Essay: Marine Tourism's Impact On Australia's Economy And Affluence.

Discuss about the Effect of marine tourism in Australia.

Problem statement

According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Australia’s marine industries contributed $74.2 billion in the year 2014 (Minister.industry.gov.au 2018). Not only the local visitors opts for the marine tourism but international visitors also like to experience Australia’s marine tourism and for the years 2016 and 2017 the total number such tourists are 7.8 million and 8.6 million respectively (Tourism.australia.com 2018). Though the marine tourism impacts Australia’s GDP immensely, there are some associated problem with this aspects like- deterioration of water quality, physical alteration of landscapes and coastlines, physical alteration of coastlines, loss of biodiversity and changes in salinity regime. Moreover tourists also prefer to visit marine areas if the climate of marine coasts is favorable or if they find other tourist visiting areas more convenient.

This research study thus illustrates the related impact of the marine tourism on Australia’s economy and affluence. The research will also find the effect of fishing, offshore oil and gas extract and explore, repairing and maintenance services, water transport business, boat and ship building and infrastructure and marine tourism on the economy of the Australia.

Research Objectives

• To examine out the effect of marine tourism in Australia
• To explore the potential benefit of marine tourism
• To investigate the occupancy rate of visitors in the marine tourism
• To look for new ways of developing marine tourism in the upcoming days

Research design is integrating different components of the study in a logical way in order to address the research objectives (Brown 2014). Core function applied in the research, information required and methodologies used are the three aspects under the topic of research design. This section thus refers to these three sections.

The core function of the research is of two types- pure and applied research (Kowalczyk 2014). McNabb (2015) stated that pure research is also known as “basic” or “fundamental” research and is utilized when no practical end-use has been considered and the aim for finding new theories and direction is taken. On the other hand, Brown (2014) depicted that applied research does not aims for investigating a new direction but emphasized on solving a specific and practical questions based on the research topic. In this study, applied research has been considered as the impact of the marine tourism is intended to find on the Australian economy and affluence and hence cannot be applicable for any other nation. Moreover, the research answer on the impact for fishing, water transport business, repairing and maintenance services, offshore oil and gas extract and explore, boat and ship building and infrastructure is considered and thus applied research is most appropriative research style.

Research Design

Information Requirement

The information required for addressing the research questions can be of three types- exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research. Kowalczyk (2014) stated that exploratory research does not provide conclusive answers or a final conclusion of the research question. In this case, some new finding may change the direction of the research study. Tetnowski (2015) on the other hand stated that descriptive research describes the finding of the literature review and the data analysis section. Explanatory research moreover provides a wider perspective and includes the literature done before by other research scholars to understand cause and effect of the research topic. In this research, descriptive information is required and the reason is the findings will be specific to the research problem.

Methodology

Mertens (2014) stated that methodology of the research is also of three different types- quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods research. Quantitative  research method is considered when the research study aims for testing hypotheses and find assumptions based on the statistical tests as it provide unbiased result (Brannen 2017). McCusker and Gunaydin (2015) on the other hand depicted that qualitative research method signifies quality of the subject and interpret the understanding of the event. Qualitative research also represents a mental picture of the research and through narrative description; the answer for the research is given. The mixed research method highlights the combination of both the quantitative and qualitative research method and considered both numerical data and theoretical perspective for answering the research question.      

In this research quantitative method will be utilized as the research topic aims for in-depth knowledge of the selected research topic that is effect of marine tourism on the Australia. However, the quantitative data is used through questionnaire from the local and international visitors in addition to that secondary quantitative data are also considered to evaluate the number of visitors and growth of the Australian GDP through marine tourism.

Yin (2017) stated that in order to assess the research result, data are collected from the research respondents or from other sources like newspaper, journal and website articles. There are two different methods through which data can be collected for the research- quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative data can be gathered through different ways like surveys, structured interviews, longitudinal studies, observation and case studies (Mertens 2014). On the other hand, qualitative research is obtained through in-depth interviews, participant observation, focus groups, case studies and content analysis (Tetnowski 2015). The prime benefits of quantitative data collection is that it permits formulation of statistically sound hypotheses, enables evaluation of multiple datasets faster and accurately along with automated time-consuming manual implementations of ideas. Yin (2017) on the other hand argue that this type of data requires constant monitoring of model performance and a deep background in multiple complex disciplines. This type of data collection also considers only a small group, organization or industry in a particular region. In terms of qualitative research methods, the benefits are detailed analysis of subject materials, research outcome that is based on human experiences and observations of a predictive quality. However, the negative side of qualitative data collection method is that the data gathered are highlight subjective in nature and it might not address the research question directly and always provide outdated data.

Core Function

In this research, quantitative data will be considered. The questionnaire selected for the visitors is evaluated for assessing the factors that attracts them towards marine tourism in Australia. Moreover, the data sheet for the number of tourist visits for marine tourism and the growth n GDP for the same will also be planned to consider in order assessing the impact on the Australian economy and affluences.

The survey is designed when a larger sample size has been considered for the research (Hillygus et al. 2014). All the question of the survey is usually close ended and can be answered through given options for highlighting the satisfaction level. Bosnjak et al. (2016) stated that there are different form of survey questions design- open-ended, closed/pre-coded questions, poll questions, multiple choice questions, checklists, ranking questions, fill in the blanks, rating scales and filter questions. Bryman (2015) stated that in this research study, the questionnaire that will be asked to the local as well as international visitors comprised of demographic questions and quantitative questions. The reason for selecting the open ended question in this case is the greater sample size of the research respondents and is in this case, qualitative question has been asked, the research would taken larger time to accomplish.

In addition that, there are different numbers of data and measurement scales they are nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio (Meyers et al. 2016). Bryman and Bell (2015) stated that nominal data and measurement scale simply be called “labels” and can be answer through the given options in the research. On the other hand McNabb (2015) stated that ordinal data and measurement scale represents the option in a particular order through which the satisfaction level regarding the research question can be rated. Bryman and Bell (2015) stated that interval data and measurement scale is utilized when not only the order of the satisfaction level is known but also the differences between the values is remained unknown. Lastly, the data and measurement scale has been selected when the exact value between units is known. However, in this case, only the nominal and ordinal data and measurement scale will be used. The demographic questions are represented through nominal options; while the quantitative questions for the research study has been answered through ordinal measurement scale.

Sample for the research has been selected through two different ways- probability or non-probability sample selection technique. Mertens (2014) stated that in probability sample selection technique all the research respondents get equal probability to give their perception on the research topic. On the other hand, when the probability for the selection of all the research respondents is not equal, the process of selection is known as non-probability sample selection technique. The prime advantage of the probability sample technique is that it gives equal chances to all research respondents and avoids biasness, which is in the case of non-probability sampling technique. Kowalczyk (2014) stated that non-probability sampling selection methods allow an in-depth perception on the research topic but suffers from a disadvantage that is biasness in selecting the research respondents.

Information Requirement

In this research study, both the probability and non-probability sample section technique will be applied. The selection of the local and international visitors will be accomplished through probability sampling technique so as to get the perception of the visitors individually on the marine tourism offers in Australia. Moreover, the selection of the articles and the government website for accessing the data on the GDP growth due to the marine tourism will be selected and it refers to the non- probability sample selection techniques not other government or tourism report will be applicable to address the selected research objectives.    

The total samples size for the research will be 400 and the target population will be the local and the international marine tourists. The research study will be conducted during the peak season in the marine tourism that is in December to Mid-January.

All the research respondents will be provided with a consent form that included the details that the research questionnaire will require a maximum of the 30 minutes and all the research questions is collected for this research study only. This consent form is signed from these respondents so that it can be understood that these participants are willingly participated in the research. In addition to that, the risk involved in this case is that some of the respondents might not click their genuine perception on the research questions. However, no respondents will be forced to change their answer to obtain a desired outcome for the research.  

The research topic is ‘effect of marine tourism on Australia” and this makes the research data analysis method as univariate. Moreover, the selection of the univaruate data analysis technique is that there is only one research variable which is ‘marine tourism’. The representation of the research questions will be represented trough frequency tables and their bar graphs based on the table outcome. The frequency table is selected so that it can represents the number of occurrences of the valued obtained from the research. The outcome of the data is calculated based on the statistical interpretation of mean, median, mode and standard deviation. This statistical interpretation provides the idea in which question the research respondents give more agreement.  

Reference List

Bosnjak, M., Das, M. and Lynn, P., 2016. Methods for probability-based online and mixed-mode panels: Selected recent trends and future perspectives. Social Science Computer Review, 34(1), pp.3-7.

Brannen, J. ed., 2017. Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research. Routledge.

Brown, T.A., 2014. Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. Guilford Publications.

Bryman, A. and Bell, E., 2015. Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.

Bryman, A., 2015. Social research methods. Oxford university press.

Hillygus, D.S., Jackson, N. and Young, M., 2014. Professional respondents in non-probability online panels. Online panel research: A data quality perspective, pp.219-237.

Kowalczyk, D., 2014. Purposes of research: exploratory, descriptive & explanatory. Educational Potal.

McCusker, K. and Gunaydin, S., 2015. Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods and choice based on the research. Perfusion, 30(7), pp.537-542.

McNabb, D.E., 2015. Research methods for political science: Quantitative and qualitative methods. Routledge.

Mertens, D.M., 2014. Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Sage publications.

Meyers, L.S., Gamst, G. and Guarino, A.J., 2016. Applied multivariate research: Design and interpretation. Sage publications.

Minister.industry.gov.au., 2018. Ministers and Assistant Ministers for the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. [online] Available at: https://minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/sinodinos/media-releases/marine-industries-contribute-74-billion-australias-economy [Accessed 23 May 2018].

Tetnowski, J., 2015. Qualitative case study research design. Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders, 25(1), pp.39-45.

Tourism.australia.com., 2018. Annual report 2016/17, australia.com | australia.cn | tourism.australia.com | businesseventsaustralia.com. [online] Available at: https://www.tourism.australia.com/content/dam/assets/document/1/6/z/6/s/2005156.pdf [Accessed 23 May 2018].

Yin, R.K., 2017. Case study research and applications: Design and methods. Sage publications