The Role Of Government In The Development Of Australias Tourist Trade

This study evolved from the question: why is the national organisation in Australia for the development of tourist trade from overseas a private institution supported by government, whereas in the Australian states interstate tourist development is administered by conventional government departments? This thesis examines the administrative aspects of the role of government in Australia in developing tourist trade from overseas, with emphasis on the influences which dictated its present form. It sets up a theoretical basis as a frame of reference within which the subject is discussed and judgements made. Source material has been restricted, for the most part, to official reports, writings and statements of responsible people and institutions directly concerned with the industry. The material is organised to fit an interpretative theme, but endeavours to enable the factual data to stand without the thread of subjective interpretation. It includes a comprehensive narration of the significant events and considerations which culminated in the present national organisation and a description of the pattern of formal relationships within that organisation. An exhaustive criticism or analysis of the effectiveness of the organisation was not attempted, but certain features are the subjects of some conclusions--Preface.

Tourism looks set to replace oil as the most important global industry. James Elliot explores the ways in which governments of both developed and developing countries manage this increasingly diverse and volatile industry, providing a historic and economic overview as well as the reasons why and how governments are involved in tourism management. Using case studies from the UK, Australia and the Third World this wide ranging book covers: policy-making and planning; local governments; airlines and airports; and environmental control and sustainable development. Detailed information boxes and excerpts of official documents illustrate government management of the tourism system and provide critieria for evaluation

The promotion of tourism by government is an effective way of attracting more tourists. As such promotion involves reallocation of resources, it will affect the rest of the economy.In this thesis, I explore the much neglected implications of increasing returns to analyze the welfare effects of the promotion of tourism. This thesis includes three major parts. I start the analysis in a closed economy setting in Chapter 2. As promotion of tourism changes preferences, and hence the utility function, a general comparative static analysis is not appropriate. A comparison of utility levels with, and without, promotion has to be conducted with the same utility function. The choice of the utility function depends on whether the promotion provides any utility enhancing information or simply induces consumption switching (from non-tourism goods to tourism goods). With a series of simulations, I show that in the case of information enhancement, tax funded promotion of tourism may be efficient. In addition, it may also overcome the inefficiency associated with imperfect competition if the tourism industry produces under a higher degree of increasing returns than the nontourism industry. If the reverse is true, and in the absence of information enhancement, promotion of tourism will reduce social welfare measured with original preferences.In Chapter 3, I extend the analysis to an open economy setting. A model of monopolistic competition combined with international trade is developed. With free trade between two countries, promotion is more effective in bringing profits for tourism firms in the short run. Despite the fact that the domestic non-tourism firms face more competition from foreign firms, a similar result to the case of a closed economy is obtained. The likely big increase in profits ofnon-perfectly competitive firms associated with tourism, following promotion, sustains the pressure for promotion, but the dissipation of profits in the long run renders promotion inefficient.Given the results obtained in Chapters 2 and 3, an empirical study with Australian data is presented in Chapter 4. The objective of the study is to test for the existence of increasing returns in the Australian tourism industry. The regression results show that there is no evidence for a higher degree of increasing returns in the tourism-related sectors than non-tourism sectors.This result suggests that it is not efficient to introduce tax-funded promotion of the tourism industry, as the costs of promotion will likely exceed the benefits.

Provides a dynamic introduction to the processes by which government tourism policy is formed. Key factors which influence tourism policy making are presented and include the effect of tourism organisations on policy, values in the tourism policy-making process, the role of interest groups, aspects of power in policy making, and evaluating tourism policy.