Research Proposal Report Statistics and Business Research Method

Question: Evaluate the impact of the interactive content and the digital marketing communication on the Australian tourism sector. Answer: 1.0 Introduction to the business research topic: The current research attempts to evaluate the impact of the interactive content and the digital marketing communication on the Australian tourism sector. The visitors behaviour towards the tourism industry is frequently changing due to the prototype of the communication process. Thus, the promotion of the tourism industry requires a large degree of the marketing mix to experience the future growth. Also, the past literature also indicated that the tourism development can benefit an organisation through its word of mouth promotion, due to the flexibility in the communication process. The global tourism sector is benefiting from the Web 2.0 technology as it is transforming the way of the tourism operations. Dredge and Jamal (2013) also stated that electronics intermediaries are continuously emerging dynamically, due to which, the travel players are enforced to reinvent the tourism business models. Considering the fact, the current study focuses on identifying how much the interactive c ontent attracts tourists towards a specific economy and its overall sustainability. The Australian tourism sector has been chosen by the researcher to conduct the current study. 2.0 Literature Review: A critical evaluation of the significance of the digital marketing in the Gold Coast tourism sector: The digital marketing communication employed by the Gold Coast Tourism industry has helped its tourism industry managing a persistent engagement with the international and national visitors. The sustainability report of the Gold Coast tourism unit also indicates that the incoming of the visitors has been improved by more than 6% in the Gold Coast region (2013-2014) (www.tourism.australia.com, 2016). The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Corporation has become advantageous to identify the tourism opportunities with the employment of the digital marketing and communication process. The online banners, posters, social media marketing, have facilitated the flow of information between the internal and external stakeholders of the Gold Coast Tourism Industry. This marketing approach has also influenced the sustainability of the Australian tourism sector. The fan following on the Facebook page of the Australian tourism industry has reached 5.8 million, and the traveller expenditure has reached $83.4 billion (www.visitgoldcoast.com, 2016). Feldman-Barrett (2015) also reported that the digital marketing and interactive content has experienced more than 141,000 Twitter followers and the number of Google+ followers has reached 1.1 million (www.tourism.australia.com, 2016). Apart from the conventional tourism sector, the niche tourism in the Gold Coast city is also increasing due to the mass marketing activity conducted on the social media platforms. Through the digital marketing, Griffith University promotes the education tourism and attracts a large pool of students towards the region. Obi et al. (2016) also identified that China has been confirmed as one of the greatest markets for the Gold Coast tourism. The number of visitor arrival as part of the G20 program has been reached 187,000 which is the highest value (2013-2014) as compared to the other international tourist regions (www.moregoldcoast.com.au, 2016). All in all, the interactive content and digital marketing have improved the market attractiveness and the overall sustainability of the Gold Coast tourism sector. The business events in Gold Coast is able to deliver a board range of marketing and sales initiatives as it continued to establish the Gold Coast as a strong competitor in the national and international marketplace. According to the opinion of Dupre and Xu (2015), the Corporate Relations and Destination Management Department built, maintained a close relationship with the stakeholders in the tourism sector, so that, it helps to recognise new opportunities for attracting the visitors towards the Gold Coast. It is also beneficial to maximise the stakeholder engagement programme with the Gold Coast Tourism. On the other hand, representing the activities of Gold Coast tourism within the Gold Coast business community is a significant function that helps to connect the industry and the government for a massive structural change of the interface. In order to retain the citys important status in the tourism market Gold Coast is open for the business opportunities that could maximise the tour ists visit in the Gold Coast area. Considering the opinion of Nguyen and Menzies (2010), Gold Coast tourism can address the requirements of the broader visitor economy that aims to build a strong foundation of important demand side destination marketing. Therefore, this approach is helpful to improve the economic stability of the country. The impact of the digital marketing communication has helped to increase the visitors demand, arrivals and the other expenditure of the city. In the opinion of Ward and ORegan (2009), the business goal of Gold Cost can deliver the business outcomes based on the quality research, best practices and return on investment. The approaches of the digital marketing have assisted to be a good employer of choice. Thus, the Gold Coast demonstrated a destination management leadership to deliver the value to the members. Moreover, these types of business goals with the assistance of digital marketing approach have helped to improve the economic sustainability of the global market of the tourism industry. As per the strategic marketing plan of Gold Cost tourism, the tourism sector kept focusing on the holiday and the business events that ensure to achieve the maximum value from the investments of the resources. Supporting this Feldman-Barrett (2015) stated that Gold Coast tourism sector can provi de an independent and cooperative activity depending on the season and circumstances. As the impact of interactive content and the approaches to the digital marketing the tourism sector of Gold Coast leveraged the cooperative partnership approach to attract more customers. This initiative is advantageous for the expansion of the tourism attraction of the Gold Coast. In the opinion of Dupre and Xu (2015), keep forecast to the outbound visitor volume, and the other expenditure to the Gold Coast are the key marketing approach of the Gold Coast tourism industry. Adding to this, the identification of the priority regions of the visitors and the other target audience segmentation is actively essential component to increasing the economic stability of the Gold Coast tourism sector. It has been speculated that the Gold Coast tourism industry operate to promote a high-class tourist destination image to draw the more customer attention. According to the opinion of Nguyen and Menzies (2010), p romotional activities and the public relations approach have organised to complement the marketing campaigns of the Gold Coast tourism. The interactive content and the digital marketing communication have assisted the Gold Coast to preserve a consistent visitors engagement within the Gold Coast City. The visitors who visit the corporate site of the tourist agencies of the Gold Coast are being contacted by the tourist agent and the marketing department of the Gold Coast tourism sector to accumulate the feedback of the tourists. Considering the opinion of Ward and ORegan (2009), the particular approach of the digital marketing and the interactive content facilitated the tourism sector of Gold Coast to update the visits of the potential visitors with the existing tourism services. Hence, the encouragement of the visitors could enhance the economic upliftment of the Gold Coast tourism sector. 3.0 Research question: To analyse the significance of the interactive content and the digital marketing communication on the Australian tourism (Gold Coast) sector To determine the factors, influencing the tourism growth in the Gold Coast region To assess the current interactive content and digital marketing communication followed by the Gold Coast tourism agency To recommend strategic initiatives for improving the current communication strategy of the Gold Coast tourism sector 4.0 Research methodology: The research methodology focuses on the selected research parameters. The research study, positivism philosophy, deductive research approach and descriptive research design have been considered. The selections of this kind of constraints have assisted the research associate in evaluating the details of the research work. According to the opinion of Bowman (2014), considering the simple random sampling process based on the visitors through the process of an online survey would help to mitigate the issues of biasness. On the contrary, the qualitative data collection could possible to interview the executives of the travel agency. As positivism philosophy helps the researcher to draw the authentic conclusion with the triangulation of both the primary and the secondary data, thus, selection of positivism is entirely justified. Adding to this, Fallman (2008) stated that the deductive approach focuses on the studying the theory, hypothesis and confirmation of the final theory. Therefore, a s per the research topic, choosing of deductive approach is justified. Furthermore, the descriptive research design helps to accumulate the entire background of the research and understanding the behavioural action of the visitors towards the Goal Coast Tourism, Australia. Finally, supports the inclusion of both the qualitative and quantitative data would allow collecting the substantial and detailed data of the visitors and the executives of the travel agent regarding the study of Gold Coast Tourism, Australia. 5.0 Project Plan: Gantt chart: Week Introduction Setting research topic Formulating research aim and objectives Literature Review Data Collection and analysis Thesis Due Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 6.0 Research process: Considering the opinion of Feldman-Barrett (2015), the research process is comprised of an experiment, case study and survey process. As per the research topic, the research associate has considered the survey session to conduct the research process. Te visitors elected for the quantitative data analysis had been surveyed by sending close ended online questionnaire. Therefore, the survey session has helped the research associate to collect the data in time. According to the opinion of Sekaran and Bougie (2013), it is also helpful for understanding the behavioural action of the online visitors of the Gold Coast Tourism, Australia. On the other hand, as the entire data for the research work have been collected from the visitors and the executives of the travel agency, the research study could also be treated as the case study. Hence, the corporate information has been attained and evaluated to justify the selection of the research process. 7.0 Data collection and analysis: Both primary and secondary data have been gathered while conducting the study. Primary data is of two types quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative data would be collected by employing the frequent visitors of the Gold Coast Tourism. On the other hand, qualitative data would be collected by involving the regulatory agents of the Gold Coast tourism. An online survey questionnaire would be sent to the visitors to collect quantitative data. In this context, Grbich (2012) stated that before sending the survey questionnaire, it is necessary to take the free consent of the respondents. Considering the same, the researcher could send a welcome letter to the respondents to ensure the participation affirmation. On the other hand, a face-to-face interview could be conducted by the researcher to gather qualitative data regarding how much the digital communication and the interactive content have impacted on the sustainability of the Gold Coast Tourism. Similar to the quantitative data collection, the researcher could also attain a participation affirmation from the end of the regulatory agents. Sample size: Sampling is a process of choosing homogeneous population from a heterogeneous mass of the diversified population (Brians et al. 2010). Additionally, Sekaran and Bougie (2013) also stated that selecting a valid sample is necessary to enhance the authenticity and the success factor of the study. Thus, the researcher could also plan accordingly regarding the exact sample size that could generate official result regarding the study. Both the sampling process and sample size would be required to attain the potential outcome the study. A simple random sampling method could be chosen by the researcher to gather quantitative data, while the non-probability sampling process could be employed to collect qualitative data of the study. 60 random tourists on the Gold Coast could be selected to collect quantitative data. Thus, the sample size for quantitative data would be 60. Also, the particular choice of the four tourism regulatory agents could make the sample size 4 for the qualitative data collection process. Data Analysis: The quantitative data could be analysed using MS Excel, where a response percentage against the given options would be calculated. Supporting to this fact, Fallman (2008) stated that MS Excel provides authentic information as compared to the other tools. After calculating the data, the values can be made visible in a graphical and tabular manner, using the software MS Word. On the other hand, when it comes to the qualitative data collection, the conversation can be transformed into a firm if transcript along with the clear opinion of the tourism regulatory agents. The clear idea could help the researcher analysing the in-depth impact of the digital marketing communication on the Gold Tourism Sector. Also, Bowman (2014) stated that data triangulation is necessary to prove the authenticity of the study. Considering the fact, the researcher could also align the outcome of the primary and secondary data, to derive a right alignment between those entities. 8.0 Expected research outcome: The research has helped to outline the impact of the digital marketing communication and the interactive communication practices followed in the Gold Coast tourism sector. The approaches contribute to update the operational definition of the tourism activities in the Gold Coast tourism. The current study also keeps focusing on the effective marketing strategies that have helped the Gold Coast region to improve the economic stability. The financial stability is the primary concern that directly improves the overall sustainability of the Gold Coast tourism both in the national and international market of a tourism industry. References: Australia, T. (2016)Tourism Australia corporate website. Bowman, J. (2014) Data, analysis, action!, Research World, 2014(46), pp. 2226 Brians, C. L., Willnat, L. B., Manheim, J. B. and Rich, R. C. (2010) Empirical political analysis: Quantitative and qualitative research methods. 8th edn. New York: Prentice Hall China confirmed as the largest market for Gold Coast tourism(2014) Dredge, D. and Jamal, T. (2013). Mobilities on the Gold Coast, Australia: implications for destination governance and sustainable tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(4), pp.557-579. Dupre, K. and Xu, B. (2015) The new Gold Coast Chinatown: Stakeholders development preferences, International Journal of Tourism Cities, 1(2), pp. 119138. Fallman, D. (2008) The interaction design research triangle of design practice, design studies, and design exploration, Design Issues, 24(3), pp. 418 Feldman-Barrett, C. (2015). Rock'n'roll was everywhere: Youth culture history as heritage tourism on Queensland's Gold Coast. Queensland Review, 22(02), pp.131-142 Grbich, C. (2012) Qualitative data analysis: An introduction. 2nd edn. London: Sage Publications Nguyen, S.N. and Menzies, J. (2010) Event effectiveness: Analysing the perceptions of key stakeholders of the Lexmark Indy 300/champ car event, Gold Coast, International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 8(1/2), pp. 106110. Obi, P., Martin, R.L. and Chidi Obi, G. (2016) Tourism: The untapped goldmine in the Gold Coast,Tourism and Hospitality Management, 22(1), pp. 1728. Sekaran, U. S. and Bougie, R. (2013) Research methods for business: A skill-building approach. 6th edn. Ward, S. and ORegan, T. (2009) The film producer as the long-stay business tourist: Rethinking film and tourism from a Gold Coast perspective, Tourism Geographies, 11(2), pp. 214232.