Leadership Assignment: How COVID-19 Affected 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 present leadership assignmentsheds light on tourism and hospitality sector which is considered as one of the Australia’s ‘high growth’ sectors. This sector includes hotels, motels, other accommodation, cafes, restaurants, taverns, bars and other tourism service providing business.
Though, in last two years, due to the Covid pandemic, Queensland’s tourism and hospitality industry had to face many strategic and leadership risks. However, according toGu etal., (2021), recently in this post-pandemic period this industry is trying to regain its previous glory by focusing on long-term tourism strategy- Tourism 2030.
Business strategies such as financial aid, generating employment, flexibility and hospitality that are required to reopen the tourism industry, are also evaluated here. It is noticed that the industry must focus on the key sustainability indicators like over tourism, in order to mitigate Covid related issues. The report is also going to provide an overview of how to control the activities of destination management organization and to encourage them to maintain all Covid rules.
Analysis of Current Strategic and Leadership Risks in Tourism and Hospitality Industry Tourism and hospitality provide almost half a million jobs in Australia and this particular industry generates an impressive percentage of Australia’s total GDP. However, the instate tourism sector has been declined due to the border closures of almost two years due to worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, it becomes challenging to revive the industry.

Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty generates revenue in tourism sector. Currently customers are offered with increased choice, augmented level of services and greater value for money, which create tough competition in the industry.

Unprecedented Economic Impact
Tourism is considered to be the most affected sectors by the pandemic. As stated by Pham etal., (2021), though tourism and hospitality industry are gradually resuming by adhering to the Covid norms and regulations, however, it has become very challenging for the state’s tourism and hospitality industry to overcome the losses that have been incurredduring past two years.

Opportunity of Regain the Market
According to Munawar etal., (2021), strict rules like avoidance of over tourism, avoidance of crowed,strict health monitoring such as temperature checking and negative Covid-19 certificates of the customers can leave negative impact on total number of footfalls in the state’s tourism. Though, Queensland started to welcome tourists who are fully vaccinated and there will be no need of quarantine while arriving Queensland (Gu etal., 2021). However, tourists need to meet all the criteria decided by the government before entering Queensland.

Health Challenges in Post-Covid Work Environment
As stated byGibson (2021), still, nobody can claim that the work environment is completely safe for the staffs and workers of tourism industry who are directly interacting with customers from different countries. Therefore, there is a risk for costly healthcare premiums and workers’ claim of compensation regarding Covid related health issues. Besides that, according to Dube, Nhamo and Chikodzi, (2021), tourism workers of Queensland are still afraid to deal with the foreign tourists as Covid-19 is very contagious. Evaluation of Innovative Business Strategies Deploying to Restart Tourism and Hospitality Industry Both Transactional and Transformational leadership structures are needed to develop the strategies to restart the industry. As stated byBrouderetal., (2020), the first step to restart the tourism and hospitality industry in Australia is to adopt the “new normal”, which already the industry is starting to accept.As stated by Leta and Chan, (2021), it becomes important for this industry to revive their business by considering Faulkner’s model of crisis management which includes proper planning, relation building, decision making and other long-term recovery stages.

Hyper-Individualisation
As today’s customers are loyal to their favourite brands, therefore, organizations must create loyalty landscape to provide personalised services to the customers.

Providing Employment
Tourism and hospitality industry should provide employment to the workers who lost their jobs during the Covid pandemic period (Dube, Nhamo and Chikodzi, 2021). Even this industry should hire fresh talents related to safety and hygiene and should highlight this new hirings, so that customers have positive impression regarding tourism and hospitality industry.

Safety and Security
As stated byOrîndaruetal., (2021), since the Covid pandemic started, people have become more cautious about health and hygiene. Therefore, in order to regain the market position, every tourism organization must uphold their brand images by providing the utmost hygiene standards to their workers and customers. For instance, the tourism industry of Queensland already started to welcome international visitors who are fully vaccinated.

Flexibility
Flexibility must be provided while booking hotels. According toVinod and Sharma, (2021), hotels and motels must assure their customers of providing extended accommodations due to the sudden and possible flight cancellations, border closures and isolation situation.

Hospitality
In current scenario, hospitality is not only bounded with providing decorative accommodation and delicious foods. Travel agencies must provide detailed information regarding current Covid situation, security measures, health emergency services, concierge services and transportation services (Filimonau, Derqui and Matute, 2020). Hotels, restaurants and other organizations must offer advice and explanations regarding local Covid rules and regulations.

Long-Term Recovery Stage
The industry leaders must collaborate with stakeholders to ensure effective marketing and fund raising. They need to provide recovery updates and should maintain transparency.
Appraisal of Key Sustainability Indicators
Sustainable Tourism
Currently the industry needs to work with Stewardship concept that includes ethics, motivation, action and outcome (Liburd, Duedahl and Heape, 2020). Sustainable tourism deals with responsibility, respect, guarantee for the well-being of the locals and environmental conservation by providing clean water and sanitisation, economic growth, affordable and clean energy and responsible consumption and production.

Technology Innovation
The industry should implement robots instead of human workforce and should use mobile applications to track the health measures of employees and customers. Technology can manage the pandemic specific issues such as finding nearest hospitals, discovering Covid cases, screening travellers and updates related to Covid protocols without any physical contact.

Over Tourism
Over tourism definitely boosts the industry, but it works against sustainable tourism. In pre-Covid period, tourism and hospitality industry are waiting for the over tourism specially in the prime seasons. However, after years long pause, hotel industry begins to open. As normalcy returns, people start to flock around tourist destinations which increases the number of fresh Covid cases.Even, local residents and community can raise concerns of over tourism. For instance, local people of Queensland are already afraid of this issue (Sun, 2021). Therefore, tourism industry must ensure that over tourism will not be repeated.

Health Monitoring
Before the Covid pandemic nobody was cautious regarding the health screening of the tourists, customers and tourism workers. However, this part of negligence became distant after Covid pandemic. The state tourism industry now focuseson using advance technology for contactless screening of the employees and customers. For instance, as stated by Flew and Kirkwood, (2021), global tourists who want to enter Queensland must meet all the requirements of the Australian government’s Covid rules.

Regulations for Home Rentals
Often agencies like Airbnb offers homestays or home rentals for the foreign tourists without any strict rules and regulations. However, now the industry should monitor such home rentals regarding appropriate sanitization and health screening for the well-being of the local residents.

Arranging Accommodation in Time of Emergency
Australia’s statetourism and hospitality industry must focus on to ensure secured accommodation, healthcare and safe transportation in the time of Covid emergency.

Outline of the Strategy
Strategically the vision of the tourism and hospitality industry of Australia must be related to sustainability as the new normal. As stated by Sharma, Thomas and Paul, (2021), sustainable industry resilience is responsible for the recovery of the tourism. Another pivotal vision must be to make Australia the safest, secured and Covid free tourist destination. It is important to create new missions that are strategically aligned to the core values of Australian tourism. For instance, Australia’s border will reopen for the tourists who are fully vaccinated. Even Queensland authority declares that there will be no requirement of isolations if the visitors are fully vaccinated (Flew and Kirkwood, 2021). This decision is welcomed by the citizens as it would boost the nation’s economy. In order to run tourism with responsibility and ethics, the industry should control the destination management organizations.

How Destination Management Organisations Should be Managed and Controlled
A technology-based application must be installed to monitor and to maintain the clarity of the activities of destination management organizations. The tourism and hospitality department of the state should demand relevant documentations and papers regarding current health status, Covid vaccine certificates, exact destination address, tickets, identity cards of the tourists or the customers from the destination management organizations (Pillmayer, Scherle and Volchek, 2021). All the destination management organizations must be acknowledged that in case of failing to provide or enlisting such information, they can be blacklisted from the tourism and hospitality industry.

In order to encourage destination management organizations to maintain all the protocols, state’s tourism department may arrange award programs on the basis of Covid rules maintenance.

Conclusion
Tourism and Hospitality Industry faced financial uncertainty, sudden cancellation and health hazards due to covid.Therefore, this industry needs to take great strategic decisions in order to serve its customers, to protect its employees and to boost their business again. With the aim to rebuild the industry for the prime locations like Queensland, the industry initiates some strategic movements such as generating employments, financial aids, providing safety, flexibility and hospitality to the customers. Tourism and hospitality industry also focuses on monitoring the activities of the destination management organizations.

Reference list
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