The National Centre for Australia Studies in conjunction with industry partner Tourism Victoria and the Yarra Valley’s tourism sector hosted 41 students from the Master of Tourism program in a combined seminar and tour of the Yarra Valley on 6 April 2009.
The objective of the field trip was to gain a thorough understanding of how the region is re-establishing visitor and tourism industry confidence. The students included locals as well as an international group comprising students from Guatemala, Oman, India, China, Canada, Taiwan, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Singapore, Turkey, Indonesia, and South Africa saw first hand world’s best practice tourism in action.
Tourism students in the Yarra valley
Tourism, one of the key industry sectors in the Yarra Valley, suffered immeasurably following the events of ‘Black Saturday’. Following the crisis, the Victorian Government responded immediately announcing a $10 million package to assist the tourism sector’s recovery efforts.
In his press release Premier John Brumby stressed that rebuilding local economies is crucial to rebuilding communities. Tourism as one of the key sectors in the region will play a big part in ensuring the region bounces back quickly.
Dr Jeff Jarvis, Director of the Graduate Tourism Program, emphasised that having students exposed to the tourism industry in this way during the course of their studies was critical in developing an applied understanding of how the tourism sector responds in times of crisis.
“Tourism destinations are always going to be subject to crisis from time to time and we have seen many destinations like New York, London, Bali, Fiji and now Regional Victoria experience a crisis and the key to any recovery is having the tourism industry respond in a coordinated and decisive manner.”
At the morning Seminar conducted in Melbourne Ms Jennifer Hutchison, CEO Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Marketing, emphasised the swiftness of the tourism industry in responding to the crisis. The tourism industry in the Yarra Valley enacted the existing crisis management plan in the hours following Black Saturday.
“While a crisis of this nature was not expected, having a defined approach to dealing with the crisis was of enormous assistance,” Ms Hutchison said. “Crisis of this nature require the entire tourism industry in the region working in together to quickly reaffirm the Yarra Valley as open for business, and the signs emerging are promising.”
The Regional Marketing Manager of Tourism Victoria, Mr Phil Harman, reiterated Ms Hutchison’s comments and added that keeping the media informed is critical in times of crisis.
“It was important for the tourism industry to ensure that the media was made aware that the entire region had not closed for business, because negative press about the destination had travelled globally very quickly and controlling perceptions of the Yarra Valley was critical to maintaining visitor and industry confidence.”
“Generating positive media coverage to dispel negative perceptions is critical and it is vital that a consistent message persists.”
Mr Harman added that while the publicity received by the region was invaluable in terms of building awareness of the region, it was also crucial that this awareness of the region was not overwhelmingly negative.
The Tourism Manager of Zoos Victoria, Ms Nola Cuddy, spoke about the key role Healesville Sanctuary plays as one of the key domestic and international tourist drawcards for the region and how the tourism sector in the region relies heavily on its operations. “The Sanctuary was closed for 11 days during the crisis and during this time our efforts were directed towards ensuring that the animals who are the key assets of the Sanctuary were cared for.”
Ms Cuddy also spoke about the importance of ensuring that communication lines with the tourism industry were clear and up to date to avoid erroneous information being distributed. “One of our key clients in China was unaware that the Sanctuary was open for business and was advising tour planners that the Sanctuary was closed.”
Following the Seminar in Melbourne, the students boarded a coach and headed into the Yarra Valley for a familiarisation of the region and to visit two of the key tourism sector firms, Domain Chandon Winery and the Sebel Heritage Yarra Valley Resort. Steven Downes, Hospitality Manager at Domaine Chandon emphasised that while there was a lull in visitation during the crisis, the Winery was almost back to normal now and that it was pleasing to see confidence returning.
“It is critical that visitors keep coming back and the rescheduling of the Yarra Valley Grape Grazing Festival to 18–19 April will allow visitors to see that despite the bushfires we are well and truly open for business.”
The Sebel Heritage Yarra Valley, a Mirvac hotel and one of the key businesses attracting conference and meetings business to the Yarra Valley saw the cancellation of over 100 events following the events of Black Saturday.
“Despite the resort not being directly impacted by the bushfires, our clients were reluctant to have their delegates exposed to any danger and promptly cancelled their events, and although over 100 events were cancelled, we have been fortunate to have been able to reschedule these events before the end of the 2009 financial year,” Mr Kelvin Dodt, Director of Sales and Marketing said.
All the industry partners were in agreeance that special events will boost the return of visitors to the region and the Yarra Valley Grape Grazing event rescheduled to 18-19 April will be an opportunity for visitors and the tourism industry to see the evidence of the efforts of the entire tourism sector in the region first hand. For more information on our industry partners please visit their websites:
For more information on the graduate tourism program please contact the Course Director, Dr Jeff Jarvis, jeff.jarvis@arts.monash.edu.au, or visit the NCAS Graduate tourism program for a course brochure.
Students of the Master of Tourism Program will be embarking on another field trip to hear from key industry bodies in Canberra and Sydney on 26–28 April 2009.
By Joseph Cheer
Lecturer, Graduate Tourism Program Monash University
