Title: Realignment of regional tourism: the case of Western Australia

Authors: Christof Pforr

Addresses: School of Management, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth WA, 6845, Australia

Abstract: In the light of the pressures and challenges regions have experienced in recent times, the organisation of regional tourism is currently under review in many countries. This paper explores regional tourism policy and planning in analysing the effectiveness of reforming regional tourism using Western Australia as a case study, where the government in 2004 replaced its 11 Tourism Regions with five Tourism Zones. The main purpose of this realignment was to better reflect travel pattern, visitor expectations, product availability and iconic experiences as well as to create more efficient and effective administrative arrangements at the regional level.

Keywords: regional tourism; tourism planning; tourism policy; Western Australia; WA; tourism zones; tourism reform; travel patterns; visitor expectations; product availability; iconic experiences.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2007.013896

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2007 Vol.1 No.1, pp.33 - 44

Published online: 01 Jun 2007 *

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