The Impact of Global Issues on Tourism Industry

The provided content discusses the potential issues affecting appeal to tourism, including eco-tourism and responsible tourism. The text highlights the importance of sustainable growth in the tourism sector for a selected location, reducing the impact of political factors on tourist numbers. Furthermore, it emphasizes the role of destination image and tourist loyalty in determining visitor numbers. The content also touches upon key destinations and their attractiveness to tourists.

TOURIST
DESTINATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................3
Task 1.............................................................................................................................. 3
A) Analysis of visitor’s number and income generation................................................3
B) Present and future destination trends in visitor’s number and profile.......................4
Task 2.............................................................................................................................. 8
A) Identification of cultural, social and physical features of Royal Borough of
Greenwich.....................................................................................................................8
B) Comparing the cultural, social and physical features with Barcelona.......................9
Task 3............................................................................................................................ 10
A) Investigating and analyzing the economic and political characteristics of Royal
Borough of Greenwich................................................................................................10
B) Critically evaluating the effect of external factors on appeal to tourists..................11
Task 4............................................................................................................................ 13
A) Issues affecting popularity of Royal Borough of Greenwich and its comparison with
Barcelona....................................................................................................................13
B) How Royal Borough of Greenwich could sustain its appeal as a destination.........14
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 15
References..................................................................................................................... 16
2

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Increase in Visitors Numbers......................................................................6
Illustration 2: Visitors from different countries...................................................................7
Illustration 3: Key Destinations.........................................................................................8
Illustration 4: Key Destinations.........................................................................................8
INDEX OF TABLES
Table 1: Comparison of Barcelona and Greenwich..........................................................4
3

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is the most developing sector of UK which generate large amount of
income in the country with generation of employment at rapid speed. This aspect of
country facilitates to promote its culture and natural beauty across the world by
increasing the number of visitors (Gautam, 2008). Present report is based on the tourist
destination of Royal Borough of Greenwich and its comparison with Barcelona. Further
report covers analysis of worlds leading destinations along with its comparison with
Greenwich. Furthermore, cultural, social and physical features which appeal to tourists
have been identified. In addition to this, Eco-tourism and Responsible tourism have
been discussed to determine sustainable appeal of Greenwich to customers or visitors.
TASK 1
A) Analysis of visitor’s number and income generation
The city which has been selected as the world's leading destination is Barcelona.
This city is the capital of Spain's Catalonia region which is defined by the art and
architecture, vibrant street life and mouth watering food (Chi and Qu, 2008). It is the
fourth European city with the most tourist arrival each year. In some studies, it has been
analyzed that tourists in Barcelona grew by 7% in 2013 and it is hosting 7.44 million
tourists in the hotel of this city. The reason behind world's leading tourist destination is
that the city consists of rich cultural heritage and house a great number of museum, art
and architecture, works of Antoni Gaudi, etc.
On the other hand, Greenwich is one among the four World's Heritage Sites.
After becoming the Royal Borough of Greenwich in 2012, the tourist numbers got
increase eventually. The Maritime Greenwich represents Great Britain's maritime history
along with architectural excellence. This attracts a diverse range of tourists. As per the
studies conducted, in 2007, number of international tourist in 2007 was 15.33 million
and visitors did the expenditure of 8.2 billion. In 2009, the number of visitors rose by 2.3
billion.
Table 1: Comparison of Barcelona and Greenwich
Statistics BARCELONA GREENWICH Comparison
4

Visitor profile
Visitor numbers 7874.94. Estimated-
3.241,000.
Number of tourists
in Barcelona
hotels is more
than double in
comparison of
Greenwich.
Income generated 1.5 billion. 300 million. There is a
significant
difference in the
income generated
by Barcelona as
compared to
Greenwich (Top
10 Highly
Developed
Countries, 2012).
Tourist generator
countries
France, UK, USA,
Germany.
USA, France,
Germany.
Both the cities rely
on the same
countries for
generating more
and more tourists.
Increase in number
of tourist
2% increase in the
number of tourists
from the previous
years.
Increase in
expenditure by the
visitors as
compared to
previous years.
Statistics have
shown good
figures for both
cities.
Decrease ----- ------ ------
5

B) Present and future destination trends in visitor’s number and profile
The comparison has been made on Barcelona and Royal Borough of Greenwich
in the previous question. Thus, present assessment of the destination trends has been
done and it is found that over the last few years, Barcelona has reached to the top of
international destination. In 2012, Barcelona hosted 27 million tourists in its hotels and
then in 2013, the numbers rose to more than 16 million overnight stays.
(Source: Turisme de Barcelona)
Also, there were more than 7 million tourists in hotels in 2013. Also, the major
visitors were from France (8.4%), UK (8.3%), USA (8.3%), Germany (6.0%) and Italy
6
Illustration 1: Increase in Visitors Numbers

(5.9%). It was followed by Russia and Netherlands (5.9%). The income generated was
€37 million by the overseas visitors.
(Source: Turisme de Barcelona)
Similarly, Royal Borough of Greenwich has become the major destination for
tourism since 2012. The visitor’s number in this city who visit every year are 18 million
and income generated by them are 300 million.
7
Illustration 2: Visitors from different countries

(Source: Destination Management Plan, 2014)
Study concluded that there is a growth in overnight visitor’s number but decrease
in day visitor’s number and their expenditure grew from 2012. There were 17.22 million
visitors in 2013 and total expenditure done by them is £64 million.
After going through the present data of Barcelona and Royal Borough of
Greenwich, the future trends of these cities can be assessed. In Barcelona, it is
expected that in future, 7.6 million visitors are estimated and significant growth will be
there in the income generation by these visitors. In Royal Borough of Greenwich,
revenue of the city will get increased up to £309.9 million.
8
Illust
ration 3: Key Destinations
Illust
ration : Key Destinations

However, there are some factor that affect the tourism in the selected
destination. For example there was a suicide bomb attacks in central London in the year
2005 that has significant affects the number of tourist in that destination. Furthermore, it
has targeted civilians using the public transport system during the morning rush hour
(2005: Bomb attacks on London, 2015). In a similar series, in 2004 Madrid train
bombings, also known as Spain Bomb attack has affected transportation system. This
has affected the number of tourist in the country. For a recent example, there was a
serious bomb attract in France on 13-14 November 2015 in which the music venue,
sports stadium and several bar and restaurant terraces wee targeted. In addition to that
climatic conditions of the county is affected which is going to take a long time to recover.
It can be seen that mostly the tourist areas were targeted that has created a terror
among tourists for visiting tourist destination. The tourism industry of France is going to
be affected by this activity in future.
TASK 2
A) Identification of cultural, social and physical features of Royal Borough of Greenwich
The cultural, social and physical features of Royal Borough of Greenwich are as
follows:
 Cultural Features: It is recognized as a place that is rich in culture, arts and
entertainment. Various events are organized here which attract a large pool of
visitors. Some of the events are Greenwich Music Festival, Royal Greenwich Tall
Ships Festivals, Parkfest and Greenwich World Cultural Festival. Also, Royal
Borough of Greenwich offers a mix cultural, entertainment and arts events.
Greenwich is a house of heritage culture as it is one of the four leading World
Heritage Sites (Connell and Page, 2006). The city is a home of royalty as it was
in the hands of Danes and also other royal people. It consists of naval history of
Tudor palace, Royal Naval Hospital, Royal Courts, Queen's house, etc.
9

 Social Features: The society of Greenwich is welcomes the tourist and gives a
voice who cares about past, present and future. Social relationship among
people are very strong. It was also assessed that in 21st century inequality in the
society of Greenwich have aroused which had led to the controversial issues in
contemporary societies. This can become the factor for decrease in visitors due
to discriminatory society. Physical Features: Greenwich is located at the place where hemispheres meets
(Pegas and Castley, 2014). It also has various locations and physical attributes
which attract the tourist destination such as glaciers, Archur Peninsula,
Guesalaga Peninsula, Parvomay Neck, range of Islands, etc. These destinations
are natures beauty which help in attracting the pool of tourists. Also some
historical monuments such as Anglo-Saxon barrow cemetery, Conduit or
Standard House, etc. which are built of rich architectural designs and it depicts
the culture of Ancient times. There are also some of the museums which
contains huge history and details about contemporary cultural heritage.
B) Comparing the cultural, social and physical features with Barcelona
For comparing the features of Barcelona with Greenwich, it is necessary to
identify the cultural, social and physical features of Barcelona. The features are
discussed as follows:
1. Cultural Features: The city is defined by the art and architecture. It is consist of
rich cultural heritage and has become an important culture centre in
contemporary society. Those people who are fond of culture heritage must visit
the Barcelona. There are great number of museums which covers the major part
of culture diversity. Some museums explains the Roman history, some contains
the art and especially Romanesque art, contemporary art, etc. this proves to be
the best tourist attracting feature of Barcelona. As because of this reason people
get visit to Barcelona as it has rich culture diversity (Cohen, 2004).
2. Social Features: Social life in Barcelona is most important feature. While meeting
with the new people Spaniards behave in an informal manner. The people who
visit their would not find him/herself new because people their do not let the
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visitors feel strangers. The nightlife of Barcelona is remarkable and this attract
large people around the globe and the hospitality sector is one of the vibrant
sector which leads to the attraction of many visitors. Barcelona's society is expert
in pleasing the big majority.
3. Physical Features: The physical features of Barcelona is beautifully build. There
are many things which attract the tourist form overseas. It has rich cultured
museums, architectural monuments, imaginative food and vibrant street life.
There are beautiful beaches, great architecture, great modern art. As it have
become the fourth destination of World Heritage Sites (Fuchs and Reichel,
2006). This have helped the tourism sector of Barcelona to attract lot more tourist
from all over the world.
After identifying these factors of Barcelona, comparison can be made that
cultural, social and physical features of Barcelona are more better than that of
Greenwich. It is because the social feature of Barcelona is very strongly build, unlike
Greenwich where society have become unequal and discriminatory (Waite, 2014).
Comparison can be made in the cultural feature and physical feature. Both the
cities are rich in culture and physical features in both cities have long history behind
them (Leask and Fyall, 2006). Monuments and museum are consist of arts and
architecture. Thus, it can be inferred that Barcelona have all the vibrant features
whereas in Greenwich, social feature are not that strong. So Barcelona have more
potential in attracting the tourists in future.
TASK 3
A) Investigating and analyzing the economic and political characteristics of Royal
Borough of Greenwich
It has been identified that Greenwich is the prettiest destination of London and
leading tourist attraction (Goel, 2007). Thereafter, the Barcelona is a famous tourist
place situated in Spain. Both the places are famous for its natural beauty, culture,
traditions, art and architecture. However, the political and economic environment of both
the cities have serious impact on its tourism industry. The tourism is important source of
11

income for Greenwich and Barcelona therefore, it is significant for both the cities to
understand the political and economic environment. The analysis is as follows:
Economic and political characteristics of Barcelona: It represents the economic and
political environment of Spain. These factors have direct impact on the working of tourist
industry. The economic environment of Spain is not stable which affects the tourism of
country. Thereafter, the economic crisis prevailing in the country has directly affected
the tourism (Heriot and et.al, 2008). Therefore, the number of tourist visiting Barcelona
and parts of Spain has reduced. Thereafter, the increasing inflation is also a serious
threat for tourist as the prices of products are increasingly and therefore, the purchasing
power of tourist is reducing (Giaoutzi and Nijkamp, 2013). The reduction in tourism also
affect the occupation of local people whose business is suffering. Thereafter, the
political factors also play an important role in functioning of Barcelona. The major
objective of political parties of Spain is to increase the tourism of city which will also
improve the government funds. In addition to this aspect, all the tourism service provider
will pay tax to government also the tourist will purchase products from local market and
pay VAT. Therefore, government take effective steps to increase the tourism like,
building infrastructure, introducing low cost public transport facility etc.
Economic and political characteristics of Greenwich: The economic environment of
UK is more stable as compared to Spain. Therefore, the number of tourist are
increasing in Greenwich. The increase in the household income of the people of UK is
causing increase in domestic tourist. The current political factors have positive impact
on the tourism of Greenwich . The O2 arena and the organizing of Olympics in 2012 has
also increased the tourist to large extent. Thereafter, the government is again planning
to organize some sports and cultural events at global level to increase tourism. The UK
government also supports tourism for this aspect, it encourages the travel companies
and service providers by giving discount (Tour Operators, 2014).
B) Critically evaluating the effect of external factors on appeal to tourists
There are several internal and external factors which affect the appeal of tourism
in Greenwich. This lucrative place of London has rich culture where number of visitors
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from different culture are invited for learning as well as visiting purpose. It enables them
to visit the specific location and meet expectations of them in an effectual manner. On
the contrary, discriminatory policies of this location has negative impact on the tourism.
This is because most of the residents gives importance to several factors like religion,
caste and nationality (Wongkit and McKercher, 2015). All these factors has direct
impact on the tourism of Greenwich. This is because most of the people who like to live
free life will generally avoid to visit such kind of city. For example, African will not like
visit such kind of place just because of discrimination in context of personal factors.
On the other hand, economic situation of country is quite good and this is the
reason number of people are getting good job in tourism sector (Shafii-Muhammad and
Usman, 2010). In this regard, development are also taking place at rapid speed which
facilitates to increase visitors base in Greenwich. Similarly, physical factors consist of
attractive destinations like Greenwich park, National Maritime Museum and Old Royal
Observatory and Flamsteed House. All these factors contribute towards long run growth
of tourism sector of UK. Apart from this physical attraction as Firepower, Greenwich
Market and The O2 are the most famous places which leads to increase attention of
visitors. In addition to this, political changes in the party of country may have negative
impact on the performance of tourism sector of Greenwich (Ibrahim and Gill, 2005). For
example, in case of presence of strong political party there will be good policy for safety
of visitors from terrorism otherwise there can be drastic decline in the number of visitors
in the city. Owing to this, all these factors have both positive and negative impact of
number of tourism at Greenwich A) Investigating and analyzing the economic and
political characteristics of Royal Borough of Greenwich
It has been identified that Greenwich is the prettiest destination of London and
leading tourist attraction (Goel, 2007). Thereafter, the Barcelona is a famous tourist
place situated in Spain. Both the places are famous for its natural beauty, culture,
traditions, art and architecture. However, the political and economic environment of both
the cities have serious impact on its tourism industry. The tourism is important source of
income for Greenwich and Barcelona therefore, it is significant for both the cities to
understand the political and economic environment. The analysis is as follows:
13

Economic and political characteristics of Barcelona: It represents the economic and
political environment of Spain. These factors have direct impact on the working of tourist
industry. The economic environment of Spain is not stable which affects the tourism of
country. Thereafter, the economic crisis prevailing in the country has directly affected
the tourism (Heriot and et.al, 2008). Therefore, the number of tourist visiting Barcelona
and parts of Spain has reduced. Thereafter, the increasing inflation is also a serious
threat for tourist as the prices of products are increasingly and therefore, the purchasing
power of tourist is reducing (Giaoutzi and Nijkamp, 2013). The reduction in tourism also
affect the occupation of local people whose business is suffering. Thereafter, the
political factors also play an important role in functioning of Barcelona. The major
objective of political parties of Spain is to increase the tourism of city which will also
improve the government funds. In addition to this aspect, all the tourism service provider
will pay tax to government also the tourist will purchase products from local market and
pay VAT. Therefore, government take effective steps to increase the tourism like,
building infrastructure, introducing low cost public transport facility etc.
Economic and political characteristics of Greenwich: The economic environment of
UK is more stable as compared to Spain. Therefore, the number of tourist are
increasing in Greenwich. The increase in the household income of the people of UK is
causing increase in domestic tourist. The current political factors have positive impact
on the tourism of Greenwich . The O2 arena and the organizing of Olympics in 2012 has
also increased the tourist to large extent. Thereafter, the government is again planning
to organize some sports and cultural events at global level to increase tourism. The UK
government also supports tourism for this aspect, it encourages the travel companies
and service providers by giving discount (Tour Operators, 2014).
TASK 4
A) Issues affecting popularity of Royal Borough of Greenwich and its comparison with
Barcelona
There are many issues prevailing in the present scenario which can affect the
popularity of Royal Borough of Greenwich. Out of which three issues are discussed as
follows:
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1. Global Warming: The environmental changes and global warming has impacted
every aspect of the world and it has also impacted the tourism sector and tourist
destinations. One of the World Heritage Site of UK is Royal Borough of
Greenwich which have been affected by this environmental change. Due to
global warming the old and ancient monuments of the city are getting damaged
and for them tourism industry get negative feedback from visitors. Thus,
popularity is getting reduced. Also any time, the weather of Greenwich gets
change and thus, tourist resist to visit the place due to bad and adverse weather
(Hsu, Tsai and Wu, 2009). Similarly, Barcelona is also facing the same issue and
it has impacted the tourist appeal. But the Tourism Board is taking extra care to
maintain the historical monuments and also the carbon emission has been
reduced by the city to protect the environment.
2. Economic Crisis: Due to economy downturn and recession in UK economy
have lead to decrease in visitors number. This has affected badly the popularity
of Royal Borough Greenwich. As the visit have become very expensive so tourist
are resisting (Zhang, Fu and Lu, 2014). Barcelona is affected by this issue in a
wider concept because there is a gradual decrease in visitors number from home
country itself. The purchasing power of people have become low and market are
not offering variety of things. Thus, popularity is highly affected.
3. Security Issue: This is the main issue which is affecting the popularity of Royal
Greenwich Borough. The recent issues of terrorism has a greater impact on
tourism and thus, visitors are highly concerned about the security. This may
impact for long term on the minds of visitors. UK government has taken due care
for the security of visitors. Barcelona is also affected by this issue but Tourism
Board have taken responsibilities for the security of visitors (Ferreira Custódio,
2014).
Thus, it can be concluded that Global warming and security issues have less
impacted the popularity of Barcelona whereas economic crisis in Europe have a major
impact on Barcelona than Greenwich.
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B) How Royal Borough of Greenwich could sustain its appeal as a destination
Royal Borough of Greenwich is a destination in the London that mainly focuses
on the contemporary architecture. In the competitive environment with the increasing
tourist destination places as customers now a days mainly prefer to visits the
destination in the holidays so that they can spend leisure time. However, with an
emphasis on responsible tourism Royal Borough of Greenwich could sustain its position
and appeal as the destination so that customers prefer to visits the place. The main aim
of responsible tourism is that to cut down the harmful consequences of tourism on the
UK economy and social life (Oppewal, Huybers and Crouch, 2015). However, the
responsible tourism will also outcome in reducing the destructive effect of the economic,
political, environmental and social factors. So, that the tourism can result in benefiting
the individuals those who are residing in the destination as well as it also raise standard
of living of the society.
With the help of responsible tourism Royal Borough of Greenwich also raise the
economy that will finally outcome in conserving the natural resources and different
attractive places that are considered as eye of attraction to the destination place.
However, there are different ways that could help Royal Borough Greenwich in
sustaining its appeal as a destination include; focusing on the Eco-tourism.
Eco-tourism is another form of responsible tourism that mainly result in
conserving and preserving the natural resources and natural places because in the
contemporary environment customers get attracted towards the environmental element
(Lohmann, Albers and Pavlovich, 2009). Therefore, as a responsible tourism they may
appeal the destination by highlighting the range of natural places, diversified range of
flora and fauna etc. Therefore, leading towards the responsible tourism and to sustain
its appeal as the destination the foremost aim is to promote the natural beauty of the
destination.
CONCLUSION
The aforementioned report concludes that several factors like social and physical
features affect the growth of tourism in UK for particular city or town. Furthermore,
political and economic characteristics also affect number of visitors for Greenwich. This
16

is because visitors need their security and want to access quality as well as affordable
services. It can also be said that, economic crisis and global warming are also the
potential issues which affect appeal to tourism. In addition to this, Eco-toursim can also
be promoted in order to ensure sustainable growth of the tourism sector for the selected
location. Apart from this, responsible tourism is the positive indicator to increase the
number of visitors as it reduces the impact of political factors.
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