Capacity Building for Small and Micro Tourism Enterprises: Developing Sustainable Competitive Advantage

A Flexibly Delivered Business Skill Development Program

Skills augmentation and industry-wide benchmarking are internationally recognised as leading economic drivers. In 2003 The Centre for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness (CRIC) was awarded substantial AusIndustry funding for a flexibly delivered tourism business skilling program as part of the AusIndustry Small Business Enterprise Culture Program.

The pilot project, under the direction of Dr Patrice Braun and Dr Mary Hollick, was conducted in the Central Highlands and Central Victoria ACC regions from mid 2004 and ran until December 2005. The program, which was supported by Tourism Victoria, the Tourism Accreditation Board of Victoria, Tourism Training Victoria, Ballarat Tourism, Bendigo Tourism, the Central Highlands ACC and Central Victoria ACC, sought to develop a more effective capacity building model for tourism enterprises by applying an information and communication technology (ICT) and Internet-enhanced platform for the delivery of integrated skills development. Using ICT to facilitate delivery of a wide array of learning modules tailored to the needs of both start-up and established tourism operators, the project aimed to build a regional learning network, where stakeholders could access industry-tailored data, learn, and exchange knowledge to achieve industry best practice and gain competitive advantage. Aiming to raise industry standards and move away from ineffective silo approaches to industry training and capacity building, this Australian first reflects the importance of and contributes to the development of an effective national voluntary accreditation system.

The pilot has now been completed and industry feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The major benefits perceived by operators across the pilot region were the time saving aspects demonstrated in the smart form concept, reflecting Mitchell’s (2003) view the time is indeed “the new distance”. Operators were also drawn in by the best practise examples and direct links to the online resources to bring and keep them up to date with industry information and developments.

The model used for the pilot has been adopted by the Tourism Accreditation Board of Victoria and is now being considered for national rollout across Australia. Considered a practical and replicable learning model for micro and SME businesses anywhere, this model is applicable to tourism regions outside Victoria and Australia, as well as other service sector industries.

For further information, contact Dr. Patrice Braun on (03) 5327 9465 or via email p.braun@ballarat.edu.au