Project title: Australian commercial attraction sector Client organisation: Adele Labine-Romain: National Manager, Research and Projects.

Australia Tourism and Transport Forum, 8th Floor, 8-10 Loftus street, Sydney NWS 2000. Statement of the Problem: The attraction sector of a destination is often described as the key factor for a destination s tourism success. This interpretation can be viewed as a fundamental issue for the Australian tourism sector to develop as a thriving tourist destination for potential markets. The Australian commercial attractions sector is under-researched and poorly understood. In order to increase a positive future growth in tourism, the Australian commercial attraction sector requires a detailed segmentation assessment and an examination of key developments and trends. Project background and rationale: Investigation dedicated to the attractions sector seems to have a shortage of economic significance, irrespective of the fact that attractions are a dominant component of destination appeal. Like many other developed nations, tourism represents a key place in the Australian economy. The tourism industry is a $41 billion industry; it is regarded as one of Australia s principal export services. There have been around 1,000 newly created or opened attractions added in the past decade, asignificant of these number locations now attract 500,000 or more visitors a year (Benckendorff 2008). The ever developing movement of technology will bring indefinite change to the needs of visitors, as well as the increase of market growth due to new and advanced methods of practice in relation to the commercial attractions sector (Benckendorff 2008).It is therefore established that new attractions will continue to develop and will be a growing emphasis on the economic significance of attractions and profitable operations in Australia s tourism industry. The intended report will seek to assist tourism research and develop a theoretical understanding of the commercial attractions sector in Australia by considering the advancements of societal demands. Tourist patterns and motivations are a fundamental concept in leisure and tourism development

(Pearce 2005). The assessment of key motivations in commercial attractions in Australia will ensure the industry can implement certainoutcomes stipulated by the public to better suit market demand. By understanding of a variety of motivations of tourists, marketers can meet the needs and demands of different market segments. Motivation is an essential point in the study of tourist behaviour and can be implemented to develop a greater understanding of systems in commercial tourism (Gunn 1988). Therefore the market assessment ofkey attractionscan be implemented to investigate tourist key drivers and associations to certainlocation of the Australian commercial tourism sector. In order to successfully develop a strong understanding of the Australian attractions sector, key trends and developments in the industry should be assessed internationally as a method of forecasting possible projectdevelopment concepts. It is imperative to offer a high level of facilities and serviceswhich satisfy the attention and demand of tourists, by critically assessing perspectivesfrom various successfully developed commercial attractions, the contemporary relevance of tourism attractions can be explored and applied in Australia (Yin 2003). This is a vital aspect of offering and creating an established tourism industry, as the commercial attractions sector is a crucial aspect which motivates a large amount of individuals to travel and regulates encouragement of future growth in international tourism (Inskeep 1991). By examining the gap between visitor demand and current commercial success locations, the assessment of the strategic, structural and process factors that facilitate or hinder effective adaption of attractions can be understood through the comparison of developments and trends in the attractions sector, in locations such as the United State, Asia and Europe (Swarbrooke 2002). Project objectives: To evaluate new developments and trends in the attractions sector in Australia the types of attractions visited with the most frequency the types of attractions people felt certain they would visit in 2011 the relevant number of factors that influence motivation and decisions to visit a particular attraction To identify key motivation drivers that influence visitors to visit specific commercial attractions. To identify related activities in relation toattending specific Australian commercial attractions.

Literature review: The research highlighted will support the gap between the importance of developing a successful commercial attractions sector by implementing relevant methods of management and operations that framed by the assessment of key future trend and by visitor motivation (Pearce 2005). The researched highlights and suggests previous literature to reinforce the problems and themes in the attractions sector, a platform of support can be created in relation to the topic problem by implementing these findings.To further refine the problem, systems such as Scopus and Endnote have assisted with the discovering relevant studies that have been conducted in the field of tourism research. Peace (1991, p.46) suggests that commercial attractions are man-made sights with a specific human feature which is the focus of visitor management attention . The definition of attractions implies that management and recognition of management in terms of commercial attractions are a central component of offering an extensive perspective. While this contributes to an in depth perspective of attractions, in general it proves to be a valuable source to understanding the possible options of future growth, in terms of developments and visitor perception in relation to management. Leiper (1990, p.276.) produced a three sided frame work which was used to categorise the prodigies related to tourism attractions. The research describes that the attractions sector has a heavy reliance on the strength of tourism attractions and likewise the tourism attractions sector on the success of the attraction industry. Gunn s (1994) approach to the industry presents a classificatory representation grounded on the principle of ownership. By all allocating attractions amongst groups under the regulation of government, groups administered by non-profit associations and commercial enterprises operated by numerous divisions of the business sector, the underlying approach suggests that attractions are being varied to degrees of profit intent (Gunn 1994). It is noted that each attraction differs distinctly in regards to their organisational density, size and the characteristics of their market environment (Lew ibid). Therefore the research can assist toexplores possible methods of understanding developments and trends for the attractions sector in Australia through political and economic factors. Nickerson (2006) explains that there are various influences that depend on how the development of tourism is attained. There is strong emphasis on the attraction sector and its presentation, government influence and other stakeholders, environmental impacts and the local population

(Nickerson 2006). It is suggested that tourism business owners and governments overseeing attraction development are the beginning stages of the entire tourism system (Nickerson 2006 p.280.). Furthermore it is argued that little information about interactions, decisions and management of the attraction sites is understood, thus examinations is required to future understand how tourism attractions are developed and sustained. Leask (2010) explains that there are a range of stakeholders involved to create successful attractions, in order to generate effective tourist attraction; management is of key importance in the destination and in the overall successof a country's tourism product (Leask). It is argued that there are various factors such as ownership and visitor volume implimented to assist with the complexities of establishing visitor attractions (Leask 2010). Loytynoia s (2008) study on tourism suggests that impacts of construction and development of attractions should be considered more widely. It is proposed that specific locations should be assessed through social and political procedures that impact the development and production of attractions (Loytynoia 2008).The research developed by Lew (ibid) explains that studies in the attraction sector has been developed from a range of broad perspectives, including the ideographic classification of attraction varieties, specific regulation and progress, perceptive expectation and experiences of tourist attractions. However an interpretation of the diversity that attractions are comprised of can be clearly achieved by the consideration of the evolution of attractions, principally as they reflect the revolution of leisurely preferences over a two thousand year period. The focus on future trends demands for intentionally built attractions is a fairly new phenomenon, which is supported by the work of Swarbrooke (2002) and Fayall (2008) in a contemporary emphasis. From the offset, tourist motivation has been appreciated as an important topic of interest in the study of leisure and tourism, Wahab (1975) suggests that the area of motivation is a fundamental aspect in tourism development. Studies by Tribe (2004) propose that tourist patterns are the result of destination choice, influenced powerfully by motives and backgrounds. Previous research by Moscardoet all. (1996) suggests that motivations could be linked to activities, and thus destination choice. Therefore the topic of travel and motivation becomes a central issue to individuals that market and manage tourism. Similarly, research conducted by Richards (2002) indicates through the general structure of attraction system models, the notion that tourists are "pushed" towards attractions by their motivations . Tourist visitation was shown to be strongly connected to tourist inspiration and characteristics and the use of various media (Richards 2002).

According to Schafer (2000, p.22) trave behaviour is determined largely by to budgets: the share of monetary expenditure and the amount of time that individuals allocate to transport. Given that a travel budget represents the fraction of disposable income devoted to leisure, a fixed travel budget established a direct relationship between disposable income and distance travelled. It is therefore important to take into account income when conducting research on the motivational analysis of individuals visiting commercial attractions. Ryan (2003)suggests that a key set of motivational forces are developed from an individual s desire to escape personal environment, to develop particular intrinsic rewards. In conjunction to this, Leiper (1995) argues that leisure involves a temporary escape of mind , were the real physical movement away from the everyday environment to a place of change in behaviour and attitude. According to Dann (1976) fantasy plays a key role in motivating tourist to proceed to attend attractions as they are acting out psychic needs, and playing certain roles [that] cannot be fulfilled at home . Crompton(1997) summaries that the principle of breaking from routine is in most cases found in a different place or in changingthe dominant context of the usual environment.