Leadership Assignment Effects Of Bushfire Incident On Australian Tourism Sector

Question

Task: Your task
Individually, you are required to prepare a 1500-word strategy proposal based on the assessment instructions below.

Assessment Description
The purpose of this leadership assignment is to give students an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in critical leadership, problem-solving and reflective learning relating to the tourism and hospitality industry by adopting the most appropriate contemporary leadership practices for the tourism and hospitality industries.

Assessment Instructions
Presume that you have been recently tasked to develop Australia’s next domestic (i.e., state-level) long-term tourism and hospitality strategy, with the primary focus on the issue of industry resilience. Based on your campus location (e.g., Queensland), your proposal must include the following sections:
• The analysis of current strategic and leadership risks that the state’s tourism and hospitality industry face due to the recent bushfires and/or COVID-19 pandemic.
• Evaluation of innovative business strategies that tourism and hospitality providers worldwide are currently deploying to restart their industry.
• Appraisal of the key sustainability indicators that the state’s industry must focus on to ensure preCOVID-19 issues such as over tourism, for example, will not be repeated.
• An outline of the strategy by creating new vision, mission, and long-term strategic goals drawing on the strategic corporate governance frameworks and how destination management organizations should be managed and controlled moving forward.

Answer

Introduction
The concept of resilience has shifted from natural to consideration of physical science to effectively address global threats such as climate change, economic crisis, and international terrorism (Jones & Comfort 2020, p.2). The report will address the issues faced by Victoria State in the face of bushfire incidents. The core purpose of the report is to analyze strategic and leadership risks prevailing within the Victoria tourism sector. The discussion will be made on the worldwide innovation strategy adopted and its effectiveness. The efficient sustainability indicators and framework of strategy will be discussed in brief. Analysis of current strategic and leadership risks for Victoria State’s tourism and hospitality industry It is determined that around thirty people have died due to the 2019-2020 Australian Bushfire season. These catastrophic fire events destroyed the fire front of around 6 million hectares which covers around seven major states and territories.

Figure 1: Issues raised on Bushfires, climate change, and tourism losses on Twitter
Source: (Schweinsberg, Darcy &Beirman, 2020, p.2)

The SGS Economics and Planning has reported that decides the dire effects on humans and the environment the new issues have raised. The financial burden has increased to provide direct costs to the affected regions from lost retail, agriculture, and tourism income which is estimated to be around $1.1 billion to $1.9 billion in FY2020 (Schweinsberg, Darcy &Beirman, 2020, p.1). The outbreak of this catastrophic event highlighted the issues of disaster recovery planning, industry vulnerability towards natural disasters, and lack of efficient destination marketing were determined to be perceived risks to the tourism and hospitality industry (Schweinsberg, Darcy &Beirman, 2020, p.1). Further, it was determined that in February 2020, around 11% of businesses in Victoria, Australia indicated being affected due to 2019/2020 black summer bushfires/floods. The Western Australian and Tasmanian businesses incurred heavy losses that did not share borders with Victoria and NSW was the most affected area (Statista.com, 2020) (Refer to appendix 1).

The black Saturday bushfire taking place in 2009 in Victoria was reported the worst in the history of Australia leading to the death of around 173 people and damaging 4030 houses and 450,000 hectares of townships (Athukorala et al. 2019, p. 4). For the tourism industry, understanding the implications of natural hazards in the environment and community is highly crucial for the survival and increasing challenges of novel disease COVID-19 (Lawes et al. 2021, p.1). The Australian tourism and hospitality sector has gone down serious losses due to the devastating damage to the natural beauty, areas with severe infrastructural damages, affected ecological conditions, issues of air purity, and lack of safety for tourists (Kurleto 2020, p.1). The policymakers and industry are required to build resilience by a scientific assessment of climate changes and determining mitigation options. The Bushfires affected the most valuable tourist assets such as interesting landscapes, holiday values, numerous sightseeing opportunities, cultural and natural peculiarities, and easy access to water and forests. The leaders are facing issues in maintaining the values of the destination which are determined by uniqueness, value, quality, satay, and landscape (Kurleto 2020, p.6).

The changes in the climate conditions are becoming threatening for the health of tourists, which can impact their destinations selection. The tourism leaders along with policymakers are required to build industry resilience against natural disasters. Tourism plays a pivotal role in the Australian economy. In FY 2018-19, Australia ensured around AUS $60.8 billion from direct tourism gross domestic product. Further, the tourism industry is important as it employs around 666,000 individuals in the nation (Kurleto 2020, p.7). The leader is required to enhance the recovery planning and industry resilience against natural disasters The tourists often visit Victoria, Queensland, and southern Australia due to extraordinary nature, natural areas, and national parks which makes the Australian tourism market both suitable for international and local travelers (Kurleto 2020, p.7).

Evaluation of innovative business strategies
As opined by Jones & Comfort (2020, p.5), the tourism industry reliance can be facilitated by efficient destination management and adopting a resilience framework to better deal with the growing frequencies and intensity of disasters that are affecting the tourism sector.

The increasing resilience towards climate change is the pivotal element within the "Dominica National Land use policy" that stresses the significance of planning for enhanced climate change mitigation actions and building resilience by investments to develop necessary infrastructures and early warning systems (Jones & Comfort 2020, p.8). Another effective measure undertaken by Samoa was improving the resilience of tourism communities to climate change risks by enhancing policy processes and adaptation actions within tourism operators and coastal communities. The project was designed by considering essential policies and strengthening the institutional powers to improve adaptation power. The technical guide for efficient tourism management practices, adaptation actions were undertaken in communities and villages owning beach tourism operations, and coastal tourism operators were given knowledge of early warning systems (Jones & Comfort 2020, p.8). Climate change is forcing negative effects on destination tourism management. However, suitable strategies for each destination are required according to the situational demand. The inclusion of systematic and resilience assessment can provide insight into the level of mitigation and adaptation policies required to effectively tackle the implications of climate change (Dogru et al. 2019, p.9). Adaptive governance is highly important which can help in filling the gap between theory and real-life (Fabry&Zeghani 2019, p. 11).

Appraisal of the key sustainability indicators
Jones & Comfort (2020, p.6), claimed that using comparable resilience metrics, depending on social network analysis to better analyze the structural strengths and weaknesses of a geographically delimited tourism system can be effective to fight against the challenges of climate change. The most effective four indicators for disaster management are Disaster Defi-cit Index (DDI), the Risk management index (RMI), the Local disaster Index (LDI), and the Prevalent Vulnerability Index (PVI) (Cardona 2019, p.11). The Disaster deficit index is the efficient indicator in analyzing nation risk from financial and macroeconomic attributes as per the possible catastrophic events. It needs accurate estimates of practical implications with a set period of exposure and the national capacity to cope with the event. The Local disaster index determines the environmental and social risks that are possible at subordinate and local levels. The Prevalent vulnerability index is developed with several indicators to depict socio-economic weaknesses and the absence of social resilience (Cardona 2019, p.12).

Outline of the strategy
As per the Utility theory, it is suggested that personnelattitudestowards the uncertainty and riskssituation naturally varies. Few personnel are eager to take only smaller risks which aredetermined as (risk averters) on the otherhand few are eager to take greater degree of risks (gambler). Based on this theory the decision making approaches can be undertaken by the business leaders(Rawat, 2018, p.2). The two forms of decision making includes bias and strategically decision making. The Victoria state tourism leaders can consider the strategic intelligence decisionmaking in which designing and producing SI processes according to the customer needs and wants are the prime priority. The strategic decision making is highly scientific and calculated as it considers the elements such as environmentalscanning, strategyformulation, strategy implementation and evaluation and control. The consideration of strategic decision making enablesefficiently explaining the competitiveenvironment, anticipating future risks, assuming the right set of questions, determining and evaluatingbusiness weaknesses, using intelligence to execute and adjust strategies and ensure strategy longer sustainability (Global Intelligence Alliance 2004, p.4). Further considering the ASX corporate governance concept and principles must be considered.

The ASX corporate governanceprinciples highlights the important attributes of management beginning from action plans, internal controls, performancemeasurement and corporate disclosures. Hence, in the destination level it is the responsibility of thetourism board or destination management organization to set the efficientstrategy which lays a solid framework, structure board to add value, act ethically, safeguardsintegrity within corporate reporting, make timely and balanced disclosures, respect rights related to security holders, determine and manage risks and remunerate fair and responsible actions. The leader must consider the transformational leadership style which better understand the need for a strategy and implements the necessary response in the time of crisis(O’Connell, 2016, p.4).

The vision of Victoria state tourism must be to improve the destination's resilienceand management in the face of natural disasters and climate change. The mission will be to improve the recovery planning and build local actors and institutions' capability and capacity to recover from the losses (Rathod, 2019, p.1).
Responsible business- Developing resilient destinations, communities and businesses
Environment- Focusing on the "Green tourism industry" by controlling carbon emissions
Employees- Stewardship, education, and training programs for local actors
Client experience- Diversified product for better quality visitor experience
Community- Sustainable marketing and branding, Tourism industry working along with Australian government and communities

According to the Forbes report, the corporate governance framework is highly important to ensure sustainable growth, ensure solid governance, regulatory compliance, gaining support from business leaders, local bodies and institutions, planning reporting and mentoring channels and efficient usage of resources can ensure the effective implementation of the strategy (Herpy 2020). Through this resilience framework, the national and local authorities can come together to improve the recovery planning and resilience of Victoria.

Conclusion
The growing recognition of building resilience is highly important for the tourism and hospitality industry. The tourism and hospitality industry are needed to build capacity and capability to negotiate and react towards the needed change to survive. The state of Victoria can use the suggested indicators to combat the negative effects of consistent natural disasters. The suggested strategy can improve the economy disaster management approaches, adapting capability and capacity and business leaders approach to recover fast.

References
Athukorala, W., Martin, W., Wilson, C., & Rajapaksa, D. 2019, Valuing bushfire risk to homeowners: Hedonic property values study in Queensland, Australia. Economic Analysis and Policy, 63, 44-56.
Cardona, O.D., 2019, Indicators of Disaster Risk and Risk Management-IPCC. INFRASTRUCTURE AND ENVIRONMENT. Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/apps/njlite/ar5wg2/njlite_download2.php id=9430 [Accessed January 27, 2022].
Dogru, T., Marchio, E.A., Bulut, U. and Suess, C. 2019, Climate change: Vulnerability and resilience of tourism and the entire economy. Tourism Management, 72, pp.292-305.
Fabry, N., &Zeghni, S 2019, Resilience, tourist destinations, and governance: an analytical framework.
Global Intelligence Alliance 2004, INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE, retrieved 28 January 2022, https://www.m-brain.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/10893.pdf
Herpy, J 2020, Six ways to develop a governance strategy that supports growth. Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2020/11/06/six-ways-to-develop-a-governance-strategy-that-supports-growth/sh=70795e403054 [Accessed January 27, 2022].
Jones, P., & Comfort, D 2020, The role of resilience in research and planning in the tourism industry. Athens journal of tourism, 7(1), 1-16.
Kurleto, M. 2020, The impact of climate change on tourism in Australia: a case study relating to bushfires in Australia in 2019/2020. StudiaPeriegetica, 2.
Lawes, J. C., Strasiotto, L., Daw, S., &Peden, A. E 2021, when natural hazards intersect with public health: a preliminary exploration of the impact of bushfires and the CoViD-19 pandemic on Australian coastal drowning fatalities. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(10), 5314.
O’Connell, D 2016, Leadership styles and Improved governance outcomes, pp. 201 – 206, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority Rathod, L 2019, The five stages of a board corporate governance model.Leadership assignmentDiligent. Available at:
https://www.diligent.com/en-gb/blog/the-five-stages-of-a-board-corporate-governance-model/ [Accessed January 27, 2022].
Rawat, S n.d., 2018, Decision-Making under Certainty, Risk and Uncertainty, retrieved 18 September 2021, https://www.businessmanagementideas.com/decision-making/decision-making-under-certainty-risk-and-uncertainty/3371
Schweinsberg, S., Darcy, S., &Beirman, D. 2020, ‘Climate crisis’ and ‘bushfire disaster’: Implications for tourism from the involvement of social media in the 2019–2020 Australian bushfires. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 43, 294-297. Statista.com, 2020, Australia - the impact of bushfires/floods by state 2020. Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1103580/australia-businesses-affected-by-bushfires-or-flood-by-state/ [Accessed January 27, 2022].

Appendices
Appendix 1: Statista findings on businesses affected by Bushfires/floods in Australia by state, 2020