Analyzing Tourist Destination Choice: A Comprehensive Study

This assignment requires students to analyze seven given research papers on various aspects of tourist destination choice, including social networks, website quality, slum tourism, loyalty, motivations, branding, perceived value, cultural influences, and internal stakeholders. Students should synthesize and interpret the findings from these papers to develop a thorough understanding of how tourists make their destination choices.

Tourist Destinations

Table of Contents
Tourist Destinations................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Analyse main tourist destination and generate the world in term of visitor numbers and
income generation..................................................................................................................1
1.2 Statistics to determine tourism destinations trends and predict future needs of UK........3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Cultural, Social and physical features of tourist destinations...........................................5
2.2 Compare features of developing and leading tourist destination.....................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
Covered in PPT.......................................................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Issues that affect popularity of tourist destinations..........................................................8
4.2 Potential for responsible tourism to enhance host community at worldwide...................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is one of the major supportive element for the growth and development of
economy. It includes traveling or visiting some new place for recreation, profession or any other
casual reason. In the past 4-5 years, tourism sector has experienced a remarkable growth due to
improvement in technology, mode of transport and government efforts to promote tourism.
Today, there are various countries who are counted as one of the best tourist destinations of the
world out of which one the most popular country that is popular for its rich cultural heritage is
Europe. Virgin Holidays Limited is one of the largest and one of the most successful tour
operator brand with its headquarters in VHQ in Crawley, West Sussex (Capone ed., 2015). It
offers holiday packages at worldwide tourist destinations including the USA and Canada, the
Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, India, the Indian Ocean, the Far East, Australia and the
South Pacific. This project undertakes a study about the most famous tourist destinations of UK
along with different cultural, social and physical features which need to be understood by
company. In addition to, it also analyses about the various issues that impact the popularity of a
destination, income generation modes of these destinations and a prediction of future trends.
TASK 1
1.1 Analyse main tourist destination and generate the world in term of visitor numbers and
income generation
From last some years, it has been seen with the change in the trends of market and
environment there has been a considerable change in the tour and travel industry. With the span
of time there has been a noticeable rise in the tourism sector of UK. It has been seen that some of
the destinations of UK such as Italy, France and Spain is counted in the world's best tourist
destinations generating higher income and revenues for the country (Chen and Phou, 2013).
According to statistics in 2017, almost 40 million people visited UK which is high as compared
to 2016 indicating the rising popularity of UK as tourist’s destination. This has aided the nation
in providing a hike in employment opportunities, leading to increase in education as well as in
the living standard of people. Today, UK is counted in one of the best service providing country
in tourism.

Most of the countries started giving more importance to tourism sector after the recession
of 2009. This sector is has generated significant number of jobs in last decade and various nation
are earning high amount of revenue from this industry. There are basically two types of tourists,
one is domestic and other is international. According to the figures of UNESCO, this tourism
economy is growing to touch 200 billion GBP before 2020.
Issues France UK China Spain USA
Contribution
in economy
Europe is the
most favoured
nation by most
of the travellers.
All around the
globe, people
come to visit
France which is
again the highest
in terms of
income received
from tourism.
Due to downfall
in economy,
UK has faced
rough time but
still, it has used
its tourism
sector that
provides an
income of £
61.9 billion to
the country.
Preference of
tourism
sector is
known
worldwide.
Industry
contributes ¥
1620 billion
to economy
which means
they share
around 2.6%.
Spain being
the highest in
sports has
emerged as the
most
successful in
tourism sector
thus
contributing
161 billion
euro in the
economy.
In USA, 3%
contribution
on the total
economy,
with a
percentage of
0.8 before
2025.

Number of
visitors
Country
experience
millions of
visitors every
year. As per
statistics,
almost 60
million of
people visit
country and
cost 1276.53
expenditure to
average
person.
Number of
visitors every
year to this
particular
country is
36.115 million
and average
cost is 246.1
pound per
thousand
segment.
Expenditure in
the year 2015
was about
39.88 per 100
visitors for
this country.
Amount of
travellers in
this country is
32 million and
average
expenditure is
about 1415.52
per person.
In USA, 60
million
travellers were
reported in the
year 2015 with
an expenditure
amount of 734
per 1000
person.
Prime tourist
destination
Eiffel tower,
French
Riviera, Viex-
port.
Buckingham
Palace, Royal
mile shops,
Kelvingrove
gallery.
Forbidden
city, Karst
hills,
Tiananmen
square
Gaudi
building,
Royal Palace,
Prado
museum.
State of
Liberty,
Hollywood,
Zion national
park.
1.2 Statistics to determine tourism destinations trends and predict future needs of UK
In the recent years there has been substantial rise in the tourism industry worldwide
which has significantly contributes in the GDP of the world economy. There are various factors
responsible for this significant hike like efforts of various governments for minimizing cross
country restrictions, improvement in transportation facility, cross nation collaborations besides
social, cultural plus physical features related to a particular destination and so on that has led to
promotion and an increase in tourists foot fall. Various factors adding on to people's criteria for
selecting a spot are economic condition, currency rates, social factors and many more out of

physical condition is the most important element that capture attention of an individual towards
a place.
Besides France, other two most famous tourist destinations are United States and United
Kingdom which are having various famous tourists’ destination and spots that attract the visitors
towards these countries (Cole, 2012). For the purpose of explaining the factors and appeal made
by the tourist destinations, UK who is considered as one of the most popular tourist destination
has been selected. Statistics associated with recent time of United Kingdom is mentioned below
which shows the increase and decrease in the no of visitors from last 10 years.
Years Number of
Visitors (m)
Spend £ (bn) Average spend
per visit
Average
nights per
visit
International
balance of
payments £
(bn)
2008 30.254 £16.25 541 7.7 -£20.202
2009 29.256 £16.854 582 7.5 -£15.236
2010 29.684 £17.0125 593 7.2 -£15.203
2011 31.112 £16.450 648 6.8 -£14.320
2012 31.152 £18.201 659 6.3 -£13.225
2013 32.259 £20.140 671 6.8 -£13.502
2014 35.001 £21.223 690 7.7 -£13.658
2015 35.149 £22.36 600 7.2 -£13.102
2016 36.224 £24.001 625 7.6 -£13.331
2017 38.129 £25.20 691 7.5 -£13.051
(Source: Trends in tourism of UK over the last 10 years)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
2040
2050
2060
Number of Visitors (m)
Years
Illustration 1: Trends in tourism of UK over the last 10 years
(Source: Trends in tourism of UK over the last 10 years)
Considering the last 10 years data it can be seen that on an average there is a continuous
increase in the visitors apart from some years that shows some decline in tourists. Hence, it can
be concluded that the tourist industry of UK is enhancing on regular basis resulting in a
substantial increase in visitor’s numbers leading to a rise in nation's GDP which will help in
providing more employment opportunities for people.
TASK 2
2.1 Cultural, Social and physical features of tourist destinations
Each destination has its own culture, social as well as physical features which aid to
attract attention of numerous people towards them. London is one of the favourite tourist
destinations of UK which is famous for its rich cultural heritage and for many other tourist
attractions like the Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and many more to add on.
Every place is unique in its social, cultural and physical features which captures the attention of
the visitors.
Following are mentioned some places along with their features that attract visitors
towards them:-

Tourist
destinations
UK Italy Russia
Cultural United Kingdom is famous for
its rich cultural heritage.
London being the most popular
city is popular for various
tourist attractions like The Big
Ben, The British Museum and
many more (Fernández-Cavia
and et.al., 2014). UK has a
perfect blend of Ancient
cultural heritage like Roman
Castles, Cathedrals as well as
modern architecture and tourists
spots like The Hyde Park, Kew
Garden etc.
After France it is the most
visited tourist destination.
The most prominent
reason contributing to it is
the attractive cultural
facets and heritage having
beautiful artistic
frameworks which allure
numerous people towards
them.
Russia is known for its
culture and heritage
which is a perfect
combination of literature,
architecture, painting,
music and philosophy. It
has numerous attractive
churches and museums
that capture the attention
of visitors.
Social When it comes to society the
people of United Kingdom
tends to have a vast acceptance
for the different cultures and
religions.
The prominent feature of
Italian society is they
deeply focus on
relationships and
socialization. They are
very straightforward,
traditional and family
oriented people.
Russian are very
reserved people and
authoritarian. Russians
love culture and are very
proud of their own. They
are overwhelmingly
hospitable.
Physical There are various destinations
in United Kingdom that are very
famous and capture the
attention of tourists such as The
Eden Project, Holkham Bay,
Italy has more than 25
international airports
which serve as an easy
and fast mode of
connectivity for the
The attractive physical
feature of Russia is its
landscapes, beaches and
natural beauty that attract
an individual to visit

Shakespeare's Globe, The Isle
of Skye, The Backs, Edinburgh,
and Torquay.
people (Pandža Bajs,
2015).
Russia.
2.2 Compare features of developing and leading tourist destination
Virgin Holidays analyses all the features of both the leading destinations like UK as well
as rapidly developing destination like Russia so that adequate strategies related to tour packages,
places to visit etc. can be framed (Frenzel, Koens and Steinbrink eds., 2012). By comparing
various aspects of different tourist destinations, it becomes easy to select the place to be visited
according to the nature and preference of the tourists. For instance, for a student prospective
developing tourist destination is appropriate but when it comes to spending time with family,
people will opt for leading tourist destinations. Mentioned below is the comparative study of
leading destination and developing destination:-
Leading destination UK Developing destination Russia
United Kingdom is the ultimate destination for
someone who is looking for the alliance of
traditional heritage with the modern art facets. UK
is the home of 31 UNESCO world heritage sites
which includes Giant's Causeway and Causeway
Coast and many more (Hultman and et.al., 2015).
There are different ancient museums and art
galleries that are the epitome of fine artistic
designs.
From last few years, Russia is emerging as a
tourist destination because of its vast culture
and heritage. Russian culture is a perfect
blend of arts, architecture, music, ballet and
painting that attracts the tourists. According to
statistical data, more than 50 million tourist
visited Russia in 2013. Apart from its art and
culture the attractive beaches and cuisines
also are the prominent features that gain
attention of people.
In United Kingdom, it has beautiful places such as
mountains and hills, rivers and lakes, which are
famous spot for tourism and attract many tourists.
Russia has massive coniferous forests,
mountain ranges, beautiful rivers and
landscapes. These seek attention of many
visitors.

TASK 3
Covered in PPT.
TASK 4
4.1 Issues that affect popularity of tourist destinations
Sometimes, unexpected issue or problem arises which affects the popularity of tourist
spots. These issues are mentioned below:
Change in climate conditions: The climatic condition of various countries differ from
place to place which significantly effects the arrival of tourists as there might be difference of
climatic and weather of the visitors as compared to home country. Hence, this factor needs to be
kept in mind by the tour and travelling operator.
Political issues: Political stability of a nation plays a major role in developing that nation
as a tourist destination (Oliveira and Panyik, 2015.). Countries like Pakistan where there is
political instability and issue like terrorism are generally avoided by the tourists because of the
violence.
Tourism trends: Tourism trends play a major role in determining the popularity of the
place. Different tourists have different preference like some are interested in visiting heritage
while other might be interested in landscapes and nature beauty. Thus, it a one of the important
deciding factor as people visit those places wherein they have some interest.
4.2 Potential for responsible tourism to enhance host community at worldwide
Importance of responsible tourism
This is crucial to limit various constraints which can affects the country's tourism industry and
this would further affect the economy as well. In addition to this, it is required to form
favourable environment. However, there is also need to reduce the impacts of other factors such
as social and other factors so that the the cited industry could grow effectively.
This can be said that there are various firms in the UK which carry their operations by
compiling all the norms and regulations that are applicable to them. Virgin Holidays are one of
the travel company which have their operations in UK (Oppewal, Huybers and Crouch, 2015).
Although, there are various kinds of activities which are linked with tourist as they requires to

limit the harmful effect of travellers on the culture and economy as well.
CONCLUSION
The above assignment undertaken concludes that tourism sector is rapidly moving in a
forward direction with the support of famous travelling destinations. There are various factors
which appeal people to visit different places. With the span of time developing countries like
Russia are also getting opportunity of being famous tourist destinations as these nations are
unexplored so travellers like to visit these locations which help them to emerge as a trendy
tourist destination global tourism market. Virgin Holiday is one of the famous tour operating
company which provide attractive holiday packages to their customers. Tourism serves as major
factor in generating employment opportunities for local people and make countries economically
strong and stable.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
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and empirical evidences (Vol. 14). Routledge.
Chen, C. F. and Phou, S., 2013. A closer look at destination: Image, personality, relationship and
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Cole, S., 2012. Synergy and congestion in the tourist destination life cycle. Tourism
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(Vol. 32). Routledge.
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pp.467-476.
Pandža Bajs, I., 2015. Tourist perceived value, relationship to satisfaction, and behavioral
intentions: The example of the Croatian tourist destination Dubrovnik. Journal of Travel
Research. 54(1). pp.122-134.
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Rodríguez-Molina, M. A., Frías-Jamilena, D. M. and Castañeda-García, J. A., 2015. The
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