Research in Business and Enterprise

Creating sustainable visitor experiences

Wollumbin (Mount Warning) is a site recognised internationally for its significant natural and cultural values. Located in Northern NSW, near the NSW-Queensland border, it is part of the Gondwana World Heritage Area and is a sacred place to the Bundjalung People.

The activity of ascending the summit of Wollumbin, particularly during sunrise, has become an iconic visitor experience attracting increasingly large numbers of visitors. This nature-based visitor experience was the almost singular focus of the local visitor economy, with few identified alternative nature-based experiences. The impacts are significant: the increased foot traffic has led to physical degradation of the highly significant cultural site, degradation of World Heritage natural values and major safety concerns including several deaths.

Professor Betty Weiler and Dr Pascal Scherrer, both from the Faculty of Business, Law and Arts, led a project to identify visitor preferences for alternative experiences to summiting Wollumbin in order address the significant site limitations of this World Heritage Area.

Improving staff retention in the healthcare sector

Over the past 16 years, there has been a nursing shortage in the Australian health system – and this trend is expected to continue. Workforce retention is a key factor in overcoming this problem.

Professor Yvonne Brunetto worked with a global health care provider to improve nurse retention. By introducing programs to develop unit managers and support newly-graduated nurses into the provider’s Australian hospitals, staff retention improved dramatically.

Workers compensation claims due to work-related stress are costly for employees and employers. Health workers who provide front-line, emotional labour are at high risk of work-related stress. The emotional resilience training developed by Southern Cross University in response to these challenges was effective in improving safety practices in a social welfare organisation.

A happy coastal holiday income for some is an economic and social nightmare for others

The Airbnb phenomenon has exploded worldwide. The online peer-to-peer home-sharing platform operates in 191 countries, with more than five million listings.

Airbnb has also taken off in Australia, with 166,000 listings. Its growth has had the greatest impact in popular coastal destinations, like Byron Bay. This small community of about 9,000 people receives more than two million visitors annually. At 222:1, Byron Bay’s visitor-to-local ratio is among the highest in the world. Visitor numbers are expected to increase to 3.8 million by 2030, according to Byron Shire Council’s Sustainable Visitor Strategy. At the same time, Byron Shire has one of Australia’s least affordable regional rental housing markets.

A Southern Cross University research team – comprised of Dr Deborah Che, Dr Tania von der Heidt, Dr Sabine Muschter and Dr Rodney Caldicott – began investigating Airbnb’s effect on the Byron Shire in 2018. Their work has since evolved into a series of projects along the NSW North Coast.

Diving to decline: science, business and industry working together to save reefs from being loved to death

Tens of thousands of experienced and novice divers and snorkelers from around the globe flock to experience the splendour of the underwater world at prime locations in Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia and the Indonesian archipelago.

Marine tourism has become an economic livelihood which offers employment and broader social opportunities within these and other coastal communities across the Asia-Pacific.

But, as tourism expert Dr Kay Dimmock warns, for marine tourism to be successful there is a need for high-quality marine resources.

"Dive tourism is an important source of income for South-East Asia, but its future depends on the effective management of healthy coral reefs," says Dr Dimmock, Senior Lecturer in Faculty of Business, Law and Arts at Southern Cross University.