The Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure industry is operating in an ever-changing landscape. Hospitality and food venues face intensifying pressure from online gambling and regulation, as well as a growing foodie culture, increasingly quality-conscious consumers, and the need to provide takeaway options to meet changing consumer trends.

Hotels and resorts can take advantage of increasing tourism activity and steady investment from global accommodation companies but will have to manage strong competition from serviced apartments and sharing economy platforms, while navigating away from an ownership structure towards management arrangements.

Within the sporting sector, the expansion of the AFL/AFLW, NRL/NRLW, Super Rugby, Big Bash, Super Netball and A-League has boosted the number of professional sports clubs, while private ownership of sporting clubs has increased due to growing sponsorship opportunities. Greater spectator sport participation, especially by women, is set to boost membership numbers for professional clubs. There has also been a heightened focus on the physical and financial health of the individual athlete following their sporting career, both by their club through the introduction of welfare programs, as well as by the players and their management. As such, demand for financial literacy programs and player education has increased.

Caravan parks, tourist parks, and holiday parks all operate in an industry that is highly fragmented, with most players being small in scale. The success of these operators is heavily reliant on tourism activity in Australia with domestic travellers making up the majority of guests.

As advisers and thought leaders, we are committed to assisting individuals and businesses in this sector to understand and respond to the changes and challenges.

How BDO can help

We have extensive knowledge and experience in supporting athletes, sports organisations, clubs, pubs, hotels, caravan parks, tourism operators, travel agents and casinos. By using our extensive industry knowledge and expertise, our industry experts can deliver tailored, timely, and pragmatic advice.

Our team provides specialist accounting and business advice, with a focus on:

• Assisting our clients to improve their day-to-day business performance
• Recommending and implementing operational efficiencies using benchmarking and data
• Understanding and meeting regulatory and compliance responsibilities
• Identifying and responding to critical issues
• Supporting individuals with financial literacy for greater commercial acumen.

We understand the need for sector businesses to have specialist, trusted advisers who understand the challenges they’re facing and are ready to help them maximise opportunities.