27648 The Tourism Business

Subject level: Undergraduate

Handbook description

This subject focuses on the industrial element of a tourism system. Students complete a comprehensive systematic analysis and description of the essential elements involved in highly industrialised tourism in terms of their functional, structural, operational and interrelational attributes. This subject also introduces students to ways in which industry firms respond to trends, tourist motivations and external influences and, at the same time, manage their operations to minimise negative impacts on societies and natural environments.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. apply general systems theory principles to analyse the full range of touristic phenomena, and tourism industry firms
2. describe the sectors that operate within the tourism industry in terms of their functions, structure and operations and levels of full and partial industrialisation
3. demonstrate a clear conceptual understanding, and comprehensive working knowledge of the tourist attraction phenomenon as a partially industrialised process
4. articulate comprehensive knowledge and conceptual understanding of the full range of the major industrial, and other, elements and interrelationships involved in industrialised leisure-based tourism (and some related forms of travel) in all the geographic regions of industrialised tourism systems
5. discuss the issues and problems involved in management within the tourism industry, and in the management of tourism systems.

Contribution to graduate profile

The Tourism Business is the second of two subjects that form a core foundation for the Bachelor of Management in Tourism and Bachelor of Management in Tourism and Hospitality. By understanding the roles of different types of firms that operate within touristic trip generating regions, touristic transit routes and tourism destination regions, students should be able to grasp the imperative for collaborative activity within the industry. In the course of this subject, students are also introduced to the range of management, marketing, environmental, societal and political aspects that are undertaken or impacted upon by the operations of tourism industry firms.

Teaching and learning strategies

Teaching and learning strategies employed in this subject include formal lectures, and interactive tutorials based around prescribed readings, and student presentations. Tutorial content will focus on tourism geography as a basis for understanding the lecture material.

Content

• The tourism industry — definition, categorisation and levels of industrialisation
• Descriptive geography relevant to industrialised tourism
• The touristic trip generating regions and the industry firms therein
• The touristic travel routes and the industry firms therein
• The tourism destination regions and the industry firms therein
• The tourist attraction phenomenon — the energiser of tourism systems
• Industrialised tourism systems reviewed and re-examined in the context of managerial and policy strategies

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Tutorial assessment (Individual)

Assessment item 2: Industrialised Tourism System Empirical Report (Group)

Assessment item 3: Final Examination (Individual)

Recommended text(s)

Weaver and Lawton, 2006, and Leiper, 2004, both of which were used in Tourism and the Industry 1 last semester.

Faculty of Business, 2006, Guide to Writing Assignments

A recent World Atlas

Stear, 2005, A Model of a Highly Industrialised Tourism System

Indicative references

Ball, S, Horner, S, Nield, K, 2007, Contemporary Hospitality and Tourism Management Issues in China and India: Today's Dragons and Tigers, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK

Boniface B, Cooper C, 2005, Worldwide Destinations; the Geography of Travel and Tourism, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam

Burkart, A and Medlik, S, 1981, Tourism: Past, Present and Future, Heinemann, London

Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D., & Wanhill, S. 2005, Tourism: Principles and Practice (3rd ed), Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, Essex, England

Fyall A, Garrod B, Leask A, (eds.), 2003, Managing Visitor Attractions: New Directions, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK

Getz D, 2005, Event Management and Event Tourism, (2nd ed) Cognizant, Elmsford, New York

Gee, C. Choy, D and Makens, J, 1997, The Travel Industry, (3rd ed), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York

Goeldner, C and Brent Ritchie, JR, 2006, Tourism: Principles, Practices and Philosophies,(10th ed) Wiley, Hoboken, NJ

Hall, CM, 2003, Introduction to Tourism; Dimensions and Issues, 4th ed, Hospitality Press, Frenchs Forest, NSW

Hall, C Michael, 2007, Introduction to Tourism in Australia, (5th ed), Longman, Melbourne

Holloway, J, 2006, The Business of Tourism, (7th ed), Financial Times / Pearson Education, Harlow, England

Hudson, S. (ed.) Sport and Adventure Tourism, Haworth, New York

Laws, E, 1997, Managing Packaged Tourism, International Thomson Business Press, London

Leiper, N, 2004, Tourism Management (3rd ed) Pearson Education Australia, Sydney

Lennon, J., Smith, H., Cockerell, N., Trew, J. (eds.) Benchmarking National Tourism Organisation and Agencies, Elsevier, Oxford, UK

Medlik, S., 1999, Understanding Tourism, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK

Medlik, S, 2000, Tourism and Hospitality in the 21st Century, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK

Medlik, S, 2002, Dictionary of Travel and Tourism, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK

Mill, R and Morrison, A, 1985, The Tourism System, Prentice Hall, New York

Mills, J, Law R, 2005, Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism and the Internet, Haworth, Binghamton, NY

Page S, Dowling R., 2002, Ecotourism, Pearson Education, Harlow, Essex, UK

Patterson, I, 2006, Growing Older: Tourism and Leisure Behaviour of Older Adults, CABI, Wallingford, UK

Pearce, D, 1989, Tourist Development, (2nd ed) Longman, London

Pearce P, Morrison A, Rutledge, J., 1998, Tourism: Bridges Across Continents, Irwin-McGraw-Hill, Sydney, Australia

Santana, G. (ed.), 2001, Tourism in South America, Haworth, New York

Theobald, W. F. (ed.) 2005 Global Tourism (3rd ed), Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann, Boston

Urry, J. 1990 The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies, Sage Publications, London

Weaver, D and Lawton, L, 2006 (3rd ed) Tourism Management, John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, Milton Qld

Weaver, D and Oppermann, M, 2000, Tourism Management, John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd, Milton Qld