The Sydney Fish Market (SFM) is a prime attraction for tourists visiting Australia. For the large and growing Chinese tourist cohort, it is a 'must see'. Tourists constitute a significant but unspecified proportion of SFM's 2.5 million-plus visitors each year. SFM has very limited market information about these visitors and what value they represent to their business - from both site-management and retail-outlet perspectives. The primary objective of this project is to help SFM develop a better understanding of its tourist visitor base in order to maximise returns for both SFM and its retailers. Currently, all-important information about this large consumer segment does not exist. Understanding this group's visitation motivation, purchase drivers and perceptions of its experience are key areas requiring further understanding if SFM is maximise the value of its business.

SFM is also in a unique position to support the salience of the Australian seafood industry as a whole. Recent research in the area of country-of-origin and tourism indicates that tourist visitation to a country can lead to improved preference and purchase probabilities for that country's products. Such an effect is found in the absence of specifically targeted marketing activities. Therefore, this project will also be framed in such a way as to determine how Australian seafood exporters can develop an effective pull-strategy by harnessing the potential of tourists, particularly from Asian countries such as China and Japan. As a must-see attraction for tourists SFM is a suitable conduit for testing the promotion of Australian seafood products to a large and valuable consumer cohort.

In summary, the two key overarching research objectives of this project, with particular interest in Chinese tourists, are:

1. To enable SFM to tailor effective marketing initiatives in order to enhance the tourists experience at the market, thereby leading to improved revenue and profit, including from sales of seafood products, for SFM and its retailers.

2. To guide the seafood industry in developing effective strategies to improve customer perceptions of Australian seafood. SFM provides an ideal conduit to reach these consumers.

Specific issues that this project attempts to address are:

1. What is the demographic composition of the visitor cohort (local, interstate and overseas) to SFM?
2 Which are the key drivers of tourists’ satisfaction at SFM?
3 Which initiatives can improve the tourists’ experience at the SFM?
4 Which initiatives with the tourist cohort can enhance revenue and profit for SFM and its retailers?
5 Which initiatives at SFM would enable SFM to serve as a conduit for informing and influencing consumers about Australian seafood?