Amusement Parks In Australia: Critical Analysis Of Visitor's Factors And Industry Growth

Different types of amusement parks in Australia

Question:

Give an ppropriate research methodologies and techniques to use for the research project Strengthen and  improve initial proposal.

It is evident that amusement park is one of the attractive places where people of every age pay visits. The amusement park may include several types of attractive activities for kids, young people, adults and others. The activities s may include a roller coaster and monorail from which the visitors could look down on the animals below. Each year the number of visits to an amusement park in Australia is increasing. Further, it is also identified that the amusement park industry in Australia has been growing exponentially in the last few years. Remaining as the significant part of the leisure industry, the amusement park contributes almost 45% of the overall turnover of the whole leisure industry.

There are particular places such as Dream World in Queensland, Movie World in Gold Coast and Jamberoo Action Park in New South West that are different types of an amusement park in Australia. All of these parks are gained popularity due to their various activities. The profits earned by each park are also different. The leisure industry has experienced significant growth in the operations of all these organizations. Thus, the country has taken the initiatives of developing the current contents of theme parks. For example, the organizations have implemented a film studio inside the amusement park.

The present research report focuses on the number of visitors to the amusement park. The report also focuses on the factors associated with the theme parks influence the visitors. Another important segment is the visitors tend to search for multi-optional offers as well as experience that are delivered in an effective but comfortable and more authentic atmosphere. Thus, the current report provides a critical analysis of the factors that are influencing the visitors of the theme park and the industry. Appropriate research methodology for the collection of data has been depicted in the report, which indicates how the research will be conducted.

Since the early 1900s, the theme park has increasingly evolved to become one of the important forms of tourist attraction. For particular location, the amusement parks have positively developed as the major destination for itself. As mentioned by McC1ung (2012), the theme park has partially rectified the scarcity of attraction of multiple localities and identified critical reasons for the visit. According to the current scenario of the leisure industry, theme parks have become one of the significant leisure sports as well as trends for entertainment across the world (Tsai and Chung 2012). The theme park is considered as more than a form of attraction but a travel motivation as well as the form of the trip. Design, as well as the construction of the amusement parks, may require a complex range of creativity and professional experience of operational requirements. While developing a theme park, it is necessary to identify the themes preferred by the potential visitors. Thus, the theme needs to be unique as well as different from the competitors in the industry. Besides, it is also important to develop the perceived values as well as minimize the perceived cost. For example, the perceived cost could be both monetary as well as non-monetary.

Theme parks as a significant part of the leisure industry

As mentioned by Kim (2012), especially within the mature market, the amusement parks in its multiple forms have been considered as the fundamental means to meet new leisure as well as tourism trends that may offer more quality for less. In this context, Brown, Kappes and Marks (2013) added that multi-optional, timesaving and the visits of people meet the requirement of soft individualism. Therefore, the theme parks have become the favorite mode of mass entertainment around the world. As argued by Mak et al. (2012), due to the expansion issues that influence the construction, operation and the success of the amusement parks have been neglected. On the contrary, it is also important to focus on the themes inside the amusement parks. Brocato, Voorhees and Baker (2012) added that some of the theme parks in leisure industry are concerned with the development of the themes inside the park. Thus, they pay attention to developing food, entertainment, rides and others themes inside the park. In this context, (Gneezy et al. 2012) concerned that amusement parks are the places where people pay a visit for entertainment, fun and relaxation.

However, Mutinda and Mayaka (2012) focused on a different argumentative factor, which indicates that it is different between the theme parks and the amusement parks. All theme parks are considered as the amusement parks and but not all amusement parks are considered as the theme parks. Success factors of the theme parks

Different ranges of options and attraction: As mentioned by Tsang, Lee, Wong and Chong (2012), amusement parks need to provide a vast variety of attractions as well as the possibilities that could meet the requirements and desires of new visitors.

Uniqueness: The existing contents inside the parks, experiences, and the attractions need to be clearly defined to maintain the unique features against the competitors. The organizations also need to pay attention to the selected aspect of the visitor (Wang, Chen, Fan and Lu 2012).

Innovation:  As put forward by Anuar et al. (2012) a continuous technique of innovation as well as the restructure bring in success against the dynamic patterns of visitors behaviour and customer loyalty.

Environmental integration: While developing the theme parks, it is necessary to make the integration of economical, social and ecological environment of the concerned destination. The local people should not be affected by the actions implemented by theme parks.

Capacity and Queue management: The authority of the theme parks should manage the capacity of the parks especially during the peak and off-peak seasons as the demand are usually in high in that time.

Functionality and infrastructure: Hence, the organizations need to focus on the one stop solution.

Quality: Quality is one of the important factors as the customers expect a high-level quality across all areas of the theme park.

As mentioned by Anuar et al. (2012), the network effect of the attraction need to be scrutinized as the customer’s value of attraction is frequently maximized by other attraction in the same zone. Therefore, it is necessary for authorities to support management strategies that help to identify both tourist and local since the community support and the supporting authority in the surrounding are two significant determinants for the development and success of the theme park. On the contrary, it is also identified that factors applying on general managerial activities like human resource, finance, strategy are deliberately excluded as they are considered to be diversified from one park another one to compare.

• Does the type of themes inside park influence the visitors?
• What are the factors that influence the visitors to the theme parks and the industry?
• To what extent the theme of the park is influenced by the age group of the visitors?
• Does the price charged for the themes inside the park influence the customer loyalty?

Factors influencing the visitors of theme parks

To collect the information regarding the issues found in the report, it is necessary to select appropriate research techniques that bring in the required information. The current research includes a descriptive research design based on which a quantitative survey will be applied. As mentioned by Miller et al. (2012), quantitative research is usually referred as the hypothesis testing.  The framework of the research will be based on the literature review with five different constructs.

The detailed discussion will be included in the research report. The proposed relationship between these constructs and the following research hypothesis is proposed in the literature review to make it convenient.

Questionnaire design- The survey questionnaire will be designed based on the research framework. The first question is about the particular theme park that records the highest number of visits. Likewise, the questions will also be designed considering the factors associated with the theme park influence the visitors. On the contrary, the questionnaires will also be designed for the qualitative survey. The qualitative research includes the members of the theme park such as managers.

Sampling techniques:

The sample, which will be implemented for the current research report is probably sampling. The survey and the interview will be conducted on a sample size that includes 50 visitors and 5 managers of theme park in Australia. The total number of the respondents for the selected year across each month and three different theme parks will be deemed as the primary sample framework of the research report.

The current report includes some phases. The initial phase of the report provides a brief description of the topic, which is about the visits to the amusement park. The elaboration of the topic helps to design the report structure. In addition, the first phase of the report also provides brief regarding the significance of conducting the research. The next phase comes with the critical discussion involving the variables of the topic. In the literature review, each of the variables of the topic will be critically analyzed and the opinions of the authors have been collected. The literature review indicates that multiple factors influence the growth and development of the amusement park. Moreover, the literature review also demonstrates the gaps in the previous studies.

After the critical analysis, the report carries forward with the research techniques. In order to collect relevant information and perform the research effectively, appropriate research methodology will be selected. The selected probability sampling helps to engage the people who visit the theme parks. Likewise, the sample also contributes to involve the managers of the amusement parks. In order to gain the desired outcome from the research both primary as well as secondary data will be gathered. Based on the collection of data, the both quantitative, as well as qualitative data, will be performed. To understand the factors that are influencing the development of theme parks, it is necessary to conduct both qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Lastly, the report predicts the outcome of the research since based on the further outcome evaluation will be done.

Theme parks: a major tourist attraction

Data collection techniques

There have been two different types of data collection techniques such as primary as well as secondary research method (O'Reilly, and Parker 2012).

Primary data collection: The primary data for the current research will be collected from survey and interview. The data will be collected based on the variables of the topic. The visitors will be asked  about their age, income and other preferences.

Secondary data collection: The secondary data will be collected from different secondary sources such as books, academic journals, blogs, newspapers and other secondary sources.

Quantitative research technique- The research techniques will be conducted for the analysis of the gathered data are consisting of decretive statistics including the mean, mode medium, and standard deviation. With the help of quantitative research techniques, the average monthly visits of the people for the theme park will be calculated and compared. This could give an idea regarding the most preferred theme park in Australia.  Also, this may also provide a solution to the hypothesis designed for the research, which is about whether the theme of the amusement park influences the visitors. Based on the collection of data the hypothesis will be tested considering the variables of the topic.

Qualitative research techniques- The qualitative data will be analyzed considering the outcome found in the literature review. The collection data helps to make the analysis considering the emphasis on the variables shown in the literature review. As mentioned by Hair et al. (2012.), the analysis of qualitative data could aim to uncover the big picture by implementing the data to explain the phenomenon. In this context, Anderson and Shattuck (2012) added that both qualitative, as well as quantitative analysis, could involve labeling and coding all of the information in a particular order that might include similarities as well as differences.  For the current research, responses from the unauthorized qualitative interview will be processed for coding. Furthermore, the report also includes documentary analysis along with the interview process involving the managers. Eventually, a content analysis will be done for the purpose of behavioral categorization data.  The content will be analyzed relying on two different levels such as the basic level and latent level. The basic level includes a decretive account of the data and latent level includes interpretive analysis, which is mainly concerned with the responses.

It is expected that the research would provide comprehensible outcomes, which may further help to understand the major factors that influence the operations of the amusement park. The expected results indicate that people frequently visit the adventurous theme parks more than the traditional ones. It is assumed that Jamberoo Action may not attract a huge number of visitors as it is a small park and it mainly consists of the water and sports activities.

The activities remained in this park are not adventurous whatsoever. It is expected that people may not visit this particular theme park like Movie World in Gold Coast and Dream World in Queensland. This is may happen because of the themes developed inside these parks. More specifically, it can be added that Movie World in Gold Coast contains the rides, foods and other experienced based movies that inspire the visitors. Also, the Movie World in Gold coast features film studios that provides multiple opportunities to the visitors enjoy moment of the places. Conversely, it is also expected Dream World in Queensland may attract a large number of visitors as it has more than 40 rides as well as roller coasters. These are considered as adventurous to the visitors as they enjoy the scenario.

The success factors of theme parks

On the contrary, it is also predicted that price of the visits to the theme parks may influence the customers. People mainly go to the theme parks for relaxation and entertainment. Thus, if the price of the visits is comparatively high, people may find another alternative for recreation. For example, they could choose to go to any resort at same price rather than visiting the theme parks. Therefore, it is expected that the price of theme park mostly influences the people.

Conclusion

On the completion of the report, it can be mentioned that the proposed research will provide the desired outcome. It is predicted that the number of visits to the theme parks is expected to be increased. The analysis done in the literature review helps to learn that some external factors such as price, innovation, structure and environmental integration. These factors could influence the visitors. The research techniques that are proposed to be applied for the study could help to lead the research toward the desired direction.

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