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Hindi Research Article, J Tourism Res Hospitality Vol: 3 Issue: 1
Impacts of the Alice Solar City Program on the Local Tourism Industry
| Benxiang Zeng*, Rolf Gerritsen and Rachel O’Leary | |
| The Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs Campus,Grevillea Drive, PO Box 795, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia | |
| Corresponding author : Benxiang Zeng The Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs Campus, Grevillea Drive, PO Box 795, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia Tel: +61 8 89595270 E-mail: benxiang.zeng@cdu.edu.au |
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| Received: August 16, 2013 Accepted: February 11, 2014 Published: February 17, 2014 | |
| Citation: Zeng B, Gerritsen R, Leary RO (2014) Impacts of the Alice Solar City Program on the Local Tourism Industry. J Tourism Res Hospitality 3:1 doi:10.4172/2324-8807.1000134 |
Abstract
Impacts of the Alice Solar City Program on the Local Tourism Industry
The Alice Solar City (ASC) project was one of seven under the Australian Government’s Solar Cities Program. This paper investigates the actual and potential multi-dimensional impacts of the Alice Solar City project on the local tourism industry in Alice Springs. The results suggest that the ASC project was not a tourist attraction. There was a positive contribution from the ASC to the image of the town as well as significant impacts, both economic and non-economic, on the local community. The Solar City project made a positive contribution to the environmental sustainability of the whole tourism industry in the region. Nevertheless, the project had a minimal impact on attracting tourists or persuading them to extend their stay in the town. The indirect and/or non-economic impacts of the ASC possibly could have been turned into a positive contribution to the increase in tourist numbers and tourist nights, but this required a basic re-ordering of the town’s tourism “brand”.
