Carmen Tideswell

A Framework for Monitoring Community Impacts of Tourism

This paper describes a framework which has been designed for a comparative study of the social impacts of tourism in destination communities along the eastern seaboard of Australia. As this part of Australia is experiencing the most rapid population growth and at the same time encompasses the focus of tourist activity in the country, it is expected that the tension between tourism and urban development demands will become more pronounced in the future.Theframework is tested through an application to a case study involving one of Australia s most well known seaside resorts, the Gold Coast. While the Gold Coast survey of resident reactions revealed some relationships between variations in perceptions of tourism s impacts and background characteristics such as involvement in tourism, residential proximity to tourist activity and period of residence, the most notable feature of resident reactions in this case is the generally positive view of tourism s role in the region. It is therefore concluded that the al...

Multidestination Travel Patterns of International Visitors to Queensland

Tourists frequently undertake multidestination trips to maximize the benefits of travel. A more detailed understanding of this phenomenon contributes to destination marketing by enabling identification of potential multidestination marketing synergies. For individual destinations lacking the critical mass of attractions, such synergies provide a foundation for leveraging strategies. While research has revealed a range of factors associated with variations in travel patterns, no attempt has been made to explore the relative contribution of each factor in a specific context. Research conducted to date has focused primarily on domestic recreational travel (largely in the United States) rather than international tourism. This study uses an Australian database on international visitor travel patterns in Queensland to do this. It is revealed that risk-reduction tendencies associated with long-haul travel, variations in mobility, multiple-benefit seeking, and information sources used by visitors prior to their trip all have a bearing on the level of multidestination travel.

Developing and Rewarding Loyalty to Hotels: The guest's perspective

With the changing focus of marketing in the hospitality industry having moved toward relationship marketing and establishing loyalty among customers, it is fundamental for hospitality and tourism organizations to establish what their consumers think in terms of strategies used by hotel properties to secure their loyal customer. This article outlines the results of research conducted with 2,000 5-star hotel guests to establish how frequent guests to two properties on the Gold Coast, Australia perceived the current effectiveness of the marketing strategies used to create guest loyalty. A market segmentation of the different levels of the so-called loyal guest is presented, and a gap analysis of existing versus preferred rewards for loyalty is discussed.

An Integrative Approach to Tourism Forecasting: A Glance in the Rearview Mirror

In 1996, the South Australian Tourism Commission initiated a tourism forecasting and economic impact study to assess their future tourism industry potential. The integrative forecasting approach adopted advocates a combination of quantitative top-down and bottom-up approaches, along with a qualitative delphi survey to gather key industry input to the forecasting process. The article provides a retrospective assessment of the forecast accuracy for South Australia’s domestic and international tourism markets. Consideration of the most appropriate methods for updating existing state tourism forecasts, based on the South Australian experience, is also made. The findings suggest that the forecast accuracy for both international and domestic visitors was quite high overall. However, this apparent accuracy disguises some significant inaccuracies for particular segments, such as New Zealand and Other Asia, illustrating the difficulty of using time-series-type approaches to tourism forecasting in situations where the numbers are quite small and subject to significant volatility.