Analyzing Tourism and Travel Industry

The assignment provided analyzes the tourism and travel industry, discussing the role of social media in tour operations, the impact of technology on consumer behavior, and the importance of destination marketing. It also highlights the differences between developed and developing destinations, and the need for tour operators to adapt to changing business models and employee representation. The document includes references from academic journals and online sources.

UK and Worldwide Tourist Destinations
1

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
LO1 Assessing the scope of UK and other tourist destinations in the world..................................5
1.1 Analyze UK tourist destination with respect to visitor numbers and income generation......5
1.2 Analyze statistics to find out present trends and predict future trends in tourism destination
......................................................................................................................................................6
Lo 2 Assessment of the cultural, social and physical features of tourist destinations.....................7
2.1 Analyze cultural, social and physical features of tourist destinations in order to assess the
appeal to tourists..........................................................................................................................7
2.2 Compare features of developing and leading tourist destinations.........................................8
LO4 Understand issues likely to affect the popularity of tourist destinations.................................8
4.1 Analyze issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations............................................8
4.2 Discuss the potential for responsible tourism to enhance the host community at worldwide
tourist destinations.......................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11
2

Table of figures
Figure 1 Number of overseas resident visits to the United Kingdom (UK) from 2002 to 2018.....4
3

Introduction
Travel and tourism industry has been regarded as an important pillar for successful running of
any given economy. It includes all travel activities that fulfill the purpose of recreation; visiting a
new place or for any such casual reason (Moore and Taylor, 2016). Present times have seen an
immense growth in tourism activities due to huge number of tourist spots all over the world,
increase in awareness of consumers, good standard of living etc. The present study has thus
made an attempt to develop an understanding of UK and other worldwide destinations. This is
with respect to their cultural, social and physical features; how do they appeal to the tourists and
what factors and issues affect their overall popularity. Emphasis has further been given on
discussing the potential for responsible tourism and how it can enhance host community in
worldwide tourist destinations.
LO1 Assessing the scope of UK and other tourist destinations in the world
1.1 Analyze UK tourist destination with respect to visitor numbers and income generation
The selected tourism destination is UK which is quite popular among tourists in the entire world.
The people are attracted to this destination on account of nature, manmade attractions, historic
sites, waterfalls, religious places, art galleries, theme parks among others (Yaduma and et.al.,
2015).
Figure 1 Number of overseas resident visits to the United Kingdom (UK) from 2002 to 2018
(Source: Statista, 2018)
The report released by Statistica shows that there were around 40 million tourists to UK from
overseas nations which shows an increasing trend in area of travel since the last few years
4

(Statista, 2018). Similar type of trend also continues in 2018 as well as overseas visitors are set
to pass the mark of 40 million for first time this year (Brignall, 2017). Other than this, there is
also an increase in the overnight stay made by tourists in UK over past five years.
A gradual increase has also been seen with respect to visit spending made by tourists while they
were on visiting it UK. For example, during 2016 spending made by travellers to UK was of 25
billion dollars which rose by 4.3 percent for the year 2017. This has been highest since 2013 and
will continue to increase in 2018 as well. Visit Britain also reveals that the tourist will spend
approximately 28 billion pounds for this year which will see a rise by 7 percent (Brignall, 2017).
The trend is still prevalent on account of fall in pound which has made UK a cheaper shopping
and tourism destination than the nations all over globe. In all, it can be said that UK tourism
generates an income of 106 billion on a yearly basis by employing around two million people
and supporting more than thousand businesses (Moore and Taylor, 2016). This makes the travel
and tourism sector of UK most vital and vibrant one.
1.2 Analyze statistics to find out present trends and predict future trends in tourism destination
Despite the presence of strong dollar, weak pound as well brexit issue in UK nation has been
receiving record breaking tourists since the year 2016 (Boniface, Cooper and Cooper, 2016). As
of now, it is regarded as number one tourism market for overseas visitors. The office of national
statistics has further stated that overseas residents which entered in UK for purpose of tourism
reached 40 billion for 2017. A trend has also been seen in visits made by business persons,
travellers and those coming to see friends and family to 38 million for the year 2016. As per
country trend, more and more number of people are visiting from Middle East, India, China, US
and Australia. It has also been predicted that tourists from Arab market for the year 2020 will lay
emphasis on luxury tourism and are most likely to grow by fifty percent. In the same lines, more
Indians will be travelling abroad and number may reach up to fifty million (Holland and Leslie,
2018). Hence Virgin holidays must carry out more promotional activities in India and Middle
East in order to generate a good consumer base for coming time.
One of the future trends also predicts towards multigenerational travel where family members of
all groups will travel together for reconnecting with each other and also creating new bonds.
Virgin Holidays should thus lay emphasis on this trend and provide for travel packages
accordingly. It should be in form of family tours that caters to need of members belonging to all
ages (Coles and Timothy, 2014). The statistics further suggest that nine out of ten people take
5

the help of online reviews before making travel plans. Seeing the changes of increase in this
trend for the coming future, Virgin holidays must resolve consumer complaints as soon as
possible so as to stop them from putting negative review on social media platforms.
Lo 2 Assessment of the cultural, social and physical features of tourist destinations
2.1 Analyze cultural, social and physical features of tourist destinations in order to assess the
appeal to tourists
In order to assess the appeal of tourist destinations for tourists through cultural, social and
physical features a study has been made on Sydney.
 Cultural features – Sydney is considered as amongst the oldest cities in entire world
and its culture can be linked to British Empire. The city has a presence of many
museums, art galleries etc. and is also celebrates many native events such as Sydney
Royal Easter show; film festival among others (Sydney tourism, 2018). There is
further a presence of world famous opera house in Sydney that focuses on the stories
of indigenous persons of Australia (Xiang, Magnini and Fesenmaier, 2015). Other
than this, there is a presence of Australian Museum that has remains of Aboriginal
relics; remains of dinosaur that act as a collaborating exhibition for the kids.
Moreover, the city also makes an attempt to meet the needs and requirements of its
citizens who reside there from all around the world. It is quite clear that Sydney is
quite sound on a cultural note which also makes it quite appealing to tourists.
 Social features – The social life in Sydney is largely driven by sports tournament that
are held on a frequent basis. Other than this, the city is also regarded as a major
business hub of Australia (Guide to Sydney. 2018). This leads to many social business
occasions, corporate promotions, parties among others. Sydney further has a presence
of people from diverse ethnic groups that contributes to overall social life of the city
(Buhalis and Foerste, 2015).
 Physical features – The city has a presence of widespread and good infrastructure as
well as transport network. This is followed by good safety and security for travellers.
In terms of infrastructure, the city has a presence of many hotels that are local and
global in origin so as to cater to varying needs of travellers (Standing, Tang-Taye and
Boyer, 2014). Transport network occurs inter and intra city followed by international
6

airport. Physically the city is very well developed and is easily accessible from all
international cities through air travel.
2.2 Compare features of developing and leading tourist destinations
UK has been regarded among the top ten destinations of the world while Srilanka has a good
name in Asia and is known as the wonder of Asia. UK has a presence of rich cultural heritage in
form of old structures; archaeological sites that tell ancient stories of European culture. Sri Lanka
on the other hand has a existence of Buddhist and Hindu culture and its remains can be seen in
form of well-known temples and religious foundation. In terms of physical features, UK has a
presence of good beaches, hill, and snow clad mountains and abundance of natural beauty which
offers activities for adventure tourism as well (Forno and Garibaldi, 2015). Sri Lanka tourism on
the other hand focuses mainly on nature and related activities. These are in form of seashores;
oodles of elephants; fun trains among others.
With respect to infrastructure and other developments, UK has good roads, railways and has
been adhering with technological advancements. Srilanka however lags behind in this area as
there is an absence of technological soundness in the nation. These are in form of no proper
transport and communication facility. Overall infrastructure facilities has been deterring the
tourist to make a visit in Sri Lanka (Lange and et.al., 2015).
Overall it can be said that Srilanka is mainly famous for natural beauty and culture but UK as a
tourist destination is much more than that. Other than natural beauty, it also offers good sports
activity, luxury, shopping sprees for those who pay a visit to the nation. Infrastructure is not well
developed in Srilanka and the opposite is true for UK. Still both appeal different kinds of tourists
but Srilanka has still a long way to go before it becomes one of the leading tourism destinations
in the world.
LO4 Understand issues likely to affect the popularity of tourist destinations
4.1 Analyze issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations
Varied kinds of issue have been found to put an impact on the overall popularity of tourist
destinations. These are as follows;
 Transport and infrastructure service – This is very important point that affects the
popularity of tourist destinations. The concept can be understood more clearly by taking
the example of Srilanka and UK. Srilanka lacks in the area of proper transport and
7

infrastructure facilities hence it appeals to less number of tourists in comparison to UK
which is regarded as among top ten destinations in the world.
 Political factors: the presence of political issues and chaos in Syria, Middle East etc. has
affected overall tourist flow in these nations. Though they have the potential to appeal to
more tourists but cannot do so on account of political unrest which leads to lack of
security and safety for people.
 Economy: presence of situations such as price rise, recession, increase in employment
rates etc. deters the tourists from visiting any nation. For example, increase in currency
exchange rate between UAE and India can deter the Indians from visiting Dubai.
 Absence of resources - Nepal is a firm that has the presence of minimal number of
resources. Issues got more severe when it suffered an earthquake attack a few years ago.
There is also a lack of proper policy planning for tourism and less involvement of
government in the same. This has affected the appeal of tourist to this destination.
The management at Virgin holidays is thus required to take care of all the factors before it
introduces packages for tourist destinations. This is as tourist flow will be less in number if any
of the issues are faced by the country where the trip has been planned. This can put an impact on
overall profit and sales revenue figures of the company.
4.2 Discuss the potential for responsible tourism to enhance the host community at worldwide
tourist destinations
Responsible tourism can be defined as the one where tourist related activities are carried out in a
responsible manner with minimal negative impacts on socio economic, cultural and
environmental components. If virgin holidays carry out its tour activities in a responsible manner
then an optimal interaction can be maintained between host community, tour operator as well as
travellers. There can further be an effective management of all resources that may aid in
fulfilling the needs of travellers. Responsible tourism carried out by Virgin holidays can then
assist in maintaining cultural and biological diversity as well as environmental balance.
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that it is very essential to have an understanding about
cultural, social and physical aspects of tourist places. This can help the management at Virgin
holidays to decide which destination fulfills the need and requirements of tourists and packages
8

can then be planned accordingly. It is further essential to note that leading tourist’s destination
such as UK is quite different from developing ones like Srilanka in the area of overall facilities
given to tour operators. These factors further put an impact on what exactly will appeal to
tourists. Steps can then be taken accordingly by virgin holidays.
9

References
Books and Journal
Boniface, B., Cooper, R. and Cooper, C., 2016. Worldwide destinations: The geography of travel
and tourism. Routledge.
Buhalis, D. and Foerste, M., 2015. SoCoMo marketing for travel and tourism: Empowering co-
creation of value. Journal of destination marketing & management, 4(3), pp.151-161.
Coles, T. and Timothy, D.J., 2014. 'My field is the world': Conceptualizing diasporas, travel and
tourism. In Tourism, diasporas and space. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Forno, F. and Garibaldi, R., 2015. Sharing economy in travel and tourism: The case of home-
swapping in Italy. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 16(2), pp.202-
220.
Holland, J. and Leslie, D., 2018. Small and medium-sized tour operators. Tour operators and
operations: development, management and responsibility. pp.86-107.
Lange, K. and et.al., 2015. Changing business models and employee representation in the airline
industry: A comparison of British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa. British Journal of
Management. 26(3). pp.388-407.
Moore, S. and Taylor, P., 2016. 'We planned a dispute by Blackberry': the impact of restrictions
on the use of social media in industrial action in the light of the British Airways dispute-
2009-11. Industrial Law Journal.
Park, S. and et.al., 2016. Demand fluctuations, labour flexibility and productivity. Annals of
Tourism Research, 59, pp.93-112.
Standing, C., Tang-Taye, J.P. and Boyer, M., 2014. The impact of the Internet in travel and
tourism: A research review 2001–2010. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 31(1),
pp.82-113.
10

Xiang, Z., Magnini, V.P. and Fesenmaier, D.R., 2015. Information technology and consumer
behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet. Journal
of Retailing and Consumer Services, 22, pp.244-249.
Yaduma, N. and et.al., 2015. Performance, labour flexibility and migrant workers in hotels: An
establishment and departmental level analysis. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 50, pp.94-104.
Online
Brignall, 2017. UK braced for record number of tourists in 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/dec/26/uk-braced-for-record-number-of-
tourists-in-2018> [Accessed on 9th September 2018].
Guide to Sydney. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.australia.com/en/places/sydney-and-surrounds/guide-to-sydney.html>
[Accessed on 9th September 2018].
Statista, 2018. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/287133/annual-
number-of-overseas-visits-to-the-united-kingdom-uk/ > [Accessed on 9th September
2018].
Sydney tourism. 2018. [Online]. Available through: < https://int.sydney.com/> [Accessed on 9th
September 2018].
11