Reference no: EM133498400

The Tourist Experience

Assessment - Group Presentation

Learning Outcome 1: Explain the influence of changes in consumer demand and the emergence of the experience economy on the development of a range of niche tourism products.

Learning Outcome 2: Investigate the factors that affect tourist satisfaction levels and the tools that tourism operators employ to evaluate the tourist experience.

Learning Outcome 3: Describe the economic, socio-cultural & environmental impacts of tourism on local communities.

Context:

As consumer behaviours, travel patterns and trends continue to change over time, tourism operators are constantly required to evolve their products to remain attractive and competitive. With the emergence of the experience economy, consumer have become more focused on what they can experience, rather than what they can purchase. This has led to the development of a number of niche tourism products to meet the every-growing demand of consumers with a variety of needs and wants. With increasing competition, tourism operators have had to focus their efforts on maintaining tourist satisfaction through regular evaluation of the experiences they offer. In addition, this increased tourism offering has created a range of economic, social and environmental impacts on destinations around the world. This assessment allows students to explore the experience economy and develop tourist experiences to meet the needs of consumers interested in niche tourism products. Students will investigate tools tourism operators use to gather feedback from tourists to allow for improvements to the tourist experience. Students will also consider the positive and negative impacts of tourism on local communities.

Instructions:

In a group of up to four (4) members, students will assume the role of a small tourism operator. The operator has decided to target an emerging consumer group by offering an immersive four (4) day niche tourist experience in an effort to increase visitation to the region. As this new experience will require the support of the local destination management organisation (DMO) to be successful, the tourism operator has been asked to present their proposed tourist experience to the DMO executive team for approval.
Students are required to choose a tourism destination (Australia or overseas) and address the following:

• Provide a brief overview of the destination and the existing tourism products & offerings.

• Identify an emerging tourist consumer group and discuss the characteristics of these consumers that differentiate them as travellers.

• Select a tourism niche in the experience economy (e.g. adventure tourism, thana tourism, medical tourism, cultural tourism, culinary tourism, voluntourism etc.) and using existing tourist products, plan an appropriate four (4) day tour in the destination for the chosen consumer group.

• Outline the methods that existing tourism providers and DMOs use to evaluate the tourist experience and identify two (2) tools that the small tourism operator could use to gauge consumer satisfaction levels.

• Discuss the potential economic, socio-cultural & environmental impacts of increased tourism on the local community in the chosen destination.

Note: Only need last point. "Discuss the potential economic, socio-cultural & environmental impacts of increased tourism on the local community in the chosen destination". The destination chosen - Blue Mountains in Australia.