Impact of Globalization on Tourism in the UK

This essay discusses the impact of globalization on tourism in the UK, including the economic outcomes of foreign students. It explores the initiatives and policies taken by the UK government to attract international students.

M7 113314 Bianca weiss
Module code: FC511
Module Title: skills for study
Tutor Name: Bianca weiss
Name of class/Group:M7
Assignment Title: Globalisation and tourism
Student ID Number: 113314
Date of submission:16/4/2019
Word count:1500-2000
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Gone are the days when people were unable to travel in the world for various reasons,
such scenario has changed drastically with the evolution of globalisation. People are now
able to communicate and explore each other’s cultures through travel and trade; it also
increased the global transportation of goods, thereby increasing efficiency of global
transportation. From social scientist’s point of view, globalisation is defined as the multi-
dimensional process which intensifies, expands, develops global economics and social-
culture, political, technological exchanges and connection, which is often referred to as inter-
connectedness (Rennen and Martens 2010), a term that is also used to describe the
integration and interconnections between countries that may lead to more homogeneous
global culture positively as well as negatively. Globalisation is beneficial in a way as it
stretches social relations expanding people’s potential and quality of life. On the other hand,
pessimistic globalists disagree with the positive globalists and they assert that globalisation is
dominated by economic and political interests like international collaboration or academic
establishments in the primary Western industrialized international locations. One such
example is the domination of English which creates positive impact on the nations that use
English as the medium of instruction and research like the UK which forces the well-
developing nations to find themselves rely on the major academic superpowers which will be
indicated in depth in this paper (Altbach 2015). Pessimistic globalists also claim that
globalisation affects the poor countries. This essay aims to discuss why UK has been a
preferred as a destination for study for many countries. It also discusses the economic
outcome of foreign students in the UK.
Today travelling around the world has become much more convenient than it was in
previous years (Wang, Xiang and Fesenmaier 2014). People not only travel for leisure or
business purposes but also for an educational purpose (Stoner et al. 2014). Globalization has
a major role to play in this phenomenon and has been claimed to be a significant force in
tourism. Tourism and globalization are certainly interconnected where one shapes the other
(Dwyer 2015). For example, tourism aims to raise the requests of non-tradable merchandise
thus improving the trade which results in economic growth and well-being. Many
companies were created creating numerous job opportunities, as a result of which
people have more options to choose from (Dwyer 2015). Tourism can also be the main
force of utilizing the renewable resources such as beaches, mountains, historical and cultural
heritage to generate renewable energy (Sequeira and Nunes 2008). Therefore, countries
with similar resources have the advantage in specializing in tourism which then leads to
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economic growth. Additionally, Educational-tourism is a type of tourism under the category
of tourism. The UK as an example is aware that International students are the key source of
funding as they make a significant contribution to the country’s economy. For instance, the
overall overseas students add 20 billion to the UK’S economy (BBC 2019). For example,
the students also benefit the local economy by supporting local employment and create up to
200,000 jobs all over Britain. The students also contribute to their transport system by
spending around 750 million in the UK transport industry (Universitiesuk 2017). Thus, the
UK seeks to welcome more international student in the country. For example, in 1998 the
UK government spent 3 million pounds in scholarship plans to persuade more overseas
students, and around 5 million pounds to support the UK marketing campaign and its
penetration in the global markets of international education. Moreover, the British Council
has made attempts to promote study in UK making it the first priority since then ( Binsardi
and Ekwulugo 2003). Because of the initiatives taken by UK, the country has contributed
to a significantly to ed-tourism in UK’s economy. As a result, the UK is considered to be one
of the top preferable host countries for education purposes, which made the UK score the
second popular and the first recommended destination for international student in terms of the
high quality education that UK provides. The UK Universities offers virtual tours of the
universities and campuses engaging it with infographics (Arthur eta al. 2015).
The UK government considers ed-tourism as a marketing intelligence input which
indicated that they have profited in escalating its market penetration internationally (Binsardi
and Ekwulugo 2003). However, currently, the UK seems to be lagging behind and the
superiority of attracting foreign student has begun to decline due to rival competition from
the universities of USA, Australia that are emerging with their quality of education. For
example, in 2000, Australia attained the highest growth of receiving students around 15 per
cent, followed by the USA with 12 per cent, while the UK achieved only 2 per cent growth of
its international students’ enrolment. However, education ministers of UK universities, in
particular, are as eager as other capitative counties to welcome an overseas student in the
country and they consider ed-tourism as a huge success to boost the UK’s economy yet there
are few obstacles that accrue recently (Fazakerley 2019).
In recent years, the home office has been the main obstacle in causing catastrophic
assaults on the UK’s reputation worldwide, first is the legislation about controlling
immigration. In 2010 when the coalition government came into power, it urges that pupils
should not remain a part of the net migration figures, which appeared as a message especially
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to Indian students as the sooner you return home is better (Fazakerley 2019). Since 2010 the
number of Indian students had dropped to 25% due to the inability to work after a degree
(Everitt 2014). In 2012 the UK’s government abolished the post-study visa which allowed
foreign students to work in the country for two years after graduating which reduced the
number of overseas students coming to the UK significantly resulting in a loss of 150M
pounds a year (Busdy 2019). The government’s chief immigration was blamed for the miss
opportunities, thereby it was recommended by the UK universities to reintroduce the post -
work study visa up to two years for international students as they provide a great
contribution to the country’s economy. According to Altbach (2015). The student with a
complete degree are now able to stay in the country for work, thus UK is providing career
opportunities to the students, The UK has also allowed the students to be able to switch to the
class of skilled workers. As there is an ongoing debate of the UK leaving the EU which may
bring the free movement to an end, new laws relating to immigration administration is
necessary to serve the UK’s economy and to enable the tourists who come to the UK to
integrate and make a positive contribution (May and Javid 2018). Additionally, the UK are
aware of the fundamental contribution that immigration has upon the UK’s society, culture
and economy, thereby enriching communities, bringing new outlook, stimulating growth and
making the United Kingdom the outward-looking nation as we are today (MAY and Javid
2018). Therefore, the country certainly is taking actions to welcome more international
students, for instance the UK government has released a white paper on its post-Brexit visas
and immigration scheme that aims to provide a new, skilled immigration system. To get
benefit from International students, the UK has developed a skill-based approach to ensure
the UK gets the best and brightest migrants across the world as the international students.
The country has altered its policy that will guarantee, that the UK remains a centre for
overseas students, which encourages people to work in a vibrant and diverse communities,
and to have jobs that drive up productivity and wages, and deliver necessary services (May
and Javid 2018). Even with the obstacles the UK is facing the country is still considered to
popular destination for foreign student.
The last study has shown a high number of non-EU students coming to the UK was
estimated up to 58 thousand which was the largest number recorded (Pitman 2018). Yet, the
UK should not be stratified as the competition for ed-tourism marketing is growing globally.
Thus, to remain the hub for international student the UK must adapt and learn from its
competitors (Pitman 2018). For example, in Australia for example, the after policies have
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been relaxed. Australian universities have been enjoying 15 per cent growth of international
student annually since then (Pitman 2018). Therefore, if the UK wants to emulate Australia,
it would have to pay attention to their universities and the value the educational exports by
systematically track the sector’s development and report about them to make it easier to
measure challenges in the future.
Summing all of the above, this paper has explained the impact of globalization on
countries particularly, the well-developed nations. This essay also examined how
globalization could have a negative impact on third world countries. In addition to the
benefits of ed-tourism marketing and its crucial role in economic growth, this essay also
indicated the initiatives and policies that has been followed and introduced in the country to
open its doors for foreign students. It is therefore obvious that ed-tourism plays an important
role in the UK’s economic industry. However, it is both the government and education sector
to collaborate and take measures needed to combat with the situation.
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