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40 Australia
debtor and creditor balances, and physical verification
of a sample of inventories and fixed assets.
Principles of auditing in tourism are not any
different from those used in other businesses.
However, because of the specific nature of tourism
services, some variations have been introduced.
Australia
SIMON ARCHER, UK
The large island continent of Australia, with an
area of more than 4.7 million square kilometres
�almost 3 million square miles) ranks as the sixth
largest country in the world. It is a large relatively
compact land mass, stretching from the tropics to
the southern island of Tasmania. The population of
some 19 million people is concentrated around the
east and southeast coast and in the southwest, and
in the major cities like Sydney and Melbourne. The
arid interior is sparsely populated, as is the
monsoonal region in the tropical north.
The Australian landscape is noted for some
remarkable topographic features such as the
massive monolith of Uluru �Ayers Rock) in the
Red Centre of the continent. The country is dotted
with hundreds of national parks, and off the
northeastern coast of Queensland is the largest and
longest coral formation in the world, the Great
Barrier Reef �now a marine national park and a
World Heritage site). This is one of Australia's most
compelling attractions, both for domestic tourism
and international tourism with over thirty
resorts established on the reef islands and coral
cays. Equally remarkable is the strange and varied
animal and bird life, which is significantly different
from that of other continents and is thought to be
the result of isolation over millions of years. Fauna
characteristic of Australia, such as kangaroos and
koalas, frill-neck lizards and an amazing variety of
colourful and unusual birds, are an endless source
of fascination for tourists from other parts of the
world.
The original inhabitants of Australia, the
Aborigines, have been displaced over the past
200 years of European settlement and are now
highly urbanised and often disadvantaged. Large
streams of immigrants since the Second World
War, from Europe and increasingly from Asia, are
changing the character of the Australian people
and making Australia a multicultural nation. While
this is regretted in some quarters, it does add to the
appeal of the country to tourists and to its many
natural and cultural attractions for tourism.
In Australia, as in comparable Western societies,
tourism is a major national industry of economic,
sociocultural and environmental significance.
However, this position of strength was relatively
slow to evolve. The great distances separating
Australia from major centres of world populations
and the unknown and unpublicised nature of its
attractions meant that Australia was neglected for
tourism development until late in the twentieth
century. Established destinations in the northern
hemisphere remained dominant as attractions, and
it was not until the 1960s and 1970s that Australia
was `discovered' as a region with tourism potential.
Distance was a problem not only internationally
but also within Australia, because of the size of the
landmass and the skewed distribution of population
centres around selected parts of the coastline.
Domestic tourism was a challenge, and even today
remains time-consuming and expensive; distance
continues to inhibit the growth of isolated
destinations. Despite the history of Australian
settlement, characterised by immigrants from
abroad �some of them involuntary convict labour),
exposure of the continent to the world at large had
to await improved transportation technology
and communications and changes in social attitudes
towards tourism and tourists.
Such advances are relative, and even the fastest
jets continue to take upwards of fourteen hours to
cross the Pacific from North America and as much
as twenty-four hours to reach parts of Europe from
Sydney and Melbourne. Improvements in communications
and information technology have
certainly helped, but awareness and attitudes in
the outside world regarding Australia as a place to
visit remain somewhat distorted. Typical are false
perceptions of kangaroos and other native animals
roaming the city streets, a countryside overrun with
deadly snakes and spiders, coastal waters teeming
with sharks, and urban settlements devoid of
modern comforts, medical care or cultural attractions.