BTHS1ITHE Introduction to Tourism

Introduction 

The flow of tourism is largely determined by the seasonality patterns and it might cause over or under utilization of destinations, thus adversely affecting the social and economic outcomes of tourism. The present essay has focused on Mount Buller, which is ski destination in Victoria. The essay has focused on the extent to which seasonality is affecting flow of tourism in this destination. Additionally, the strategic recommendations are presented for management of destination to overcome issue of seasonality. 

Main Body

Seasonality is considered as one of the core aspect of tourism sector, which is systematic pattern of change which might be caused by variation in; weather, time of year and general decisions about consumption patterns made by agents of economy. In tourism sector, the seasonality can affect the number of visitors, spending of visitors, visits to tourist attractions and employment rate of economy (Vergori, 2017). The evidences from tourism sector as well as from literature indicate that there is huge influence of seasonality on both social as well as economic facets of tourism. The seasonality effect can be witnessed in the Mount Buller which is a famous resort village in Eastern Victoria, Australia and it is popular among tourists for its ski slopes. The Mount Buller is substantially influenced by the phenomenon of seasonality as ski sports is subject to seasonal changes and thus alpine resorts and parks in this resort village are exposed with challenge of coping with service and accommodation demands (Pegg, Patterson and Gariddo, 2012). For instance, it has been noted that in off peak season, the resorts in this site forego the opportunity of making revenue and thus their overall operational and functional effectiveness is influenced substantially. Additionally, the human resources also face issue in summer season and employment rate is heavily influenced. The overall impact on economy is enormous and thus it can be mentioned that mere reliance on snow based activities can make this destination economically unfeasible (Rosselló and Sansó, 2017). Based on these evidences, it is important for management of this destination to take timely steps through which they can cope with issues of seasonality and can combat the economic and social infeasibility in summer season. 

It has been noted in the study of Koenig-Lewis and Bischoff (2010) that in different parts of world, such as in Italy and Switzerland, there is shift towards all season operations in traditional ski regions. These countries arrange wide range of adventure and reaction events and programs in ski areas, such that they can cope with issue of seasonality and can foster tourism in summer season as well. The same can be done by Mount Buller. The management of Mount Buller is encouraged to bring strategic changes in their approach of managing this destination. For instance, the integrated focus-differentiation strategy can be adopted by the management with an aim of bringing changes in the ski areas, such that they can attract tourists in both snow season as well as in off peak season (Jang, 2004). The management needs to develop and maintain a separate area for creation of summer adventure for visitors. For instance, the development of forest area is a good option for offering camping adventure to families. Additionally, the trails for cycling can be developed on the hilly area to provide summer adventure to the visitors (Ferrante, Magno and De Cantis, 2018). The destination management might arrange a cycling race on adventurous trails in summer months with an aim of utilization of destination and for management of employment (Jang, 2004). Such efforts of destination management will not only help them to combat the adverse effects of seasonality but they will be able to ensure high revenue and will promote positive contribution of tourism in economy of Victoria. 

It has been mentioned by Connell, Page and Meyer (2015) that diversification and expansion of market is an important way for destination management to overcome the effects of seasonality. The management of Mount Buller can also add variety of activities for different segments of consumers. For instance, some visitors might just want to spend some calm family time in woods and close to nature. While others might prefer fun activities for their kids, which might include nature exposure activities. So diversification is necessary to ensure that more number of visitors are attracted by addressing their diverse preferences (Ferrante, Magno and De Cantis, 2018). Mount Buller’s management can thus carry out research to know about the needs and preferences of consumers, and thus they can bring diversification in their services accordingly. Finally, it has been noted by Hudson and Cross (2007) that seasonality issues can also be addressed by offering economically viable solutions to visitors. This aspect can be incorporated by management of Mount Buller, by offering promotional discounts to the visitors to summer recreation activities. They can offer membership to the visitors which might include discounts for both ski as well as summer recreation activities. The membership will be an effective option to assure that visitors remain motivated to visit the site in both seasons (Pegg, Patterson and Gariddo, 2012). Finally, the occasional events can be arranged by the management of site with an aim of attracting visitors in bulk, which can allow the site management to earn reasonable revenue, even in off peak seasons. Therefore, through strategic reforms, the adverse consequences of seasonality can be dealt in effective manner by management and positive economic and social effect of tourism can be fostered.  

Conclusion 

Seasonality is an important temporal dimension of tourism and it can bring numerous social as well as economic challenges. The investigation of Mount Buller destination has highlighted that site is popular in ski and snow games season and in summer season it become difficult for management to meet their basic revenue requirements. The management of destination is recommended to bring changes in its strategic approach such that it can create recreation activities for visitors in summer season as well. The diversification and expansion of activities is considered as an effective way to attract diverse segments of visitors. Likewise, promotional offers, discounts and loyalty based membership for summer and winter season can also help to cope with adverse effects of seasonality.