Contemporary Issues in Travel and Tourism: A Comprehensive Analysis

Contemporary issues in TT
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
Considering the changes in the last two decades in Travel and Tourism sector, identify and
analyse the factors that have driven this change and give at least two examples how
destinations have been impacted by these changes and issues....................................................2
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................5
Evaluate and discuss the emerging trends that are influencing change in the travel and tourism
sector and analyse how these trends affect the chosen destination in terms of tourism product
and service offerings such as attractions and accommodations...................................................5
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
Choose a travel and tourism organisation and analyse how the organisation has responded to
the emerging trends in order to meet the changing pattern of customer requirements. Explain
what you would recommend and develop strategy as well as justify how they would respond to
change..........................................................................................................................................9
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................17
There are many businesses in Travel and Tourism that have been slow in changing and
adopting with the current business environment. Analyse how those (refer to task 3) businesses
have been impacted and discuss what would you recommend to them to do in the future in
order to cope with the consequences of business failures to respond to the changing market
trends..........................................................................................................................................17
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................20

Introduction
Travel and tourism industry is the largest industry in the world and last ten years were the
changing factors in the growth of the industry. As tourism industry is growing, competition in
the industry is rising which has made the tourism industry a highly competitive market. During
the growth process, tourism industry is facing lots of changes and it is the prime responsibility of
the tourism organisations to develop strategies according to these changes in the market. Tourism
industry is now a global industry and many tour operators like Thomas Cook and TUI are spread
across different regions around the globe. However, competition is one of the main driving
factors in the tourism industry, there are also some other changes such as economic changes,
political stability, use of technology, global warming and increasing pollution that have negative
impacts on tourism business. This report would analyse these trends and challenges concerned
with the tourism industry using the examples of various tourism destinations such as Scotland,
USA Africa, Middle East and other emerging markets.
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Task 1
Considering the changes in the last two decades in Travel and Tourism sector,
identify and analyse the factors that have driven this change and give at least two
examples how destinations have been impacted by these changes and issues.
Scotland is one of the famous tourist destinations across the world. It is the nethermost country
in UK that has received more than 15 million tourists in 2017.
Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are the cities which are included in many tourism packages
offered by the tour operators. The driving changes in the tourism industry are analysed below
considering Scotland, Middle East and Africa as the tourist destination
1. Globalisation
Globalisation is one of the most talked terms in the tourism industry. There are many factors that
have helped the tourism industry in becoming a global industry such as use of latest technology,
expansion strategies of the tourism organisations, political focus on the industry.
Out of the 15 million tourists that visited Scotland in 2017, 67% were foreign tourists that
explain the importance of Scotland as in international tourism destination (Farmaki, 2017).
Because of the technological advances, tour operators like TUI and Thomas Cook now offers
their services in more than 190 countries (Chenoweth, 2012). The online marketing, e-
commerce, information gathering and analysis are some of the elements of the technological
advances in the tourism industry. International airlines have contributed a lot in the globalisation
of the tourism industry. Since Scotland is an important tourism destination, international airlines
offer economic as well as luxury travel depending on the spending power of the customers.
Another important factor behind the globalisation is the integration in the tourism business. For
example, Thomas Cook has acquired many other small tour operators in the process of expansion
known as Horizontal Integration (Grimwade and Carter, 2016). Thomas Cook has also bought
many other organisations which are below the level of the company in the supply chain. This
includes acquisition of the hotels, travel agencies and transport providers which is known as
Vertical Integration.
But globalisation of the tourism industry comes with some negative elements. The carrying
capacity of the famous tourist destinations like Scotland is not able to sustain the high inflow of
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the tourists in the country. Because of Over-tourism, overcrowding and congestion along with
pollution are some of the biggest challenges that tourism industry in Scotland is facing.
2. Cultural issues
When there is overcrowding of the tourists, preserving the local culture has become one of the
biggest concerns of the country. Scotland is a country which is known for its heritage sites and
historic culture. But as tourism activities increases in the region, commercialisation of the local
culture has happened in Scotland. Instead of protecting the heritage sites, tourism organisations
have made significant changes at these sites which have resulted in the exploitation of the
centuries old culture of the country (Lennon, 2013). Social changes have also happened in
Scotland because of the tourism activities. Instead of traditional cultural events, customised
events are organised by the tourism organisations to fulfil the needs and demands of the tourists
which is a big threat for the society.
3. Environmental issues
Whenever there is an exponential growth of tourism activities in a specific region, the
environment is affected greatly because of this. The flow of foreign tourists in Scotland has
exceeded the carrying capacity of the country. Because of the overcrowding, the natural
resources of the country are exploited to the maximum extent.
The numbers of vehicles in Scotland have increased a lot in the last decade which is one of the
biggest threats to the environment. Increased number of vehicles results in an environment which
is full of pollutants such as CO2 and CO (Lockwood and Medlik, 2015). The level of PM 2.5 is
another problem caused by the increased number of transport vehicles in Scotland.
4. Political Stability and Terrorism
When it comes to international tourism, political stability and policies of the governments of the
countries become important factors. The latest trends in the tourism industry shows that inflow
of tourists in the countries such as Middle East and Africa has decreased a lot in the last decade
because of the political instability and terrorism in these countries
Lybia, Iraq, Kuwait and Syria are some of the Middle East countries that are affected greatly by
the terror activities. There are no stable government in these countries which has affected the
policy making in these countries. Absence of concrete foreign policy, visa policy and tourism
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policy has resulted in decreased flow of tourists. Governments of other countries like UK and
USA issues advisories to their people about the bad conditions in these countries and asks them
not to visit these countries. The percentage of inflow tourism decrease in Syria is shown in the
below table:
Year Decrease in foreign tourists visiting Syria
2014 13%
2015 14.7%
2016 17.2%
2017 27%
Table 1: Tourist Trends (Farmaki, 2017)
Above table shows a consistent drop in the number of tourists visiting Syria in last 4 years.
Hence, it could be concluded that stable government and peace is an essential element of global
tourism industry.
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