Background on the Melbourne Cup
Question:
Discuss about the Melbourne Cup Carnival Boosts Economy.
Australia is very popular country for its love of sports and these sports events include the Grand Prix, The Melbourne Cup, Australian Tennis Open etc. These events have attracted various visitors to Australian cities.
For this report, the chosen event is the Melbourne Cup that is one of the most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race of Australia.
The Melbourne Event is help for the purpose to bring entire population of Australia to a standstill. This is the reason that the Melbourne Cup day is declared as public holiday in the city.
The limitations of this event are that it is held on first Tuesday in November and there may be possibility that people are busy that day. Some of the people dislike this event as it hurts the horses.
The Melbourne Cup is the most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race of Australia that is held annually. It is a 3200 metre race for the horses of 3 years old or more and it is staged by the Victoria Racing Club on Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. It is held as the part of Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. This event is quality handicap race for the horses that is held at 3 pm on first Tuesday in November. The minimum handicap weight for this race is 50 kilograms. This event can be described under a quote, i.e. “the race, which stops the country” as it is a public holiday in the city and most of the people stop what they are doing before 3 pm to visit or listen to the race via internet, radio and television. The indirect quotation that can describe this racing event is “The faster you run, the sooner you are done” (McDowall, 2014).
It is a social and racial event that is profitable for host communities and attracting tourists to Melbourne. This is the major reason that it is in the category of Hallmark events. It has various positive effects on Australian economy as it contributed $374.2 million of gross economic profit to the state (Docherty, & Melia, 2015). The key stakeholders of this event are media and event partners, race sponsors, visitors, suppliers etc.
The first Melbourne Cup event was conducted on 7 November 1861 in which 17 horses contested racing for modest prize of 710 gold sovereigns’ cash and a gold watch. This first Melbourne Cup was held with 17 runners. The winner of first Melbourne Cup was a 16.3 hand bay stallion that John Cutts Rode. The name of this horse was Archer that has become the first horse to win the race two times in 1861 and 1862. In the year 1964, The Victoria Turf Club and Victoria Jockey Club merged to establish Victoria Racing Club. This club had taken the charges of all the processes (Melbourne Cup, 2018). Under this club, The Melbourne Cup gained more popularity and it has become a most popular and prestigious event of Australia.
The major aim and objective of Melbourne Cup is to provide an authentic racing experience with this exclusive Horse Racing tournament style event in Melbourne. This event aims to provide all that one needs to create an excellent evening’s entertainment. The Melbourne Cup Day is announced as a public holiday in Melbourne so that people can meet and develop their social relations (Getz, 2017). The organizers aim to enhance the community and economy of Australia. The organizers of event are able to meet this objective by providing a unique and better event experience to the visitors.
The Melbourne Cup’s significance to Australia
The Melbourne Cup is the event that brings Australia to a halt and it is the day when hosting a party or celebration is more than acceptable. There are various factors which are behind the success of Melbourne Cup in Australia. One of the major success factors behind The Melbourne Cup’s success is the support and sponsorships from well-established businesses. Emirates Airlines is one of the biggest examples for this. Lexus is another luxury car maker that took over the sponsorship of Melbourne Cup (Mahoney, et al. 2015). The location and timing of this event are also major factors behind its success. As it is a holiday for all the employees so most of the people are able to watch it either live or through TV and Radio. This is the major reason that this event is the most famous spectator event in Australia. At Melbourne Event, additional facilities and services such as food, drinks, sitting arrangement etc. are also better than other events. Marketing and promotion also play an important role in success of this event (Getz & Page, 2016).
Apart from this, the event may face some issues such as people have started to dislike this event. The people in Australia found that many of the horses die due to stress and heart attacks after the race. They think that animals are forced to their limits for human entertainment. It can reduce the visitor base to Melbourne Cup event in Australia. Furthermore, now Emirates Airlines is planning to wind up its long term sponsorship with Melbourne Cup. It will have adverse impact on event’s finance and promotion (Jones, 2014).
Marketing is the most important process to approach the population all over the world. The Melbourne Cup is marketed through internet and e-commerce. It is the best platform for reaching to the customers globally. To promote this event, marketers have used both traditional and online advertising media. The marketing of this event is done on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. There are various businesses, which are promoting their business through this event (Shin, Lee & Perdue, 2018). They are giving Facebook ads to promote their firm in lead-up of Melbourne Cup event by offering new and discounted deals. Under traditional media, the marketers are advertising and promoting this event through regional newspapers, television ads, magazines etc. This marketing is aimed at race lovers, youngsters, business professionals etc. In addition to this, the event organizes different competitions such as fashion competition that attracts female segment towards this event. Tickets, hospitality and dining offerings are available through the website Flemington.com.au. (VRC Staff, 2015). However, the marketers are making various efforts to market this event, but it is not enough for this prestigious event of Australia. They should expand their marketing and advertising activities (Masterman, 2014).
Each and every event has some positive or negative impacts on a country’s community financially, culturally and environmentally. Victoria Racing Club has focused majorly on environment and sustainable initiatives, while holding this event. These initiatives are successful and they have a positive impact on environment in Melbourne. It has developed various initiatives like Flemington Green Fields that intended to attain highest standards in venue and event management, providing tangible reductions to the environmental effect of Melbourne Cup event’s operations (Flamington, 2018).
The Melbourne Cup’s positive impacts on the Australian economy and community
In the state, most of the human resource managers reported that hosting the sports event enhances employee engagement. Melbourne Racing event has a positive effect on the morale of employees and increases loyalty among employees. In addition to this, this event has boosted the overall economy of Australia. The financial impact of this event can be analyzed from the fact that number of North American people has increased continuously (Banger, 2018). Their attendance has been doubled in the year 2017 from the last year. This event has contributed $374.2 million of gross economic profit to Melbourne state that was more than previous year (VRC Staff, 2015). The people from all over the world are arriving to Melbourne to visit this event that has a positive cultural event on Melbourne’s community. They are learning about each other’s culture and language. Thus, the event has positive impact on economy, community and businesses of Melbourne.
Conclusion
In the limelight of above report, it can be concluded that Melbourne Cup has increased the tourism in Melbourne, Australia. Every year in Melbourne, on first Tuesday in November horses race for this event and the entire nation stops for three and half minutes. This event is very profitable for both the community and economy of the Australia. Melbourne Cup is a racing event that is promoting various businesses in the state. These companies are offering food products and drinks to the visitors of this horse racing event. There are various businesses and companies, which are sponsoring this event. It is hereby concluded that Melbourne Cup is the richest handicap race in the world that is improving the social and economic state of Australian community. The marketers are using different modes of advertising to promote this event. It impacts the Australian community both socially and culturally.
It is hereby recommended that marketers of Melbourne Cup should focus on its marketing process. Currently, the club is using both traditional and online media of advertising. The marketers should expand its marketing activities by providing offers and discounts on tickets. They should provide a combo pack that should include all things like ticket, hospitality and dining. It will assist them in attracting more visitors to the most-happening event, i.e. Melbourne Cup. There are various people, who are very concerned about environment and animals. To deal with the future issues, the event organizers should emphasize on the health of horses which are participating in this event. In this way, the people may have better event experience in Melbourne.
References
Banger, M. (2018). More Americans attending the Melbourne Cup. Retrieved from https://www.bordermail.com.au/story/5203834/more-americans-attending-the-melbourne-cup/. (Accessed on 17 March 2018).
Docherty, P., & Melia, A. (2015). The race that stops the equity market. Applied Economics Letters, 22(14), 1179-1183.
Flamington. (2018). Sustainability Initiatives. Retrieved from https://www.flemington.com.au/about-us/sustainability-initiatives. (Accessed on 17 March 2018).
Getz, D. (2017). Developing a Framework for Sustainable Event Cities. Event Management, 21(5), 575-591.
Getz, D., & Page, S. J. (2016). Progress and prospects for event tourism research. Tourism Management, 52, 593-631.
Jones, M. (2014). Sustainable event management: A practical guide. 3rd Edition. UK. Routledge.
Mahoney, K. L., Esckilsen, L. A., Jeralds, A., & Camp, S. (2015). Public assembly venue management: Sports, entertainment, meeting, and convention venues. Brown Books Publishing Group.
Masterman, G. (2014). Strategic sports event management. 3rd Edition, pp. 320-321. UK. Routledge.
McDowall, C. (2014). Melbourne Cup – The Race That Stops The Nation In Its Tracks. Retrieved from https://www.thecultureconcept.com/melbourne-cup-the-race-that-stops-the-nation-in-its-tracks. (Accessed on 17 March 2018).
Melbourne Cup. (2018). Melbourne Cup Carnival | Victoria Racing Club. Retrieved from https://www.flemington.com.au/melbournecupcarnival. (Accessed on 17 March 2018).
Shin, H., Lee, H., & Perdue, R. R. (2018). The congruity effects of commercial brand sponsorship in a regional event. Tourism Management, 67, 168-179.
VRC Staff. (2015). Melbourne Cup Carnival boosts economy. Retrieved from https://www.flemington.com.au/news/2015-03-18/melbourne-cup-carnival-boosts-economy. (Accessed on 17 March 2018).
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