The visitor economy: What’s in it for retailers?

Bricks and mortar retailers, particularly small and independent traders, operate in challenging and highly competitive environments. Given the retail industry’s significant contribution to local communities as well as to local and national economies, it is important to identify measures and initiatives that provide support for retailers as well as contribute to the success of retail precincts. For many, shopping at local retailers or in specific retail precincts, is an integral part of the tourist experience. The ‘visitor economy’ has been identified by local authorities, governments and destination marketing managers as having a positive impact on local small businesses. The visitor economy extends the notion of ‘traditional’ tourism by recognising the range of visitors in a destination also includes business travellers, and other types of visitors. To date, discussion about the impact of the visitor economy in Tasmania, Australia, has been largely anecdotal without any formal research conducted. This proposed research project aims to empirically examine the impact of the visitor economy on small, local retailers.