Essay
The Tangalooma Resort is located at Moreton Island in Queensland, Australia (Tangalooma Resort). They have an event area where conferences, team building exercises, day cruises, and overnight functions and weddings can take place (Tangalooma Resort). The event area is an important part of a resort, as the functions held in the area form a large part of the resorts income. Moreover, the appeal of a function or an event, whether official or private, is enhanced when it is conducted in a pleasant atmosphere. Thus, this paper conducts a situational analysis of the event area in the Tangalooma Resort by using evidential internal, customer, and external analyses.
Australia is famous for its natural beauty and thus a popular tourist destination with the government of Australia encouraging tourism, and this very fact makes the event area an important place for events such as international conferences and destination weddings. Thus, the event area is definitely an important component of the resort. Moreover, the beaches of Australia are famous for their pristine beauty as well as their history, and this case the resort was once upon a time a famous whaling-station, which is an advantage that could enhance the interest of customers from over the world (Tangalooma Resort). As it is close to a major city such as Brisbane, several of the city dwellers are attracted to conduct weekend conferences, getaways, and parties (Tangalooma Resort).
Some resorts like the Vanuatu Resort in Warwick are also known as spa resorts, this very fact can attract international customers to opt for a “Resort and a Spa” rather simply a resort for extending the luxury factor while attending a conference or wedding (Vanuatu Resort). Whitsundays, which another resort in Queensland have a tab in their site that says, “Transport and Hire” and provides details of the boats, yachts, coach services available in the Tangalooma Resort’s site (Whitsundays Resort). The availability of transportation to entertain as well as to ensure the guests’ convenience is a factor most clients desiring to conduct an event would seek. As far as beach resorts for conducting events are concerned, South Pacific beaches such as Fiji are far more popular. Nevertheless, the fact that dolphin and whale sightings are a part of the resort brings the attention of a certain crowd, such as a zoological or marine conference. The resort also offers a desert safari and other adventurous activities, which is interesting in a day cruise or team-building event.
A 2009 tourism survey Moreton Bay region shows that the Tangalooma area is among the last three in the list of preferred areas destinations in the bay (Moreton Bay Region Council). This itself brings down the market share of the events conducted in the resort. This, it is essential that Tangalooma is better marketed as an exotic and quaint destination for events. Nevertheless, the fact that it has been the destination for several film making events, notches up its market position in event areas of resorts by several degrees.
The resort needs to develop a clear focus on its events area by providing better information about its abilities and facilities to conduct a several types of events. Thus, in order to develop a competitive advantage, the resort should provide enhanced information about the variety of events that can be conducted in the events area. It should also consider providing better transportation facilities. Moreover, the resort would benefit by developing a strategic focus by having a special section dedicated to the availability of event conducting personnel and equipment in their site. It should consider promoting the Tangalooma area and include some factors such as a description of the daily weather in their site to make it more appealing. Irrespective of the fact that it has been the site of several famous films, this factor has not made it more famous than its counterparts in Fiji, and the resort has to learn to correct this.
The following is a macro-environmental PEST and SWOT analyses of the resort:
(1) PEST analysis
Political and legal environment: The presence of resorts is being regarded as a hazard by environmentalists, and there are several legal aspects, such as ensuring that the marine life in the waters around the resort are not affected because of the resort’s presence, that should be considered and followed carefully (Liu and Wall). However, as eco-friendly living is adapted and preferred by most people and as events such as large corporate events prefer to display eco-friendliness, the resort can make good benefits from this. The government support of tourism is a positive factor for the resort.
Economic environment: The fluctuating markets and inflation can affect the tourism business as a whole, and the events area of the resort should be vary of these changes and adapt to them to ensure minimum losses.
Social and cultural environment: The trend of conducting events in luxury resorts at exotic locations is becoming increasingly famous. As the resort is already an event centre for the film industry, the other allied industries such as advertising and fashion can also find the resort as an event centre of their interest. The presence of whales and dolphins and the historic significance of the resort as a whaling region make conducting events at the resort interesting. However, it should begin exploiting the other avenues of interest to clients, such as better transportation facilities, exploring the variety of marine life, and scuba diving.
Technological environment: The technological negatives in this business are minimal. However, the resort should be sensitive to the market developments in luxury items and adapt the presence or absence depending on the economic environment.
(2) SWOT analysis
Strengths: Location of famous films, historical significance, dolphin and whale sightings
Weaknesses: Lack of promotion and availabilities of transport facilities, no famous awards such as Blue Flag or Red Herring awarded
Opportunities: Enhancing the market appeal of the resort by enhancing the appeal for the Tangalooma Island
Threats: Several resorts with similar faculties located in beaches that are far more popular
Works Cited
Liu, Jia and Wall, Geoffrey. Resort Morphology Research: History and Future Perspectives. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research.14.4, 2009. Print.
Moreton Bay Region Council. Moreton bay region tourism destination management plan, 2009. Web.
Tangalooma Resort. Web. Retrieved on January 20, 2012 http://www.tangalooma.com/info/resort_information/
http://www.tangalooma.com/info/foot/media/.
Vanuatu Resort. Web . Retrieved on January 20, 2012
http://www.lelagonvanuatu.vu/.
Whitsundays Resort. Retrieved on January 20, 2012
http://www.tourismwhitsundays.com.au/.
