SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS

 Annual holidays and holiday pay – Japanese tend to book short all inclusing holiday packages due to limited annual leave; students after HSC traditionally book “schoolies week” or students in UK have “gap” year holidays abroad after Year 12 and starting university; USA summer holidays three months for students.  Religious pilgrimages – eg. Haj in Mecca; Vatican for Christians; Varanasi in India for Hindus.  More educated tend to travel – eg. Student exchange programs such as the annual influx of Danish students who completed Year 12 HSC at Bankstown TAFE for a semester up until 2005; post HSC exchange programs eg.Brazil, UK; conferences by professionals eg. Doctors, health workers.  Increased income of families due to females working allows more opportunity for families to travel  Increased “stress” and longer working hours of Australian workers resulting in an increase in range of short package deals eg. 3 days to Gold Coast to fit new work demands  Increased travel of gay community for specific events eg. Gay Mardi Gras – this group has high disposable income due to two incomes and limited family commitments generally.  Increase in business and cultural travel due to globalisation of world information, events and increased dominance of TNC’s – eg. conferences, trade fairs, cultural fairs (eg. International art shows such as the Venice Biennale which showcases the best contemporary artists from around the world).  The age group of travellers – families less likely to travel due to cost of paying for children and adult air fares at 12 years of age; rise of the “grey nomads” in Australia – self funded retirees and early retirement of our ageing population has resulted in many retirees buying caravans and touring Australia or taking package tours overseas.  Fashionable destinations – certain destinations start to be fashionable eg. Mt. Hotham ski resort being marketed to Yuppies in Sydney as this is the only ski resort with an airport – flights take 80 minutes from Sydney; cruises to Antarctica from South America;  Increased life expectancy and good health of older people is allowing people more time in their retirement to travel  Cultural and historic sites – eg. Castles, museums, temples, archaeological sites are popular with visitors; eg. Melbourne always markets a major “art show at its National Gallery of Victoria” every winter to encourage visitors even though the weather is poor; in the UK many historic houses and castles close in winter due to the high cost of heating so are popular mostly in the summer tourist season.  Shopping tours – appeal to females wanting to hunt down bargains on bus tours of factory outlet sites  Educational tours – eg. Macquarie university has tours of its archaeological dig sites in Egypt for students; community colleges and many schools have overseas excursions eg: MLC Burwood to Scandinavia on a music tour; Burwood Girls High takes Society and Culture Students to visit Pacific Island societies and French students to France.

ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS

1. Government  regulations affect costs of labour, warnings to travellers on dangerous destinations, taxation such as GST, foreign investment policies, visitor entry and visa requirements, consumer rites, provision of large infrastructure projects such as Highway bypasses and airport rail links; government marketing organisations such as Australian Tourist Commission and Austrade.

TASK: What is a visa? Where can a traveller find out about travel warnings by the Government?

For example:

No tourists can visit North Korea – closed state due to government regulations; to visit USA visitors from Australia must apply for a visa in their passport and complete a detailed questionnaire and criminal record check; The Military Government of Burma strictly controls travel to, from, and within Burma. Travellers are required to show their passports with a valid visa at all airports, train stations, and hotels. Visas are not given to journalists. There are frequent security roadblocks checks on all roads, at immigration checkpoints, and on domestic air flights in Burma.

2. Private Operators (a) Large scale operators – have large market share and can spread costs over a wide area (called – economies of scale) thus can buy large quantities of items such as linen and spread the cost over a wide area and increase profits. – By the year 2000 only EIGHT international hotel groups owned or operated more than 1000 hotels each; several hotel chains belong to the one company giving the customer the “impression” of diversity instead of a limited market eg; Marriott, Renaissance, Ritz-Carlton, Ramada belongs to the Marriott Hotel and Resorts Group in the USA – it has 1,855 hotels in 43 countries; Novotel, Sofitel, Mecure, Formule 1 and Ibis belong to the Accorr Group from France and has 260 hotels in 48 countries. – Processes involved in expansion of the tourist industry: (a)Horizontal Integration – this means when a company expands taking over a similar segment of the industry such as a hotel taking over a hotel (b)Vertical Integration – expansion of an organisation into a different market segment eg. Airline takes over a tour operator OR with our case study a domestic home building developer takes over a ski resort at Mt Buffalo Victoria. – These processes allow – (i) costs to be spread across the industry (economies of scale) (ii) control inputs and standardise inputs to reduce cost (iii) centralise management, finance and marketing (iv) reduce competition (v) allows income to be repatriated to head office or country of origin of company rather than assist local tourist economy

(b) Small Scale Operations  Nearly half of the tourism sector is made up of small to medium businesses  “Niche” marketing – accounts for the growth in tourism eg. Adventure travel – abseiling, white water rafting and bungy jumping; Historical Walking tours – eg. Tours of famous headstones of Rookwood Cemetery; Steam Train Tours; Scuba Diving training and experiences – eg. Sydney Aquarium.

 Serious economic problems are affecting small operators with the increased cost of public liability insurance  Franchising – a popular way of starting a small business – buy the name, produce, publicity, advertising and marketing of a big name but remains independent to gain market exposure eg: Flight Centre.

(c)International Agreements and Organisations  The General Agreements on Trade in Services (GATS) is a multilateral agreement under the control of the World Trade Organisation – this agreement has worked to make it easier for areas of the service industry to trade across international borders  The WTO has its headquarters in Switzerland, it is a global organisation with 138 member countries and aims to promote and develop tourism and resolve differences internationally

(d)Trade and industry organisations  Tourism Australia is the Federal Government statutory authority responsible for international and domestic tourism marketing as well as the delivery of research and forecasts for the sector.  IATA is the airline industry’s industry body. Its members comprise some 260 airlines - representing 94 percent of international scheduled air traffic.

Task: try to find other trade and industry associations! TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS

 In the 20th century technological advances in such as jet over unpressurised propeller aircraft and ship; email and fax over telex and telegram by morse code; satellite and GPS over cable; have all contributed to a boost in tourism.  Prior to 1960’s a sea voyage from UK to Australia would take six weeks – today a 747 takes approximately 21 hours; with the new large airbus jumbos this will reduce further.  Very fast trains in Europe and Japan run at 250 km/hr  Cruise ships with improved stabilisers can carry more people eg. Royal Caribbean can carry 3,100 passengers  Increased speed and capacity of car ferries – eg. Spirit of Tasmania from Tasmania to Melbourne; Austal is an Australian company and is a major world leader in the building of super fast ferries

 improvements in infrastructure design – Channel Tunnel under the North Sea linking UK and France; the 16 km road- rail across Oresund Sound between Denmark and Sweden The Oresund Link: One of Europe's biggest ever building projects

 Automobile technology – massive growth since WW2 – bigger, stronger, lightweight materials, better mileage, off- road touring growth, luxury coaches with toilets, DVD’s, seat belts; pop-up camper trailers.  Information technology – improved airline computer systems; on line bookings; smart cards, improved security technology looking at face recognition and irises of eyes; pay tv growth; internet connections for laptops in motels and hostels; mobile phones with email and palm organisers.  Other technologies – medical – improved immunisation and health practices have reduced risks to tourists visiting foreign destinations; malaria still a major problem as is AIDS in Africa and Asia; outbreak of SARS in Asia and Canada caused downturn in airline travel temporarily. - media – instant news from international news agencies; digital media can transmit images instantaneously to family and friends at home while overseas whereas film photos took time to develop and had to be carried carefully to avoid X Ray exposure at airports; 8 mm film camera replaced by home video; photo phones. - Enjoyment technologies – amusement parks, cable cars, bungy jumps, jet boats, heli skiing all increase the trill of the holiday - Space tourism – limited to a few millionaires who have paid millions to the cash strapped Russian space industry.

POLITICAL FACTORS  Tourism can - promote goodwill between nations - increase cross-cultural contact and understanding - improve economic development of a poorer nation - can be affected by political unrest – such as war in Lebanon causing evacuations of Australians holidaying there; political coups or sanctions (eg. South Africa under the apartheid regime – where blacks were openly discriminated against by the ruling government in all aspects of life – therefore other nations refused to trade or allow cross-cultural events to occur such as sporting tours- this resulted in limited and expensive flights to South Africa – since a change of government and abolition of apartheid tourism has grown with people visiting for wildlife safaris, visit family, sporting tours such as Cricket and Rugby union. - Terrorist attacks – USA Sept 11, 2001; Bali –Oct 12, 2002; Jakarta Marriot Hotel – August, 2003; Madrid train bombing 2004; London underground trains and bus bombing 2005; - all affect tourism with disruption to transport systems, increased security and costs. - Political involvement in unpopular international events eg. Travel to Israel and Lebanon now risky; involvement in Iraq war may lead to retribution by opposition forces. - “Propaganda” by governments – eg. Some tourist places play on emotions and do not give all the facts such as Peace Park at Hiroshima makes no mention of Japan being the aggressor in the war; Chinese swimmers being world champions to boost status at Olympic Games despite suspect drug tests; Government advertising campaigns may not tell the whole story; kidnapping of tourists by extremist groups may not be mentioned eg. Turkey and southern Philippines so as not to deter tourists bringing needed foreign exchange; Beijing Olympics??

TASK: Find out about some “propaganda” by governments eg. Turkey and southern Philippines kidnapping.