Global Travel and Tourism: Pattern and Trends

This report discusses the key historical developments in the global travel and tourism industry and explores the emerging patterns and trends. It also examines the factors influencing tourists' behavior and the interrelationship between different elements of the industry. The report focuses on the significance of these patterns and trends in the development of the industry globally.

Global Travel and Tourism
Pattern and Trends
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Key historical developments and ways in which they shaped global travel & tourism industry
.....................................................................................................................................................3
Different elements of travel & tourism industry and their interrelation.....................................3
Inter relationship between elements and affects on each other...................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Tourism influencing factors........................................................................................................4
Factors underpinning tourists behaviour.....................................................................................5
Motivation models influencing tourists......................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
Recent emerging patterns and trends..........................................................................................6
Significance of patterns to development of industry globally....................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
Factors affecting popularity of global destinations.....................................................................7
Factors for different destinations and their level of importance.................................................7
Link between key drivers of tourists behaviour..........................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
In today's sophisticated market travel and tourism is a rapidly growing industry.
Individuals in today's era are equally interested in work and adventure which is giving more
scope of growth for tourism industry (Jiménez-Guerrero, and et. al, 2019). It is often included
into luxurious services which are provided by various organisations throughout the world. There
are a number of different services included in this sector that are travel, accommodation,
amusement parks, food safety management and so on. In the following report a brief discussion
on key historical developments on travel and tourism is conducted which have helped in shaping
global travel and tourism sector. The report also consists of global marketing strategy for Alton
towers which is a theme park and resort in Staffordshire, England. The report also focuses on
different factors and elements that are important for a tourism destination along with these the
inter relationship between different elements are discussed. In order to successfully set up a
tourism destination it is necessary to focus upon ways in which tourists behaviour can be
moulded towards destination.
TASK 1
Key historical developments and ways in which they shaped global travel & tourism industry
“According to united Nations World Tourism Organisation, 2008, Tourism refers to a
social, cultural and economic phenomenon which is entailing a movement of people to the
countries or places that are outside and external to their regular environment for various
professional or personal purposes. These people are called tourists or visitors. Tourism refers to
the activities they are undertaking during these trips which then imply to some tourism
expenditure.”
Travel for the purpose of leisure have evolved dramatically. In ancient times the ability to
travel was only a leisure available for the royals and upper class pople. From the ancient times
through 17th century young men have encouraged travelling through Europe known as “grand
tour”. Through various Middle Ages there were a number of societies who have developed
practising tourism to various pilgrimages. The word hospitality was used after the word tourism
that was developed in 14th century. However the word tourist then appeared in the year 1772.
these words basically represent circling away from home and then returning after some period of
time.
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Cox & Kings was the first travel agency founded in 1758 when Richard Cox started
working as the official travel agent for British Royal Armed Forces. After 100 years of this
Thomas Cook opened his industry for commercial packaged tours. Emergence of rail travel, auto
travel in 1886 and commercial flights in 1952 have led to great development in travel and
tourism sector (Tan and et. al., 2017). There were also creation of a number of different club
holiday destinations which are now included in resorts. The decade after this have been a very
significant period for development of of tourism as a number of different tourism industry were
introduced along with various new destinations for holidaying.
However, the growth of industry was interrupted a number of times such as World War I,
World War II and so on. Technological shift was then seen in industry from 2000's. Online
booking services have now totally changed the shape of tourism industry making it more
convenient and satisfying for travellers. Exploration of impact of online market place and various
global trends in tourism are far reaching now.
Different elements of travel & tourism industry and their interrelation
There are a number of different elements involved in travel and tourism industry. These
elements includes transportation, accommodation, food & beverages, entertainment and other
connected industries. A number of factors are included in travel and tourism and also all these
factors are interrelated. Below mentioned are discrete roles of these elements and their
interrelationship with other elements:
Hospitality sector: Hospitality sector is one of the major element in tourism. It includes
accommodations of the tourists. These are related to food services and entertainment as there are
a number of hotels, lodges etc. which are providing food services in their personalised
restaurants. They also have a number of activities for leisure and entertainment such as spa,
swimming pools and so on. Transportation is also facilitated by a number of accommodation
providing organisations. Huge hotels and resorts provide their guests with facilities of travel to
destinations and pickup & drop to airports and so on.
Transportation sector: Transportation sector can be related to food and beverage sector
as railways and air planes now provide their travellers with an option to dine in while travelling
(Fereidouni and Kawa, 2019). They also provide a number of things to keep their guests
entertained during their travel such as music, movie, games and so on. In this way the
transportation sector cannot perform alone and they require huge support from other
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departments. Transportation and travel sector is also collaborating with accommodation as a
number of overnight trains and flights provide facilities to sleep and stay for the travellers.
Food & Beverages: Food and beverage is dependent upon accommodation. The
restaurants and bars are usually set up near destinations and places where people come to stay or
get entertained. There locations are dependent upon the locations of other elements of tourism. If
focus on their location is not paid by the organisations it may lead to losses for the element.
In this way it can be determined that all the different elements of tourism are interrelated.
In order to make a tourist destination successful it is necessary for a developer or organisation to
focus on all these elements simultaneously. They should learn to play by strengths of one
element that will help in making other elements successful along with it. It is difficult for a single
element to operate on their own as the requirement of tourists are increasing and they have a
number of options for tourism available.
Inter relationship between elements and affects on each other
All these elements are inter related and inter linked. It is often seen that a weakness in
one of these elements is directly of indirectly affecting other which then leads to negative effect
on overall tourist experience (Gabor and Oltean, 2019). Examples can be taken where people are
booking their hotels or accommodation online. It is often seen that the pictures present online are
different from that in real. This might negatively affect the hotel's reputation and tourists might
not try food and beverages in their restaurants. Similarly if a tourist is facing problems while
travelling to a destination due to poor services of airline it will affect the image of destination
and can lead to decline in number of tourists.
It is also seen that there are a number of flights and railways that are running overnight, if
these do not provide proper accommodation services to the travellers then the foot falls in these
transportation services might decrease. This proves that weakness in accommodation element
will lead to downfall of the transportation element in total.
TASK 2
Tourism influencing factors
The factors that are afflicting tourists behaviour can be divided into three different
divisions which are mentioned below:
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 The first is personal factors which includes the self-image, personality, life style of an
individual, age, profession, family life style and so on. These are depending upon
interests of individuals and this are not affected by any other factor.
 The second includes Social factors which takes into consideration family, culture, social
class as well as reference group. It usually depends upon the society in which an
individual is living. The external environment and surrounding in which one is growing
highly affects these factors.
 The third factors are the situational factors that are majorly consisting of state of mind,
the social ambience and physical ambience of an individual. It is neither dependent upon
individual nor upon the society. It cannot be judged or pre determined as it is situational.
Factors underpinning tourists behaviour
All these three factors are greatly influencing consumer decision making process. When
considering personal factors of an individual it greatly depends on these factors to what
destinations are they choosing (Vargas-Sánchez and Moral-Moral, 2019). Examples can be taken
such as an individual travelling with family and children will choose amusement parks and zoo
instead of surfing or trekking trips. Similarly one who is interested in ancient crafts and culture
will visit to places like places, museums and historical monuments rather than shopping streets.
When considering social factors the culture and family believes of individual also shape
their tourism decision making. Examples can be taken such as someone travelling with a group
of friends will travel to places such as amusement parks or shopping centres. If one's culture is
inclined towards religion they would prefer to travel in places like St. Albans Cathedral, Shrine
to Minerva, Bath and so on.
The third factor that are Situational factors are also influencing a tourists behaviour
while they are choosing their tourists destination. Examples can be taken such as a physically
unfit person will not choose a trip where they have to travel more or the air pressure are low such
as mountains. Similarly one who is hydrophobic will not choose to go on beaches or on cruise.
These are various factors that are affecting the decision making behaviour of tourists
before they are choosing a destination. The impact of decision making process is directly seen
on the destinations and number of tourists visiting those destinations.
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Motivation models influencing tourists
Maslow's need hierarchy theory for motivation can be applied on tourists as well. The
first is physiological need of every traveller that is food, shelter and water that must be fulfilled
at every destination. Safety issues is the second need and the visitors are required to understand
that the destination is safe for them to travel to. Social belonging is the third need in which
travellers can expect to develop bonds with their families and friend while they travel or even
develop good relationship with local communities. Self-esteem is the fourth need where people
travel to impress their family friends etc. gain higher social status. The last need is Self-
actualisation in which tourists wish to evolve their personality and learn new things while
travelling. Adventure sports and activities can be included into this (Ateljevic, 2020). In this way
the model of motivation can be applied on tourist in order to motivate them to travel.
TASK 3
Recent emerging patterns and trends
There are a number of factors in today's world that have led to development of travel and
tourism industry. When taking Alton Tower into consideration these emerging patterns have let
this amusement park to change their working in a number of ways. Below mentioned is a
description of these trends:
 Shift from international to local is one of the major trend seen in industry today. Alton
tower is situated in a small village near Staffordshire and there are a number of locals and
people from nearby cities visiting the park on holidays. It is a major trend that is
emerging in a number of tourists destinations. Organisations are focusing upon their local
resources and trying to build infrastructure to attract tourists which will further help in
development of employment for locals.
 Increased emphasis on leisure can be seen on every sector in tourism industry. This has
led to development of resorts by Alton towers in order to make sure that visitors can
travel conveniently. A number of tourists are now focusing on leisure trips. It will help
them relax and take a break from hectic life (Martín, Mendoza and Román, 2017). The
amount that people are earning is also increasing along with a change in their spending
pattern. Other than this leisure travel also helps to set a standard in society and people get
accepted socially that leads to more emphasis on leisure travel.
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 Contactless payment have given birth to technology in tourism. There have been
development of a number of applications such as Google Pay, Apple pay which are
making travel more safer for tourists. Growth of technology have made tourism much
easier as people can now pre book their trips. Using online method of payments save
tourists from any losses as well. All the sectors in tourism industry are now accepting
online payments to make things easier for their guests.
Significance of patterns to development of industry globally
When considering these factors they have efficiently shaped the global travel and tourism
industry as well. Due to a number of tourist organisations focusing on local destination is
providing employment and infrastructural development of backward areas. Various examples
can be taken such as Ashbourne Derbyshire, Evershot Dorset, the lake District and so on. The
locals can successfully set up businesses in their local areas of providing food, accommodation
and transportation for the tourists. It is a great way to boost local economy.
The increased emphasis on leisure is allowing more investments in this industry
globally. Every organisation now focuses on more convenience and better quality services for
which they are also charging more (Becken, 2019). This have led to development of more leisure
travels (air planes, leisure vehicles etc.), leisure in stay (hotels, resorts etc.) and food as well.
This is beneficial for both the traveller and the service provider. The traveller gets the best
quality services while travelling whereas on the other hand the service provider is charging more
and earning more profits through these destinations.
Contactless payment on the other hand is helping growth of technologies throughout the
world. Technological development in tourism industry throughout the world can be seen through
online booking and payment methods which also helps in creating a transparency between
transactions. This can help economies to grow as the chances to evade taxes in these transactions
are nil.
TASK 4
Factors affecting popularity of global destinations
There are a number of factors that are affecting the popularity of a global destination.
These factors may influence different individuals based upon their own perception and needs.
Some of the major factors include the climate of destination, natural environment surrounding
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destination, historical sites present at destination, indigenous culture and religious centres. Other
than this there are a number of other factors such as hotels, guest houses, shopping facilities,
transport, adventure facilities, entertainment and so on (Butcher, 2019). The primary factors that
are affecting global destinations are usually dependent upon culture and believes of an
individual. They are the basic requirements that are required by a tourist while they are
travelling. It is an individuals perception and wish to choose the type of destination they want to
travel. Once primary factors are clear the individuals look for secondary factors under which
they are looking for other facilities that will be needed in addition to primary factors. This is the
reason behind Alton Towers providing various other services such as luxurious stay,
entertainment, travel services and so on to their guests.
Factors for different destinations and their level of importance
The factors that are affecting tourists behaviour and their choices depends on different
individuals. It is often seen that the requirements and level of importance of these factors may
vary from one tourist to other. However when ranking them or judging the level of importance
these can be divided into primary and secondary factors. Primary factors include the historical
sites, natural environment, indigenous cultures and so on. Various examples can be seen such as
beaches are preferred on a day with sunshine. Natural environment are the surfs in Bali,
mountains of Switzerland (Sönmez, Wiitala and Apostolopoulos, 2019). Pyramids in Cairo, St.
Paul's Cathedral are historical sites and so on. The secondary category includes hotels, food,
shopping services, adventure and entertainment. Various amusement parks such as Alton towers
or shopping centres like Times Square are included in it.
Link between key drivers of tourists behaviour
Various examples of different tourists destination can be seen which have different key
drivers some of them are mentioned below:
Tower of London: It is a historical monument which is one of the famous fortresses
throughout the world. The visitors can witness ceremonies of keys that is centuries old and takes
place daily in the fort.
Kew gardens: Kew gardens is one of the most renowned botanical garden. The natural
preservation of various plants and flowers are the key factors which attracts tourists interested in
nature. Visitors can witness a royal kitchen along with various treetop walkway and carnivores
plants.
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Flamingo land Theme and Zoo: It will attract tourists who are interested in adventure
along with a leisure stay. They provide with a number of rides, live entertainment, bars,
restaurants and so on. There are also 140 live species including some of rare red pandas,
penguins and a theme park for family.
Oxford street: The key factor attracting tourists to Oxford street is the shopping
opportunities present (Milano, Cheer and Novelli, 2019). The street here is filled with more than
300 shops and a number of retail-store sell local handicrafts as well. This street can be visited by
tourists anytime as it is open all 7 days a week along with a number of bars and cafes for
shoppers to relax.
CONCLUSION
With the help of above report it can be concluded that tourism industry is a rapidly
growing industry throughout the world. There are a number of developments made in
destinations to attract huge number of tourists. It is required by the organisations managing
destinations to critically assess tourists behaviour and built strategies to attract maximum number
of tourists to these destinations. The study of various elements of tourism industry explains how
all the elements are inter dependent. Also, due to weakness in one element all the other elements
of the tourism industry have to face consequences. At the end the report specifies that there are
factors affecting tourists behaviour. These key factors can also be ranked which will help tourist
destinations to focus on their target guests.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Milano, C., Cheer, J.M. and Novelli, M. eds., 2019. Overtourism: Excesses, discontents and
measures in travel and tourism. CABI.
Sönmez, S., Wiitala, J. and Apostolopoulos, Y., 2019. How complex travel, tourism, and
transportation networks influence infectious disease movement in a borderless world.
In Handbook of Globalisation and Tourism. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Becken, S., 2019. Decarbonising tourism: mission impossible?. Tourism Recreation
Research, 44(4), pp.419-433.
Ateljevic, I., 2020. Transforming the (tourism) world for good and (re) generating the potential
‘new normal’. Tourism Geographies, pp.1-9.
Vargas-Sánchez, A. and Moral-Moral, M., 2019. Halal tourism: state of the art. Tourism Review.
Jiménez-Guerrero, J.F. and et. al, 2019. The Global Economic Crisis and International Tourism:
A Sub-Continental Analysis. Tourism Planning & Development, pp.1-24.
Fereidouni, M.A. and Kawa, A., 2019, April. Dark side of digital transformation in tourism.
In Asian Conference on Intelligent Information and Database Systems (pp. 510-518).
Springer, Cham.
Tan, S.H. And et. al., 2017. The impact of the dimensions of environmental performance on firm
performance in travel and tourism industry. Journal of environmental
management, 203, pp.603-611.
Gabor, M.R. and Oltean, F.D., 2019. Babymoon tourism between emotional well-being service
for medical tourism and niche tourism. Development and awareness on Romanian
educated women. Tourism Management, 70, pp.170-175.
Butcher, J. ed., 2019. Tourism, Cosmopolitanism and Global Citizenship. Routledge.
Martín, J.C., Mendoza, C. and Román, C., 2017. A DEA travel–tourism competitiveness
index. Social Indicators Research, 130(3), pp.937-957.
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