Effect of unethical business practices on Australian inbound package tourism

Abstract

International visitors to Australia on package tours have been raising concerns about various aspects of their holiday experience. These aspects relate to unethical business practices undertaken by Inbound Tour Operators (ITO). The origin markets affected are China and Korea in particular, and, to a lesser extent, Taiwan. Package tourism from Japan, a market which has matured, and where the practices had been thought to have ceased, now appears to be increasingly affected also, as are some other origin markets. The paper first sets out the nature of the unethical business practices and then discusses their underlying causes. It then estimates their effects on visitor satisfaction and the impact of this on future package tourism flows to Australia from the identified markets. Finally, some estimates are made of the economic costs of the practices to Australia.