Regional Destination Project

Sustainable Regional Tourism Destination Project

Determining Best Practice for the Sustainable Development, Marketing and Management of Regional Tourism Destinations in Australia

• Progress Report - October 2006(pdf)
• Project background
• Target destinations
• Researcher profiles

Project Background

This three-year research project has been initiated by the Australian Regional Tourism Network (ARTN) and is funded by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC). The genesis for this research project stemmed from the annual Australian Regional Convention that has been held annually since 2001. The Convention is designed to provide a mechanism for practitioners engaged in regional tourism to share and build knowledge.

Various presentations at the Convention over the past five years have had a common theme relating to the role of destinations in regional tourism. As a result, the ARTN have been keen to draw together under one project, examination of sustainable tourism in a regional context that determines best practice in the areas of destination development, marketing and destination management. Case studies will be undertaken in regional destinations around Australia that have exhibited best practice in these three areas. These case studies will be undertaken from July 2006. In addition, the ARTN is also keen to determine benchmarking measures for Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) involvement in destination development, marketing and management.

The desired outcome of the project is to provide government, industry and community stakeholders, across national, state, regional and destination levels, with practical guidance on best practice principles for the sustainable development, marketing and management of regional tourism destinations. For example, toolkits, best practice principles, guidelines or manuals will be developed so that stakeholders can use as a means of planning for regional tourism. These best practice guidelines/toolkits will be applied and tested within specific destinations. Following this, it is planned that training modules will be developed and implemented for stakeholders interested in pursuing best practice. It should be noted that although this research spans a three-year period, practical outcomes would be developed throughout the project.

A team of eight ST CRC researchers from universities around Australia will undertake the case study research. An industry reference group comprising representatives from each state and territory tourism organisation and Tourism Australia guides the project.

return to top

Target destinations

Destination	Region
New South Wales	Byron Bay Hunter Valley Snowy Mountains
Victoria	Daylesford Grampians Great Ocean Road
South Australia	Barossa Valley Kangaroo Island Wilpena
Cross Border NSW/VIC/SA	Murray River
ACT	Canberra
Queensland	Noosa Moreton Bay and Islands Port Douglas
Western Australia	Tapestry Region Esperance Shark Bay
Tasmania	Launceston Port Arthur Cradle Mountain
Northern Territory	Katherine Tennant Creek Alice Springs

return to top

Researcher Profiles

• Dr Meredith Lawrence
• Dr Jeremy Buultjens
• Dr Dianne Lee (Burns)
• Dr Carmen Tideswell
• Michael Pearlman
• Mary Hollick
• A/Professor Jim Macbeth
• Dr Dianne Dredge
• Simon Wilde
• Dr Dean Carson

Dr Diane Lee (Burns)
d.Lee@murdoch.edu.au

Qualifications:

• PhD, James Cook University
• Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching, James Cook University
• Bachelor of Administration (Tourism) (Honours), James Cook University

Industry/Professional Experience:

Diane is a Senior Lecturer at Murdoch University in the Tourism Program. Diane is currently also the WA STCRC Network Coordinator and is on the Executive Committee of the Forum Advocating Cultural and Ecotourism (FACET).

Research Interests:

The concept of sustainable tourism development, incorporating the environment in all its aspects, underpins all areas of Diane's research interests. This covers the areas of host community attitudes and the social representations of tourism. Her PhD topic on community perceptions of user fee applications combined these areas of interest. Sustainable tourism development includes research of cultural tourism, nature based tourism and resource economics where tourism resources are valued in the same manner as the resources of other industries. Tourism marketing using the societal approach to marketing research is viewed as a tool that enables effective tourism development. 

Teaching:

• Indigenous Tourism Issues
• Sustainable Tourism
• Tourism Policy and Planning
• Introduction to Tourism Systems

• Cultural Tourism Interpretation

Memberships:

• Council of Australian University Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE) 2004, 2005.
• Forum advocating cultural and ecotourism (FACET), Executive Committee Member, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. Acting Deputy Chair, 2005.
• Associate Editor ST CRC Publishing Committee, 2004, 2005.

• Nature Based Tourism Advisory Group.  Advising Tourism Western Australia, 2005,2006. (Invited membership)
• Nature Based Tourism Advisory Group.  Advising Conservation and Land Management, 2004, 2005, 2006. (Invited membership)

State of the Environment.  Advising Department of the Environment on developing Sustainable Tourism Indicators, 2005. (Invited membership)

return to researchers

.........................................................................................................................................

Dr Carmen Tideswell - carmen.tideswell@scu.edu.au

Qualifications:

• PhD (Tourism/Marketing), Griffith University
• GCertHigherEd, Griffith University
• BIntBus (Hons), Griffith University

Industry/Professional Experience:

Carmen's industry experience has been in the hotel and tourism industry where she has worked as Marketing Manager and undertaken a number of consultancy projects for clients during her employment with the Centre for Tourism and Hotel Management Research. She has worked with clients on projects including profiling and forecasting of visitor arrivals and the economic impact of tourism in South Australia (South Australian Tourism Commission); Sydney 2000 Tourism Olympic Forecasting Study (Tourism Forecasting Council & KPMG Management Consulting); Canada's Tourism Performance (Canadian Tourism Commission); Sustainable Tourism Development in Thailand (Tourism Authority of Thailand); Gold Coast Monitor of Tourism Activity (Gold Coast Tourism Bureau) and a study of the Gold Coast Day Trip Market (Gold Coast City Council).

Research Interests:

• Marketing and consumer behaviour issues
• Destination marketing
• Hospitality
• Travel itinerary planning behaviour
• Social impacts of tourism
• Online purchase behaviour

Teaching:

• Marketing
• Services Marketing
• Retail Management
• Entrepreneurship
• Business Planning
• Tourism and Hospitality Marketing

return to researchers

.........................................................................................................................................

Michael Pearlman - Michael.Pearlman@vu.edu.au

Qualifications:

• MSc (Tourism) Strathclyde
• BSc Ecs (Hons) London School of Economics

Industry/Professional Experience:

• Project consultant and management of variety of tourism and leisure assignments
• Management supervision of subcontractors
• Specialist input in the areas of marketing research and analysis, marketing planning and economic impact assessment.
• Lecturer in tourism, Strathclyde University, Glasgow: lecturing, research and consultancy in tourism plus responsibility for industry liaison and student placement
• Senior lecturer in tourism University of Ballarat: lecturing, research and consultancy in tourism, co-ordinator of undergraduate and postgraduate tourism courses plus responsibility for the activities of the Centre for Tourism, including the delivery of education travel programs.

Research Interests:

• Tourism planning and development
• Regional tourism planning
• Integrated tourism planning
• Sustainable tourism
• Community consultation
• Tourism policy
• Senior’s tourism
• Economic impacts of tourism
• Market research and analysis

Teaching:

• International Tourism Management
• International Tourism Trends and Issues
• Destination Planning and Development
• Contemporary Issues in Hospitality and Tourism

return to researchers

.........................................................................................................................................

Mary Hollick - m.hollick@ballarat.edu.au                     

Qualifications:

• BA, Deakin
• BEd ,State Coll of B Melbourne.
• GradDip Museum Studies Vic Coll,
• HDTS,MSC,MA Monash

Industry/Professional Experience:

Mary Hollick is a lecturer in tourism and marketing in the School of Business, University of Ballarat, Victoria and has considerable
experience as an educator, commentator and consultant in tourism policy and planning.  She has a strong background in museum services combined with extensive experience in the fields of staff development, training and visitor services, specialising in social history and Australian
heritage management. Mary has provided consultant services in attractions management and areas of social and built history conservation and presentation. Mary's areas of interest and expertise include: tourism attraction management; pathology of tourism business failure; sustainable heritage management; micro tourism enterprise skills development; community capacity building and service quality measurement. Mary has recently completed doctoral studies with the University of Queensland, focussing on the role of attractions in destination development.

Research Interests:

• Regional tourism planning
• Community consultation
• Public policy
• Visitor services

Teaching:

• Introduction to Tourism
• International Tourism
• Tourism Products and Service Delivery
• Contemporary Tourism Issues
• Management Practice – Tourism

return to researchers

.........................................................................................................................................

A/Professor Jim Macbeth - J.Macbeth@murdoch.edu.au

Qualifications:

• Doctor of Philosophy, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia.
• Master of Arts, Leeds University, Leeds, England.
• Bachelor of Commerce (Industrial Relations), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

Research Interests:

• Sustainable tourism development; sociology of tourism; community tourism planning
• Outback tracks tourism and track management
• 4WD tourism
• Leisure: sociological aspects of leisure
• Sociology: subcultures, social movements
• Tourism: Backpackers, trails and centres
• Regional tourism planning

Teaching:

• Introduction to Travel and Tourism (the social phenomenon; politics)
• Tourism Policy and Planning
• Tourism Projects
• Tourism Management (destination)

return to researchers

.........................................................................................................................................

Dr Dianne Dredge - d.dredge@griffith.edu.au

Qualifications:

• PhD (Newcastle University)
• MA (Rec & Leisure studies) (Waterloo University, NZ)
• BRTP(Hons)(University of Queensland)
• MPIA

Industry/Professional Experience:

Dr Dianne Dredge currently works in the School of Environmental Planning at Griffith University and has recently joined the team at the ARTRC in the capacity of Adjunct Senior Research Fellow. Dianne began her career as a town planner and has a wealth of national and international experience derived from consulting and research appointments in Mexico, Canada, China and Australia. Dianne’s diverse career has involved tourism and recreation master planning, local government tourism planning, tourism stakeholder audits, analysis of tourism organisations, environmental impact assessment of tourism projects and tourism policy analysis.

Research Interests:

• Policy networks and planning
• Regional planning
• Intergovernmental relations
• Tourism in sea-change communities
• Destination planning and development
• Leisure lifestyles, migration and patterns of tourism urbanisations
• Tourism product development in developing countries (China and Mexico)

Teaching:

• Environmental Planning
• Policy Planning
• Communications
• Introductory Planning Studio
• Graduate Planning Studio
• Graduate Research Project Convenor
• Honours Convenor

return to researchers

.........................................................................................................................................

Simon Wilde - swilde@scu.edu.au

Qualifications:

• BBus (Marketing), Southern Cross University.

Industry/Professional Experience:

Simon is currently undertaking his PhD, researching tourism destination competitiveness in a regional Australian context. This research is being made possible through funding from the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (ST CRC), and Southern Cross University. Prior to this, Simon was responsible for the management of a number of nationally recognised sporting events, including the 2003 Arrive Alive Eastern University Games and the 2002 NSW Masters Games. Whilst in industry, he also completed consultancy, project and research work with numerous national and international firms, including the Asia-Pacific ICT Enterprise Development and Research Institute (EDRI), Australian University Sport, Sports Marketing Australia and the See Australia True Colours Rugby World Cup Tour.

Research Interests:

• Destination competitiveness
• Tourism marketing

Teaching:

Simon has instructed undergraduate students mainly in the area of marketing. Currently, Simon is also the Internship Officer (Coffs Harbour Campus) for the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Southern Cross University

return to researchers

.........................................................................................................................................

Dr Dean Carson - dean.carson@cdu.edu.au

Qualifications:

• PhD (Southern Cross University)
• MA (CQU)
• MS (UQ)
• BA (Hons)(CQU)

Industry/Professional Experience:

Currently working for Charles Darwin University’s Tourism Research Group, Dean Carson heads the Desert Knowledge CRC project ‘On Track’ which explores the viability of a desert 4WD tourism industry that is both competitive and sustainable. Dean works in close partnership with the Northern Territory Tourist Commission on a range of strategic research projects relating to tourism innovation, self drive tourist markets, and Aboriginal tourism. Prior to working for CDU Dean was the Senior Research Fellow at the CRTR in Lismore.

Research Interests:

• Managing regional tourism for economic and social gain
• Use of information and communications technology in tourist product distribution.

 Teaching:

• Dean is a supervisor or co-supervisor for six post-graduate research students

Current Research Projects:

• On Track 4WD Tourism in the Desert
• Integrated Backpacker Research Program for the Northern Territory
• Assessing the Opportunities for New Product Development for Northern Territory Tourism
• Implementation of IPAT in the Northern Territory
• The Northern Territory Conference and Meetings Monitor
• Information Partnerships between Parks and Tourism agencies

return to researchers

.........................................................................................................................................

return to top