the document covers the market segmentation which is a strategy
used for strengthening the competitive advantage through selection of a most suitable target
group of tourist consumers.
It is understood that for the engagement and rejuvenation in destination management and
development, the facilitation of infrastructure by government, private investments and
tourism products, all are very essential elements. The investors do not generally invest in
regions that lack in infrastructure like roads, airports, water, power, telecommunication and
sewerage. The project understands that the public authorities play a crucial role in the
infrastructure development that creates a favourable environment for tourism development
and hence supports the development of tourism products. In South West Australia, a range of
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government agencies facilitate this process, these agencies include the Department of
planning, department of environment conservation, department of regional development and
lands, the department of state development, regional development commission, etc.
For continuously improving the visitor experience and to grow the tourism industry in the
South West Australia in an increasing competitive environment, it is important for the region
to continuously invest in its development, promotions of its refreshing destinations in a
unique manner and the experiences that attracts visitors in and around the destination region.
The development of destination when coupled with a strong brand positioning and marketing
helps in enhancing the tourism industry of the region.
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References
Australia's South West, 2018. Welcome to the South West. [Online]
Available at: https://www.australiassouthwest.com/
Barnett, C., 2017. State government strategy for tourism in western australia 2020, Available
at: https://www.ecotourism.org.au/assets/Resources-Hub-Destination-Management-Plans/
Tourism-in-Western-Australia-2020.pdf
Carson, D. & Macbeth, J., 2015. Regional tourism cases- Innovation in regional tourism,
Available at: http://sustain.pata.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/FINAL_Regional-Tourism-
Cases.pdf
CEDA, 2016. CEDA state of the regions series: Regional development in Western Australia,
Available at: http://www.drd.wa.gov.au/Publications/Documents/CEDA%20WA%20State
%20of%20the%20Regions%20report.pdf
Dolnicar, S., 2008. Market segmentation in tourism, Available at:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d7d0/1f681371015892e18fc7f68ea9a1dbd878bd.pdf
Murphy, C., 2017. WA State Tourism Strategy 2020: Western Australian Auditor General’s
Report, Available at: https://audit.wa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/report-2017_24-
Tourism-1.pdf
O'Donnell, T., 2015. Tourism WA’s marketing strategy, Available at:
https://www.tourism.wa.gov.au/Publications%20Library/Markets%20Events
%20Campaigns/Great_Southern_Tourism_Forum_Albany_Domestic_Marketing.pdf
Solutions, E., 2015. Bunbury-wellington & boyup brook regional tourism development
strategy 2015-2019, Available at: http://www.bunbury.wa.gov.au/pdf/Council/Bunbury
%20Wellington%20Boyup%20Brook%20Tourism%20Strategy.pdf
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Tourism Western Australia, 2010. Australia’S South West: Tourism Development Priorities,
Available at: http://www.rdagreatsouthern.com.au/pdf/TDP_Australias_South_West.pdf
Tourism, S. C., 2018. "Stakeholders in tourism development" according to UNWTO. [Online]
Available at: http://www.safecoastaltourism.org/article/stakeholders-tourism-development-
according-unwto
Wanga, J., Hayombe, P. & Mossberg, L., 2014. Stakeholder Involvement in Tourism
Destination Development, Available at:
https://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/article/view/534
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