Current Trends in Travel and Tourism Sector

This presentation discusses the current trends in the travel and tourism sector, including the use of mobile applications for booking and the impact of emerging trends on customer perception. It explores the opportunities in niche tourism, with a focus on eco-tourism and urban tourism in the UK. The presentation also analyzes the growing popularity of dark tourism and provides strategies for promoting dark sites to attract more customers.

Contemporary Issue
TASK 2

2.1 Evaluating current trends influencing
the change in the travel and tourism sector
It has been identified that there are large number of recent
developments in travel and tourism sector that furnish sustainable
opportunities of growth and progress. Further, there are significant
number of trends that must be adopted by entities to stay ahead of their
rivals. Perception of customers also get impacted due to emerging trends
in hospitality industry. The major trend in present day is use of mobile
applications for booking of holiday package and informing customers
about new offers etc.

Contd...
It assist company to target client in easy way and meet their
satisfaction level. With the help of niche marketing, organizations in
the industry are attracting travellers through peculiar tourism package
which are provided to tourists regarding some specific activity.
Development can be attained by concentration on emerging trends
within UK tourism sector.

Continue..
It has been identified from several surveys, that there are wide
range of emerging trends that should be focused on organizations while
operating business in UK travel and tourism sector. Eco-tourism is
considered as one of the prime section in present-day market conditions.
The travellers prefer those locations that are covered with greenery,
natural beauty, wildlife etc. The main objective of this type of tourism is
to increase concern among travellers regarding environment and
stimulate them to take measures to safeguard it.

Eco tourism

Continue..
There is trend of urban tourism, which enable the customer to visit
pubs, disco, restaurants etc. to get involved in leisure activities. The
famous city of UK, London is prime attraction point of international
travellers. It is also listed among top destination of world. As per the
ONS reports, London attracts 15 million customers every year. In
2015, the city welcomed 17.4 million international tourist. They
further help in boosting the UK economy by £11.8 billion.

Continue..
There is trend of urban tourism, which enable customer to visit
pubs, disco, restaurants etc. to get involved in leisure activities. The
famous city of UK, London is prime attraction point of international
travellers. It is also listed among top destination of world. As per the
ONS reports, London attracts 15 million customers every year. In
2015, the city welcomed 17.4 million international tourist. They
further help in boosting the UK economy by £11.8 billion.

Past records of leading destination
London

Recent Statistics.
Recent statistics reveals that almost £30 billion were
spend by travellers on urban areas. Furthermore, from the
survey of Office for National Statistics, it has been
identified that around 34.4 million individuals visited UK
in 2014. The expenditure level of the visitors is also
increasing which is directly helping the economy of
Nation. Therefore, £21.8 billion money was spent by visitors during
their visit to UK.

2.2 Analysis of a current trend using
appropriate techniques
It has been identified that there are ample number of opportunities
that are present in travel and tourism sector. To take advantage of this,
various tactics are adopted by travel and tourism entities at present.
Therefore, they are focusing on niche tourism which provide ample
number of possibilities for growth and profit making. Niche tourism
refers to the way in which a particular tourism product is customized to
meet the emerging requirements of particular customers.
According to the present studies, the major growing niche market in
current scenario are, Eco-tourism, cultural tourism, Adventure tourism,
slum tourism, dark backpacking etc.

Contd...
To facilitate the study, emphasis can be given on Dark tourism which
is gaining much popularity in present times.
Dark tourism refers to travelling to those historic places which are
connected with grief, tragedy, disaster and death.
Dark tourism drives those individuals that have special interest in
visiting, cemeteries, battle field, graveyards, prisons and sites of genocide
etc.
There are large number of such destinations present in UK which attract
the travellers interested in dark sites. The example of such destinations
are, tower of London, Jack the Ripper tour, Highgate cemetery, Bart’s
Pathology Museum, holocaust museum etc.

Contd...
Further, to enhance the study, research has been conducted from visitors to
identify why dark destinations are gaining popularity. For this aspect,
information is gathered from secondary sources such as published reports on
internet, magazines newspaper article, etc. It has been identified from the study
that around 15 million visitors arrive every year to London. There are 10 leading
dark sites in London which are centre of attraction these days. The Tower of
London is one such site.
As per the records of ONS, more than 5 million people visited Tower of
London in 2014. The popularity of other dark destination in Uk is also
increasing gradually.

Contd...
Therefore, it is viable for the organization to increase the
promotion of such sites so as to attract maximum number
of customers. This will also help in meeting emerging
needs of customers to experience thrill, adventure and
connect with the history. Therefore, marketing can be done
through online and offline channels which will increase the
footfalls of customers towards dark sites.

References
Tourism trends. 2014. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.visitbritain.org/inbound-tourism-
trends>. [Accessed on: 2nd June 2016].
Tourism Statistics. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.tourismalliance.com/downloads/TA_369_395.pdf>. [Accessed on: 2nd June 2016].
Tourism Statistics. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.tourismalliance.com/downloads/TA_369_395.pdf>. [Accessed on: 2nd June 2016].
Ritchie, J. B., 2011. Tourism experience management research: Emergence, evolution and future
directions. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 23(4). pp.419 –
438.