Background
Measuring Success
Two key objectives of this strategy are raising the level of professionalism and increasing visitor satisfaction. There are difficulties, however, associated with measuring these goals, as quantifying these concepts is unavoidably subjective and influenced by individual experiences and expectations – what may represent an excellent experience to one person could be considered average by another.
The modular approach chosen for this strategy aims to make it easier to set actions and measures related to each of the themes. Some directions will support long-term aspirations. These will be balanced by short-term goals and measures that will be used to influence the direction of the second, third, fourth of fifth year of the development of a module.
Setting the scene
Victoria's tourism industry in 2004
In 2004, Victoria 's tourism industry was surveyed and asked where it thought Victoria sat in comparison to other Australian tourism locations. Some key results (109kb) were:
- Survey respondents felt that Victoria was on par with the rest of Australia (58 per cent), whilst 25 per cent thought we were somewhat ahead.
- Survey respondents felt that the top 3 barriers that inhibit the achievements of higher levels of professionalism were: 1) money and time to attend training, 2) lack of commitment by industry, 3) lack of awareness and access to relevant courses.
- Survey respondents identified the top 3 actions that have the potential to raise the level of professionalism as: 1) accreditation, 2) greater integration of industry (networks), 3) subsidised training (this contradicts evidence that even when subsidised training was offered in 2004, most programs were cancelled due to lack of numbers).
- Issues exist in the areas of attracting the right staff, providing career paths to retain staff, ensuring professional development tools such as training providers/educational programs are adapted to meet the needs of the changing environment, continually improving the business, identifying performance evaluation tools with which to assess your business, and how to truly measure the visitor experience.
The Way forward
The success of Tourism Excellence depends upon the active engagement and participation of individuals and businesses from all sectors of Victoria’s tourism industry, from both our local and regional communities.
The strategy’s implementation has been structured to allow industry to influence the direction of each module, by annually revisiting each module for a minimum of five years. Everyone will have the opportunity to provide input based on what has been learnt from the previous 12 months. Each year the review should expand the circle of engagement and encourage raising the bar higher.