These case studies examine events and issues of significance and their impacts upon the Northern Territory tourism industry.
Operating Environment and External Shocks
Local, national and global changes in the operating environment can impact on travel behaviour and trends. Examples of such trends include the rationalisation of the aviation industry, economic developments, disease outbreaks, and major sporting events. These events are visually represented in the tourism trends graph.
Global Economic Crisis
Three years on the impact of the economic crisis that started in the USA with the collapse of several financial institutions is still being felt world wide. The impact on Australia was delayed somewhat as it wasn’t until around March 2009 that a consumer mood of fear, uncertainty and growing pessimism set in (Mind and Mood, Ipsos Mackay).
This report outlines the effect on visitation during this time utilising Tourism Research Australia’s National and International Visitor Surveys.
During August 2009, Roy Morgan Research undertook some new consumer research on behalf of Tourism NT, examing how the Global Economic Crisis (GEC) has impacted on visitors who intend to come to the NT. Travellers are still cautiously planning their holidays and the effect of the GEC on travel behaviour will continue to manifest for much of 2010.
East Timor
In the second half of 1999, East Timor, a Portuguese colony invaded and absorbed by Indonesia in 1975, erupted into violence after a majority of eligible voters in the population chose independence from Indonesia. In September, as a result of its proximity to East Timor, Darwin became the forward supply base for peace-making and peacekeeping operations in East Timor. For many segments of the economy East Timor-related expenditure eliminated the seasonal trough in the December quarter and possibly also in the March quarter.
Impact of September 11 and Ansett Collapse
The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, and the demise of Ansett Australia on 14 September 2001, had an immediate impact on national and international tourism. While the terrorist attacks were a shock to the international tourism market, the collapse of Ansett was significant to domestic source markets and regional tourism destinations across the Northern Territory. Immediately prior to its collapse, Ansett held a 43% share of the domestic air travel market in the Northern Territory.
Impact of SARS and the Gulf War
The SARS epidemic and the war in Iraq are referred to as 'external shocks' in the economy. Any external shock will have some impact on the economy but to a greater or lesser extent depending on the severity of the shock. The tourism industry is particularly sensitive to external shocks. This case study examines the impacts of the SARS epidemic and the war in Iraq on the tourism industry in the Northern Territory.
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