The Travel and Tourism Sector: A Comprehensive Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the travel and tourism sector, exploring its historical development, structure, and key players. It examines the influence of local, national, and international governments and agencies on the sector's success. The report also delves into the effects of supply and demand on the travel and tourism sector, highlighting factors affecting demand and how supply has adapted to meet these changes. Finally, the report evaluates the positive and negative economic, environmental, and social impacts of tourism in Africa, proposing strategies to minimize negative impacts while maximizing positive ones.

THE TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1 Understand the history and structure of the travel and tourism..............................................4
1. You are required to create a leaflet explaining the key historical developments in the travel
and tourism sector as well as the structure of the same. (AC1.1 & 1.2& M3)................................4
LO2 Understand the influence of local and national governments and international agencies on
the travel and tourism sector............................................................................................................8
2. You are required to analyze the function of government, government sponsored bodies
international agencies and interrelationships with governments in travel and tourism (2.1)..........8
3. As part of your research you should also explain how local national economic policy
influences the success of the travel and tourism sector as well as discuss the implications of
political change on the travel and tourism sector in different countries (AC 2.2 and 2.3)............10
LO 3 Understand the effects of supply and demand on the travel and tourism.............................12
4. An explanation of factors affecting tourism demand (AC 3.1& D3)........................................12
5. An explanation of how supply has changed to meet the effects of demand (AC 3.2& D3)......13
LO4 Understand the impacts of tourism........................................................................................14
6. Make an evaluation of the main positive and negative economic, Environmental and social
impacts of tourism in Africa (AC 4.1)...........................................................................................14
7. Explain strategies that can be used to minimize the negative impacts while maximizing the
positive impacts (AC 4.2)..............................................................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
Reference List................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
Travel and tourism sector is one of the rapidly growing industries throughout the world. In this
context, it is noteworthy that this sector is contributing highly in the national GDP, thereby
shaping the country’s economy as well as infrastructure. Several factors are influencing the
growth of the industry. On the other hand, it is also noteworthy that several factors are also
hindering the maximum effectiveness of the travel and tourism sector related activities. Since
development of the industry, this sector has been seen to be flourished with time, along with
historical developments. The key purpose of travel and tourism sector is to offer entertainment
and leisure related services to the customers as well as to keep all the valuable historical artifacts
secured (Becker, 2016). In this context, the UK travel and tourism sector is world’s one of the
fastest growing sector, attracting global population. In this context, it is noteworthy that the
national, local as well as international government and government related agencies are playing
significant roles in determining the success of this sector. Considering all these factors, the travel
consultant of Southall Travel would conduct an analysis of the factors having impact on the
travel and tourism sector as well as the other above mentioned aspects.
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LO1 Understand the history and structure of the travel and tourism
1. You are required to create a leaflet explaining the key historical developments in the
travel and tourism sector as well as the structure of the same. (AC1.1 & 1.2& M3)
Historical developments UK in travel and tourism sector
The rapid growth of the travel and tourism sector dated back to the ancient era. In the 3d century
BC, the Greeks visited sites to heal gods. The first Olympic held in Greece in 776 BC and the
international travel concept rose with the Roman Empire and the VFR movements. Romans
introduced guidebooks for listing hostels in order to identify quality of services. Through 17th
and 18th centuries, the concept of grand tour developed, followed by “spa tourism, seaside resort
development, alpine resort development, mass tourism, cultural tourism and long-haul tourism”
related activities (Beneki et al., 2012). Government has possessed significant interest in the
development of this sector, which has been highlighted since Lord Thomas developed the
tourism company named Thomas Holidays.
Through passing years, the preferences and demands of visitors has been changed for different
tourism destinations and based on these, the tourism companies also had been changing their
strategies and activities to meet customers’ expectations and give them unique experiences. For
instance, the preferences changed from visiting coastal areas and zoological parks in 1840s to
pilgrimages during the medieval period. Further, since 1945, travelers in UK started to spend a
considerable part of their income in travelling, which has been embedded in their lifestyle slowly
(Blanke and Chiesa, 2013).
The industrial revolution in UK influenced the travel and tourism sector to be developed, which
further influenced international travelling across the geographical boundaries. In the following
chart, some key historical developments in UK within 1960 to 2009 have been listed.
Year Development/ Event
1965 Establishment of Thomas Holidays
1968 Introducing cross-channel hovercraft
1969 Tourism act introduction
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1970 “Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet” was introduced
1974 Clarkson was bankrupted
1976 Introduction of BAC Concorde
1986 Approximately 10 million UK holiday package makers were estimated
1994 Introduction of EasyJet
1994 Introduction of National Lottery in UK
1998 25.7 million international tourists spent £12 billion on British tourism
1999 Government of UK introduced “Tomorrow’s Tourism” strategy
2002 59 million international visit in UK
2003 50% UK household got accessibility of internet for using in tourism service
2003 2.1 million employment in UK travel and tourism sector
2004 International tourist enhanced to 24.87 million
2005 “Aircraft Airbus A380 Super Jumbo” was introduced
2006 Over 32 million international tourists arrived in Britain
2007 “TUI / Thomson and First Choice”, as well as “Thomas Cook / MyTravel
merged
2009 Total more than 880 million international tourist arrival was estimated in UK
tourism
Table: Historical developments of UK travel and tourism sector
(Source: Buckley, 2012)
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The rapid growth of the travel and tourism sector dated
back to the ancient era. In the 3d century BC, the
Greeks visited sites to heal gods. The first Olympic held
in Greece in 776 BC and the international travel
concept rose with the Roman Empire and the VFR
movements. Romans introduced guidebooks for listing
hostels in order to identify quality of services. Through
17th and 18th centuries, the concept of grand tour
developed, followed by “spa tourism, seaside resort
development, alpine resort development, mass tourism,
cultural tourism and long-haul tourism” related
activities (Beneki et al., 2012). Government has
possessed significant interest in the development of this
sector, which has been highlighted since Lord Thomas
developed the tourism company named Thomas
Holidays. Through passing years, the preferences and
demands of visitors has been changed for different
tourism destinations and based on these, the tourism
companies also had been changing their strategies and
activities to meet customers’ expectations and give
them unique experiences. For instance, the preferences
changed from visiting coastal areas and zoological
parks in 1840s to pilgrimages during the medieval
period. Further, since 1945, travelers in UK started to
spend a considerable part of their income in travelling,
which has been embedded in their lifestyle slowly
(Blanke and Chiesa, 2013).
The industrial revolution in UK influenced the travel
and tourism sector to be developed, which further
influenced international travelling across the
geographical boundaries.
Historical developments in travel and tourism sector in UK
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Structure of UK travel and tourism sector
In order to analyze the factors affecting the
growth and developments of travel and
tourism sector as well as the downturn of
Southal Travels’ sales, Southall Travels
need to understand the structure of the
industry and its key players. The increased
revenue of the sector is contributing in
developing the infrastructure of the sector,
which will further help in maximizing
revenue.
The key players in the tourism industry
structure include:
Public and Private organizations
The structure of UK travel and tourism
sector includes both public and private
organizations. The privately owned tourism
organizations are categorized under private
tourism sector; whereas, mainly the
government and government-sponsored
agencies responsible for promoting and
developing tourism in the country are
categorized under public tourism sector,
including “Ministry of tourism, National
Tourism Board, Regional board, Department
of Transport, Department for culture, media
and Sports, Foreign and Commonwealth
Office”. The trade and regulatory bodies
including the Association of British Travel
Agents and Civil Aviation Authority are
regulating and overseeing the industry.
Figure: Structure of Public sector in UK
tourism
(Source: Chaperon, 2017)
Transportation: It is one of the crucial parts
of this industry. Nowadays, customers are
preferring holiday packages, including
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transport facilities. Thus, the tour operators
or agencies need to take significant
consideration for transport facilities and
collaborate with transport facilities.
Industrial revolution played significant role
in this context. Further, launching “Boeing
747 'Jumbo Jet’ and Aircraft Airbus A380
Super Jumbo” influenced tourism
development.
Accommodation: Mostly the
accommodation is served by the private
sector organizations. Different types of
accommodation is offered, including world
class hotels, guest houses, hostel, campus
accommodation, camp sites, Bed and
breakfast, farm house, accommodation in
trains and aircraft, cruise liners and ferries.
For instance, TUI group is offering
accommodation in 300 hotels (Giaoutzi,
2017).
Attraction: These can be controlled and
managed by private or public organization
or government. UK consist a diverse range
of tourist attractions including natural sites,
historical artifacts, cultural heritage places,
mountain, biodiversity hotspot, seaside etc.
Further, several tourism agencies are
offering facilities for supporting education,
business meetings as well as leisure.
Information and Coordination: Offering
information to the customers regarding
safety, their responsibility, healthcare as
well as any emergency situations is crucial,
which is mainly served by the social as well
as print media. Southall Travels is
developing the online presence and using
ICT tools for informing customers as well
coordinating with the agencies with which it
is working.
Travel agents and tour operators: There are
multinational chain, maniple as well as
independent travel agencies in UK tourism
sector, offering a range of facilities. The
independent tour operators including large
transnational tour operators or independent
specialized tour operators are emphasizing
upon offering unique service to UK tourists
(Grenier, 2017). In this context, Southall
Travels is a privately owned travel agency
offering a range of tourism facilities.
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LO2 Understand the influence of local and national governments and international
agencies on the travel and tourism sector
2. You are required to analyze the function of government, government sponsored bodies
international agencies and interrelationships with governments in travel and tourism (2.1)
The UK government is playing a significant role in promoting the travel and tourism business.
As this sector is contributing with a high amount to the country’s GDP, the government and
government sponsored bodies are attempting to preserve the interest of these industry players, for
enhancing their profit margin. Further, in the current scenario, it has been revealed that in order
to resolve the issue of 15% sales decrease of Southall Travels, it is planning to expand the
business in Africa, concentrating upon leisure and business tourism. Thus, it is also crucial to
understand the role of African government in tourism sector.
Role of local, regional and central government
The southern African states are creating right policy, building infrastructure and fighting with
corruption for developing tourism, through economic development and encouraging inclusive
and sustainable growth. The central government is helping the tourism sector to build good road
and communications’ infrastructure, in restricting corruption and developing political stability,
thereby making the country potential to visit. Although the global crisis hit the continent badly,
the prudent macroeconomic policies introduced by the government as well as financial support
from multilateral agencies are making the tourism sector attractive for investment from US,
Europe, China and India (Fang et al., 2016). In this context, Southall Travels’ expansion is
feasible. The local and central government’s political support at the highest level is crucial for
tourism development. Government of Africa is playing a crucial role in coordinating the role of
public sector agencies, private profit and non-profit entities as well as local communities. Local
government is also supplying the basic infrastructure, while helping in promoting country’s
tourism for marketing and investment. In case of the critical constraints faced by the travel
agencies are mostly dependent on the action of central government, based on which the
government undertakes actions, which are related to air transport, tour operators as well as
accommodation.
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In this context, it is noteworthy that for promoting tourism development in Africa, the
government needs to make strategies decisions regarding key issues, including “the scale of
tourism development, the sustainability of the sector and financing of tourism and economic
rents”, upon consulting with all the stakeholders at national and regional level, as well as
government needs to decide the scale of development. Further, sound government policies in
Africa are helping to extract the maximum tourism related economic benefits. However, “high
cost of regulation, preservation and monitoring cost” main hinder sustainability (Mowforth and
Munt, 2015). The ignored government funding resource can act as the economic rents generated
by tourism. African government is creating an enabling environment for investment from foreign
businesses, while providing supporting infrastructure for those investments, which would make
the business expansion practice by Southall Travels feasible.
Further, as Southall is UK based country, thus the national government and government
sponsored bodies like VisitBritain, UK regional tourist boards including “Visit London, South
West Tourism” as well as local authority (LA) work in partnership for promoting leisure and
business tourism expansion of Southall Travels in Africa. Local government would als play a
crucial role in marketing the area to potential visitors as well as take responsibility of the
operations of the Tourist information centers (Mowforth and Munt, 2015).
Role of international agencies
UNWTO and World Tourism Organization are the key international agencies, which are
introducing policies and regulations for ensuring the ethical practice and coordination among
tourism sectors of different nations. In addition, the World Travel and Tourism Council is putting
significant effort in terms of sustainability of the tourism business, including waste minimization,
water resource, energy efficiency conservation and management. Further, the International Air
Transport Association is “international industry trade group of airlines”, which regulates the air
travel, shipping of dangerous goods etc. Therefore, these agencies would be responsible for the
activities by Southall Travels related to tourism business expansion in Africa (Mowforth and
Munt, 2015).
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3. As part of your research you should also explain how local national economic policy
influences the success of the travel and tourism sector as well as discuss the implications of
political change on the travel and tourism sector in different countries (AC 2.2 and 2.3)
The local as well as national economic policies have significant influence upon the success of the
travel and tourism organizations. In this context, it is noteworthy for Southall Travels that as it is
UK based organization and attempting to expand its business in Africa, the economic policy and
political situation of both the countries would have an impact upon tourism business. The stable
economy of UK is promoting investment in promoting tourism infrastructure, through which
efficient transport; roads along with cultural and architectural heritages are attracting more
customers (Mason, 2015). National tax and regulatory payments are controlling national and
international trade in regards to tourism development.
In this context, the key objective of government’s economic policy in both the nations are to
“control unemployment, control inflation, create and maintain a favorable balance of payments,
enhance national income, standard of living of population as well as support less developed
countries”. The stable socio-economic condition of local community reflects high educational
level, good access to technology, which would help to inform people. On the other hand, it has
been revealed that as most of the African countries are experiencing difficulties to exploit the
potential of tourism facilities in business and economic development. Thus, the economic
diversification can reduce drawbacks in tourism development (Boniface et al., 2016). Further,
the economic policies of African nations are enhancing the job opportunities for unemployed
youth by influencing tourism development. The intraregional tourism in Africa is enhancing the
opportunities for economic diversification. As a result, the access to tourism destinations is
facilitated, boosting the competitiveness of tourism destinations.
Implications of political change
Brexit imposed a significant effect on UK’s political environment, by decreasing the value of
Great Britain Pound, as a result the international tourists visit has been enhanced, thereby
enhancing profit margin of this sector. The UK government has implemented Visa provision
policy for Chinese tourists, which enhanced the number or tourist from China, thereby enhancing
revenue of the sector. However, it is crucial for the tourism company to have a clear idea
regarding the socio-economic as well as political condition of China as well as other countries. In
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addition, the socio-economic condition and political stability of Africa would significant impact
upon the business of Southall Travels (Vanhove, 2017).
Since 2011, African tourism industry was making excellent performance in terms of global
statistics. In 2009, UNWTO reported 3% increase in international tourist attraction, which was
raised to 6% in 2010 upon hosting FIFA World Football Cup by South Africa. However, the
political instability in North Africa, where some key tourism destinations like “Morocco, Tunisia
and Egypt” are situated, is reducing international tourists number. According to BBC, political
instability in Egypt significantly affecting the country’s economy; indicating that Southall must
consider these factors prior making the business plan (Phelan, 2017).
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LO 3 Understand the effects of supply and demand on the travel and tourism
4. An explanation of factors affecting tourism demand (AC 3.1& D3)
As the organization Southall Travels is attempting to expand the business in Africa, it must
review the demands and supply in the industry, to ensure the ways for enhancing their sales. In
this context, there are several factors influencing tourism demand. These factors include
demographic, technological, emerging economies, political stability, globalization, inflation,
level of disposable income and many more. For instance, in UK, the increased number of elderly
people, declining population, enhanced disposable income of young and middle age people, rise
in living standard are demographic factors influencing UK tourism. Further, technology
promotes conversion of latent demand into actual demand. In this context, introduction of jet
engine in 1950s, access to motor car, popularity of information technology and development of
recreational technology are influencing the UK tourism. In this context, emerging economies
would have a high demand, where Southall Travels can approach for enhancing sales. In this
context, China, Mexico, India, Chile, Middle East, Parts of Africa, Parts of Latin America,
Southeast Asia are some emerging economy (Nunkoo, 2015). Therefore, for Southall Travels,
approach to expand business in Africa is feasible. Globalization is another key factor,
influencing demand in this sector.
In addition, political stability is also a concern; for instance, war in Middle East, Civil war,
political crisis in North Africa, ethnic strife, terrorism and threat to extremists are affecting the
tourism development in Africa. Further, increased demand for business travel, enhanced money
spending capacity of working women and increased economically active population in the
emerging economies is influencing tourism development in those countries. Some key macro
economic factors are also influencing tourism development. In this context, it has been revealed
that currency exchange rate has a significant influence. For instance, international tourism is
sensitive to price fluctuation and exchange rate, which may increase length of stay. Further,
inflation rate is a significant consideration, as changes in inflation are equals to demand
fluctuation. In African context, it has been revealed that income; especially disposable income is
independently affecting the tourism. Transportation cost, dynamics seasonal factors, economic
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activity indicators, tourism trends, marketing expenditure of the company are influencing
tourism development in Africa (Sharpley and Telfer, 2015).
5. An explanation of how supply has changed to meet the effects of demand (AC 3.2& D3)
The demands in travel and tourism sector are significantly influencing the supply of goods and
services in this sector. For instance, in the emerging economies like Africa, the changing
preferences of the tourists are influencing the tour operators to diversify the service range,
including innovative tourism experience, like adventure tourism, educational tourism, spa
resorts, recreational tourism and others, instead of only focusing upon visiting to the historical
and cultural tourist destinations. Thus, it can be interpreted that the Southall Travels is actually
getting benefit to expand its business in Africa upon focusing on specialized tourism, i.e. leisure
tourism and business tourism. In addition, the increased awareness and concern of tourists as
well as government initiative towards environmentalism is influencing the tourism agencies to
focus on eco-friendly tourism (Mason, 2015). Further, digitalization popularity through the world
has changed the promotional and marketing activities of the tourism industry to focus on social
media from traditional media. With enhanced focus of tourists on quality of services, the
operators are focusing more on quality management services; in this context product led
approach as well as consumer oriented approaches are noteworthy, which influence functional
quality and technical quality. Considering the competitive environment, the tourism
organizations are further focusing upon competitive strategies selection for sustainability and
visitor management (Vanhove, 2017).
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LO4 Understand the impacts of tourism
Introduction
The following task is going to highlight relevant information regarding the evaluation of the
influence of the economic, social and environmental factors on the tourism in Africa. Certain
effective strategies for the minimisation of the adverse impact and maximisation of favourable
effects of the factors on tourism are going to be discussed in task.
6. Make an evaluation of the main positive and negative economic, Environmental and
social impacts of tourism in Africa (AC 4.1)
In the views of (Mowforth, 2015) Tourism creates a significant impact on the social, economic
and the ecological environment in Africa. Southall Travels needs to evaluate the following
factors in order to enhance it sales volume, which can lead the company to become successful in
Africa. Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa are some of the biggest tourist attractions in Africa,
which are evaluated over this context and described as follows.
Social Impacts
The social identity of Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa are unique. This will help the tour and
travel industry to attract more tourists of the countries and improve its sales volume. In the views
of (Smith, 2015), Africa’s culture is considered as one of the most ancient cultures across the
globe, which will help the travel and tourism sectors to draw the attention of those people who
love to visit historical places. This helps to increase the tourists’ demand, which create an
opportunity for Southall Travel to promote their business in that place.
Arrival of excessive number of tourists leads to overcrowding. As per the views of (Mowforth,
2015) this can create a negative impact on the society and its culture and can create clashes
between the cultures of tourists and the local community.
Environmental Impacts
Africa’s environment faces seasonal fluctuation. The forests seems very attractive in the summer
and winter season. This increases seasonal demand of tourists. The two seasons increases the
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profitability of the tour and travel industry in Africa. As stated by (Afifi et al., 2016) However,
the demand of the tourists decreases in monsoon season because they do not prefer to visit Africa
in rainy season since certain climatic issues used to develop at that time. This can create issues
for Southall Travel to promote business tourism in Africa.
Economic Impacts
Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa are three important countries of Africa. As per the views of
(Christie et al., 2014) As these three are cheap countries, it attracts the local tourists towards the
countries and helps the travel and tourism industry to establish and improve its business. It is
helpful for Southall travel to promote business tourism in Africa. However, if these countries
were over reliant on their tourism sector, a sudden decrease in tourist arrivals would have a
sizeable impact on their economy. As the VISA costing is very high for these countries,
therefore, it can reduce the demand of tourists, and as a result, countries’ financial conditions are
affected.
7. Explain strategies that can be used to minimize the negative impacts while maximizing
the positive impacts (AC 4.2)
The strategies used for maximising the positive impacts and minimizing negative impacts are
explained as follows:
 There must be development of strict rules and regulations for controlling the crowd of
the tourists and its negative impact on the tourists attractions and the local community
(Mason, 2015)
 Organizations in travel and tourism industry can increase price of the entrance fees of the
tourists attractions in Africa of the company for reducing the negative impact of
overcrowding on the society and developing tourism
 The tour and travel organization can create awareness for environment protection to
improve the environment of the Africa and increase more tourists demand even in the
monsoon season (Gomez, 2016)
 The tour and travel organization can provide discounts for attracting more tourists and
increasing demand. This will help in the improvement of the profitability of the travel
and tourism
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 The tour and travel organizations can develop certain programs for creating awareness to
amongst the local community and the tourists regarding the protection of environment
and historical attraction for development of tourism provision of better services to the
tourists
 The historical attractions are required to be improved regularly for effective maintenance
of the heritage and culture of Africa and developing tourism. This will increase tourists
demand and helps the organizations to earn profits. Improved profitability of tour and
travel industry will contribute into the economic growth and development of Africa.
Conclusion
The socio-cultural, environmental and the economic factors create significant impact on tourism
in Africa. This creates great influence on the development and disruption of the business
operations in travel and tourism sector. Hence, certain strategies are developed for reducing of
the negative effects over the travel and tourism sector.
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Conclusion
There has been certain significant development in past few years in the travel and tourism sector.
It has contributed effectively to the economy and has faced immense developments in its
business operations. The different functions of the government, international agencies and bodies
sponsored by government are effectively interrelated to each other and it creates great impact on
the travel and tourism sector. There are different factors that create significant impact on the
customers demand in relation to tourism. In order to attract more customers and the travel and
tourism sector has modified its supply structure for effective fulfilment of customers’ demand.
The international agencies and national government has created a great impact on the business
operations of travel and tourism sector. The social, ecological and economic environment of
Africa creates favourable as well as adverse impact on the travel and tourism industry. Hence,
certain strategies are essential to be developed for effective improvement of the favourable
effects as well as reduction of the adverse effects of the factors for improvement of business
operations in travel and tourism industry in Africa.
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Reference List
Afifi, T., Milan, A., Etzold, B., Schraven, B., Rademacher-Schulz, C., Sakdapolrak, P., Reif, A.,
van der Geest, K. and Warner, K., 2016. Human mobility in response to rainfall variability:
opportunities for migration as a successful adaptation strategy in eight case studies. Migration
and Development, 5(2), pp.254-274.
Becker, E., 2016. Overbooked: the exploding business of travel and tourism. Simon and
Schuster.
Beneki, C., Eeckels, B. and Leon, C., 2012. Signal extraction and forecasting of the UK tourism
income time series: a singular spectrum analysis approach. Journal of Forecasting, 31(5), pp.391-
400.
Blanke, J. and Chiesa, T., 2013, May. The travel & tourism competitiveness report 2013. In The
World Economic Forum.
Boniface, B., Cooper, R. and Cooper, C., 2016. Worldwide destinations: The geography of travel
and tourism. Routledge
Buckley, R., 2012. Sustainable tourism: Research and reality. Annals of Tourism
Research, 39(2), pp.528-546.
Chaperon, S., 2017. Tourism Policies.
Christie, I., Fernandes, E., Messerli, H. and Twining-Ward, L., 2014. Tourism in Africa:
Harnessing tourism for growth and improved livelihoods. The World Bank.
Fang, B., Ye, Q. and Law, R., 2016. Effect of sharing economy on tourism industry
employment. Annals of Tourism Research, 57, pp.264-267.
Giaoutzi, M., 2017. Tourism and regional development: New pathways. Routledge.
Gomez, F. and Metuge, V., 2016. Impacts of Sustainable Tourism within the South West Region
of Cameroon.
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