MA505- Individual Assignment (10%) –word limit ~ 1500 words. This task requires you to thoroughly and critically read through chapter 2 “Marketing planning and strategy in a competitive environment”, Pride, W., et al. (2015), which helps you understand how marketing planning in a competitive environment occurs. At the end of the chapter (pages 79-81) you will read through the Case for Critical Analysis. Reflect on the case study. You would need to use at least four peer-review journal articles and one text-book where you are able to draw evidences to support your arguments. You will use a text-book that includes suitable marketing models/ theories related to the topic. After analysis, you will need to answer the four case study questions. Structure of the report: a) Introduction b) Body: answer each case questions with supportive evidences, appropriate theories and concepts, from the articles you have used for this purpose. This section requires analysis and synthesis. c) Conclusion d) References (four peer-review journal articles, and one text-book) 2 Pride, W., et al. (2015) Marketing principles, 2 nd Asia-Pasific edition, pp. 79-81 Case study for analysis: Stormy ride for Queensland’s tourism industry Tourism businesses in Queensland have experienced a stormy ride in the past few years. First there was the global financial crisis,then a series of cyclones that causedterrible damage in the state’s north. For example, in 2011, Cyclone Yasi, together with the worst floods in Queensland in 50 years, resulted in a $590 million fall in tourism revenue alone. The extensive media coverage of the floods and Cyclone Yasi contributed to the mass cancellations and loss of revenue. Unfortunately, tourism businesses in regions not impacted by the disaster also suffered from cancellations, drops in future bookings as well as revenue. In January 2013, the world’s media saw again distributing images of flood-ravaged Queensland. Tropical Cyclone Oswald hit the Queensland coast, leaving many regions devastated. Some of these communities were still trying to re-build after the floods of 2010/2011, so the impact of the 2013 floods was particularly devastating. The Tourism Industry Council, together with Queensland Tourism, are trying to stop the build-up of a public image of flood-ravaged Queensland with promotional messages featuring the ‘Queensland is open to tourists’ theme and reminding potential travellers that a vacation in the Sunshine State would be a good idea. Tropical cyclones are a natural part of Queensland’s tropical climate, and according to the Bureau of Meteorology, there are, on average, 4.7 tropical cyclones each year (the cyclone season is between November and April). Unfortunately, the Queensland environment (and economy) has suffered from many major disasters since Cyclone Yasi: multiple instances of serious flooding, bushfires and severe storms. To improve Queensland’s crisis preparedness, a new ‘Get Ready’ disaster preparedness campaign was launched in October 2013, urging everyone to be more prepared for extreme weather. The aim of this campaign was to reduce the impact of extreme weather as well as help communities bounce back quicker after a disaster. The materials are available online as well in the high school Business Study curriculum. Furthermore, a mobile phone app ‘Ready, Set Go!’, designed to help Queensland tourism businesses to be better prepared for extreme weather, was launched in November 2013. Unfortunately, these natural disasters came at a time when the tourism industry was already struggling due to the strong Australian dollar reducing the competitiveness of Queensland as a travel destination for both domestic as well as overseas visitors. Yet natural disasters are just one of the issues Queensland tourism businesses have to address. For example, campaigners for new all-inclusive casino resorts claim that without the proposed 5–6-star casino resorts, Queensland as a travel product would become marginalised with run-down and eroded facilities. Queensland tourism operators are also learning that their new target market, the Chinese tourists, do not necessarily appreciate travel packages that were originally created for Japanese and Korean visitors. Asian tourists are named as a key target market in the Future of Tourism in Queensland plan. Other major trends identified in this plan are that future tourists have high expectations for authentic experiences, and the enhanced importance of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in holiday decision making. Tourism is one of the four pillars of the Queensland economy (together with agriculture, construction and resources) as well as being a key contributor to Queensland’s economy with an estimated total of $22.4 billion in expenditure in the 2012–2013 financial year. This is a 7.8 3 per cent contribution to Queensland’s gross state product (GSP) and the industry employs over 10 per cent of Queenslanders. The Queensland Government prepared a 20- year plan for the state’s tourism industry, in consultation with industry stakeholders. The plan is ambitious; the aim is to make Queensland Australia’s number one destination and to double overnight visitor expenditure to $30 billion by 2020. Oprah’s ultimate Australian adventure Oprah Winfrey, a famous TV talk-show host, brought 302 of her ultimate fans, 200 crew members and almost 200 journalists to visit and experience several Australian tourism destinations in late 2010. Over eight days they recorded more than 700 hours’ worth of footage and the best scenes were selected for a series of four Oprah shows which were screened in the US and Australia in January 2011. To capitalise on the excitement generated, key Australian tourism organisations joined together to produce some Ultimate Australian Adventure holiday packages. The Oprah showcase on Australia was very popular in the US, with an audience of 10 million. From the idea to take a holiday to actually taking the trip takes time. However, Tourism Australia was pleased to report an increase in Americans taking a holiday in Australia, when the 2012 arrival statistics revealed the greatest number of American tourists since the Sydney Olympics. Case study Questions to answer: 1. Conduct a SWOT analysis for the Queensland tourism industry. 2. The lead time between intention to have a holiday/booking a holiday and the start of the holiday is long. What circumstances could cause tourists to cancel the planned vacation? 3. What could tourism businesses do to reduce the probability of mass cancellations of bookings if a near-by region is impacted by a disaster? 4. How can tourism authorities justify big expenditures like hosting the Oprah Winfrey show when the revenue from this investment is not likely to be evident until few years later? In your opinion, should tourism authorities or other governmental departments fund such ventures?