UNDERSTANDING THE CULTURAL TOURISM MARKET

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Stafford & Associates’ report makes an important observation in that it points out that Tasmania’s, and by implication Launceston’s, visitors are dominantly drawn from an intrastate base – demonstrated by the pie chart in their report. There are a number of observations that can be drawn from this relative to cultural tourism. 

The first thing to be said is that Tasmanians living south of the ubiquitous 42°S 'north/south divide', and west of the Rubicon, offers Launceston a target audience for cultural tourism that in turn offers opportunities for visitor from such places to explore their ‘Tasmanian-ness’ – their relative histories, their comparative heritage, their social networks, etc. – and to access cultural experiences unavailable to them ‘at home’. 

Furthermore, this target audience offers multiple opportunities to engage with sections of these communities in respect to cultural tourism. This would assist with appropriate planning that in turn would enable Launceston cultural tourism enterprises and programs to achieve multiple visits over time reinforced by word-of-mouth and social network marketing – and also visits of various durations. 

This is not to mention add-on opportunities – restaurant visits, shopping opportunities, supplementary entertainment, etc. – that would benefit from integrated planning based on cultural tourism. 

In addition, there is a much-ignored ‘local population’ – overseas students & relatives, international professionals working in Tasmania, et al – for whom cultural tourism opportunities could be attractive. Moreover, there may well be add-on word of mouth benefits to be won via an engagement with this target group with both interstate and international opportunities flowing from this target group. 

Clearly, interstate visitors will be seeking much the same kind of cultural tourism experiences as intrastate visitors. Nonetheless, their expectations and aspiration will be somewhat broader and consistent with this in that they would be exploring their ‘Australian-ness’ in a Tasmanian context. 

The smallest target group could well be expanded upon via cultural tourism if the marketing of targeted overseas visitors is directed towards visitors who are more likely to see Tasmania as being ‘exotic and other’ – Asian visitors in particular – and looking for cultural experiences. 

Nonetheless, overseas tourists, in general, are sophisticated travelers with sophisticated ‘tastes’. They are however unlikely to be impressed by one-dimensional visitor experiences in an increasingly competitive, and a more and more challenging, market that is sensitive to their needs and aspirations.