Analysis of Tourism Development in Kakadu National Park

This report provides an in-depth analysis of contemporary hotel and tourism issues within Kakadu National Park, Australia. The introduction highlights the park's significance as a World Heritage area and the growing challenges posed by increased tourism, emphasizing the need for a balance between conservation and development. The report then delves into specific areas, including strategies to enhance the visitor economy by focusing on niche markets such as mountain biking. It examines the importance of transport development to improve accessibility, particularly for international tourists, and the need for accommodation development to meet growing demands. Risk and crisis management strategies are discussed, focusing on cultural and natural resource preservation alongside tourism development. The influence of social media on branding and marketing the destination is also explored, along with visitor experience development, emphasizing the shift from activities to comprehensive experiences. The report concludes by summarizing key findings and recommendations for sustainable tourism development in Kakadu National Park.

Running Head: KAKADU 0
Contemporary Hotel and Tourism Issue
Student Details
2/3/2019

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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Tourism and Accommodation Issues.........................................................................................3
Tourist Market Potential........................................................................................................3
Transport Development..........................................................................................................4
Accommodation Development...............................................................................................5
Risk and Crisis Management.................................................................................................6
Influence of Social Media......................................................................................................7
Visitor Experience Development...........................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Kakadu National park is located in Northern Territory of Australia. This unique ethnological
and archaeological park exists from more than 40K years. Rock carvings, cave paintings,
archaeological sites represent unique skills. This park is a perfect balance of complex
ecosystem which consists of plateaux and lowlands, floodplains, tidal flats, and a wide range
of rare animals and plants species can be seen here. It is the largest national park of Australia
as well as one of the largest tropics in world. This park is from least affected areas and
consists of huge diversity of flora (Kakadutourism, 2019). Therefore, Kakadu national park
consists of cultural and natural values that make it as a World Heritage area.
But in recent years, a huge increase in tourism in Kakadu national park has resulted in
various issues related to preservation of its features. It is the responsibility of government of
Australia and its management entities to take steps in order to preserve its rich cultural
values. Increase in number of tourist is placing environmental pressure on the area and thus
resulting in conflict between its conservation values and human use. A request has made by
aboriginal people to investigate the impact of developments in area which include mining,
tourism, and management (Ecotourism, 2019). However, with preservation of rich heritage
culture of park is important, it is equally important to promote advance practices of
development to increase tourism in the park which is the major source of economic
development for northern territory and Australia. This report discuss about the various factors
that influence its tourism including market, transport, accommodation, social media, and
visitors’ experience. Risk and crisis are also considered in the report and management of
them by managers is discussed.

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Tourism and Accommodation Issues
Tourist Market Potential
The visitor economy can be enhanced at Kakadu national park by focusing on the niche
market and products. It needs to develop strategies to promote the market potentials in the
park and its surrounding areas. First strategy that would be helpful in increasing tourism in
Kakadu national park is to promote this area as a brand through different advertisements. One
of the niche tourism markets that can be a potential market for the destination is promoting
“Mountain Biking Plan”. Kakadu national park is located in northern territory of Australia
which provides a bicycle-friendly destination, services, and experiences to the mountain bike
riders (CDU, 2019). This master plan was collaboratively developed by government agencies
and different tourism industry groups. To provide excellent experience and to make this
market successful, quality trails are being developed in area. Development of trails will also
help in providing resources which further foster local people participation, health benefits,
employment, and other opportunities to visitors. In order to attract a wide range of adventure
market, world class distinctive rides need to be developed that present iconic and unique
landscape of Kakadu. Along with distinctive rides, epic rides can also be a ‘must do’
attraction for mountain bikers (Northernterritory, 2019).
A well class level of promotion and positioning is required that describes the distinguished
features of mountain biking. Promotion of mountain biking will attract variety of mountain
biking visitors that includes enthusiasts that want special rides, leisure visitors that have
natural attraction for mountain biking, and sports, athletes, and hard core bikers who look for
competitions, adventure, and challenges (AUgov, 2018). According to the International
Mountain Biking Association (IMTB), there are some expectations of mountain bikers to
experience excellent rides which provide them a connection with nature, enjoyment and

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opportunity to experience flow of nature, adventures that examine technical skills of rider,
workout to strengthen their mental and physical level, connection of routes and trails with
other routes which create wide range of possibilities, and necessary facilities to make bike
ride experience complete. Development of mountain biking events has the potential of
creating business opportunities for local communities (Cycletrailsaustralia, 2019).
Transport Development
One of the major problems that restrict tourist to visit Kakadu national park is poor access to
reach there. To attract domestic and international tourists in Kakadu Park, there is need to
improve accessibility to reach there. First problem of access is less and expensive flight
schedules to access to Kakadu. Even there is need to improve internal access in Kakadu.
Kakadu has international reputation and one of the major attractions in Australia. But, still
some tourists especially from Asia who are restricted with time limitations (UNESCO, 2018).
In such case, road journey which take around three to four hours seems impractical to those
tourists. This can be improved by providing improved internal access through scheduled
flights or charter. Kakadu has the potential of being a very attractive tourist’s destination for
incentive market but due to the lack of transport facilities, opportunities of growing this
market have been limited (AustralianGovernment, 2019).
This can be enhanced through increasing domestic and international flight services. During
peak season time, flight services should be expanded to ensure that tourists do not face issues
to reach to the destination and they will get better and excellent experience of visiting.
Regional airports like Cooinda and Jabiru need major investments for its up gradation
(Tremblay, 2008). This up gradation involves providing services of medium sized jet
aircrafts. This will help in arranging flights from major gateway ports like Alice Springs and

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Darwin or from more populated areas directly. Improvement in runways automatically
enhances airport facilities.
Tourism in Kakadu is restricted by season in the region. Business in Kakadu is at its peak
during the dry season window of four months which is because lack of resources on the
ground during the extreme weather conditions. To enhance tourism in Kakadu, it is
recommended to provide enhanced all year round road infrastructure to attractions like Ubirr,
Jim Jim & Twin falls, Nourlangie, and Gunlom (AUgov, 2019).
Accommodation Development
Kakadu is located in northern territory of Australia, away from the chaos of city. It is a treat
for body, mind, and soul to stay in this region. The peace and calmness of this region allows
people to connect with their inner self. This is the region people want to come here again and
again. Although, there are various accommodation options available in Kakadu, but there is
still a lot of development needs regarding infrastructure, hotels, and luxury services for the
people. Tourism authority of Kakadu has provided a report which suggests, there is need of
developing around 100 hotel rooms every year in order to meet the tourism growth demands
of coming years (Kakadutourism, 2019). Due to the lack of quality accommodation
availability in this region, it reduces the visitor’s holiday value and overall experiential
offering.
One of the barriers in constructing more rooms in this region is high cost of construction and
this cost further increases during the time of construction. Also return on accommodation
investment is very low as compared to the other classes of property asset like residential and
commercial development. One strategy to meet accommodation demand in order to induce
and support the demands of visitors is to supply commercial accommodation. This can be
achieved by encouraging private investors to make investments for developing luxury hotel in

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order to provide standard accommodation facilities to visitors. Government of Australia
should implement a new and enhanced approach in order to attract potential investors to
invest in territory which may include strategic crown land release program and
accommodation development incentive schemes (Tourismtopend, 2019). More programs
should be developed and encouraged to refurbish and refresh existing accommodation
properties. For this property owners should be provided access to take information and advice
from experts. Through partnership with Flash camp, a new style of accommodation can be
developed in Cooinda which includes 30 glamping tents setup for dry season.
Risk and Crisis Management
It has been identified in the report of Shared Vision that development of plans to increase
tourism in Kakadu national park will create several risks and crisis that needs the attention of
park managers. These issues are divided into two categories:
Cultural and Natural Resource Management: This category involves the risks that occur
due to increase in tourist number or developments made to increase tourists in the park. These
risks are associated with the natural and cultural resource. Preservation of rich heritage
culture of Kakadu along with improvement in tourism in this region is a challenging task for
park managers (Environment, 2011). Risks related to cultural and natural resource
management includes: Park inventory, wildlife management, human resources, management
of art and archaeological sites, safety of visitors with crocodile management, protection and
management of park, protection of native plants, weed control, managing history of
aboriginal and colonial, support and liaison from board of management and traditional
owners, managing climate change, compliance and enforcement of law, feral animal control,
protection of traditional knowledge, capital infrastructure and works, management of

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landscape, monitoring and scientific research, waterways and wetlands, fire management, and
training of park management (Ecotourism, 2019).
Development of Visitor, Tourism Services and Business: At one end as it is important to
preserve and conserve the rich heritage cultural of Kakadu national park, it is equally
important to promote and enhance tourism in this region as tourism industry has the ability of
creating huge revenue for economic development of northern territory and Australian
government (Kakadutourism, 2019). But, managing tourists and business development
creates challenges for park mangers which include: interpretation and services of visitors,
communication and liaison of tourism industry, promotion and marketing, access and control
of visitors, training for seasonal ranger, permits, training of operators, leases and contracts for
commercial purpose, development of business and enterprises, and support and liaison issues
from board of management and traditional owners (Learnline, 2019).
Influence of Social Media
Kakadu is universally recognised as one of the great world heritage regions due to its
extraordinary and rich culture. These qualities of Kakadu national park are enough to
establish it as a brand. To promote a destination as a brand has large number of benefits
because visitors connect themselves emotionally easily with a brand. Brand adds the values in
a destination and makes it unique. It is the value of a brand that differentiates it from other
destinations (Popali, 2017).
And now due to the impact of social media on the lives of people, it has changed the
relationship between a brand and a visitor. Social media holds the power of making or
breaking a brand to a large extent. Kakadu should also use this opportunity of social media in
promotion of Kakadu as a brand on sites including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and several
others (Collins, 2009). Social media gives knowledge about likes and dislikes of visitors that

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can help in building tourism strategies in a better way. Some benefits of Kakadu brand
promotion on social media are:
1. Social signal’s growth: Social signals enhance the endeavour of a brand’s search
engine optimization. It is the rule of social media that the more people talk about a
brand on social media, more people will comment, like, follow, and recommend that
brand page to others also. This increases the chances of improving ranking of
searching the web page of Kakadu (Northernterritory, 2019).
2. Marketing of destination: Social media users help in keeping the memory of Kakadu
alive in the minds of millions of people by sharing their experience or page of Kakadu
tourism on their walls. This creates promotion, marketing, and awareness about
Kakadu destination, which converts most of those social media users into visitors of
Kakadu (Popali, 2017).
Visitor Experience Development
Recent visitor experience at Kakadu emphasize on ‘activities’ instead of ‘experiences’.
Visitors of Kakadu relate their experiences of destination with activities such as Yellow water
boat cruise, swimming, tours, and others, but very less about their experiences. In initial years
of 90’s, Kakadu has an image of ‘Crocodile Dundee’ and an experience’s perception of
‘Crocodile Dundee’ experience. In a case study it has found that there was only visitor
experience was climb the rock outside the resort at Uluru. After that a number of new
experiences have been included such as Uluru base camp, Anangu tours owned by aboriginal,
‘Sounds of Silence dinner, camel rides, base walk at Uluru, helicopter rides, and cave hill
trips. This enhanced the visitor experience to a great extent and also provided various
economic and social benefits (Environemnt, 2010).

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Visitor experiences can be improved by focusing on experiences instead of attractions. This
requires shifting of market demands to the side of engaging and learning experiences instead
of just visiting places. These experiences should show the rich culture, brand values and
attributes, spirituality, and diversity of Kakadu. For this there is need of refurbishment of
existing and creating new experiences (Kakadutourism, 2019).
New experiences should be developed for visitors that has the potential of attracting new
market and also meet the expectations of visitors. Possible experiences include: bird watching
tours, night wildlife tours, modified landscape and wildlife tours represented through eyes of
aboriginal, evening dining with night sky storytelling by aboriginal, luxury eco-camps with
low impact, new and modified walking tracks that provide cabin accommodation for
overnight, bush tucker tours, culture camps, small tourism centres at the sight of Twin Falls,
others also (Kakadutourism, 2019).
Conclusion
The above report discuss about the rich heritage culture of Kakadu National Park which is
located in the northern territory of Australia. This unique park is in existence from more than
forty years. As it is discussed in the report, Kakadu has huge potential of attracting large
number of tourists which can contribute in the enhancement of economy of northern territory
as well as the economy of Australia. But, there are several lack of resources which is
restricting Kakadu as being one of the world’s biggest tourism destination. First thing
identified that can enhance tourism further is development of new market which has the
potential of attracting new visitors. One of the best markets that attract more visitors is
development of Mountain Biking plan. Mountain biking has the capacity of attracting various
kinds of visitors. Second issue identified is the need of developing transport facilities in the
area. There is need in improving access to this area by providing more flights and charter

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services in this region. Development of new roads and linkage to different sites can improve
it further. Third thing that can be done in order to enhance tourism is development of new and
luxury accommodation facilities. Social media also plays a significant role in promotion and
marketing of a destination. It has a large influence on vast number of people which can create
huge tourism. And the final improvement can be done by enhancing and extending the
existing visitor experiences. Focus should be on visitor experience rather than attraction of
visitors. A quality experience felt by visitors encourage them to visit the place again and also
to recommend it to more people. Various visitor experiences can be developed for tourism
improvement. Finally, one major concern is related with enhancement of tourism in Kakadu
is, preservation of its natural and cultural resources which need to be considered by the park
management authorities and the government of Australia.

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References
AUgov, 2018. Kakadu takes out top tourism award. [Online] Available at:
https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/news/kakadu-takes-out-top-tourism-award/.
AUgov, 2019. About us. [Online] Available at: https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/about/.
AustralianGovernment, 2019. Kkadu National Park Management Plan. [Online] Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2016L00002/Supporting%20Material/Text.
CDU, 2019. Managing Tourism in Kakadu. [Online] Available at:
http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/tourism/kakadu/background/pdf/managingtourism.pdf.
Collins, B., 2009. Kakadu Region Social Impact Study.
Cycletrailsaustralia, 2019. Kakadu National Park, NT. [Online] Available at:
http://www.cycletrailsaustralia.com/2_trails/kakadu-national-park-nt.
Ecotourism, 2019. Tourism Vision 2020: Northern Territory's Startegy for Growth. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ecotourism.org.au/assets/Resources-Hub-Destination-
Management-Plans/Tourism-Vision-2020-Northern-Territorys-Strategy-for-Growth.pdf.
Environemnt, 2010. Brand Startegy. [Online] Available at:
https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/80ba3a04-3ed4-4951-89ad-
1dd0ee0918bd/files/brand.pdf.
Environment, 2011. Kakadu: Vulnerability to climate change impacts. [Online] Available at:
https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/b2915be6-16e4-4cb3-8533-
471ed879bfc1/files/kakadu-coast.pdf.