A Comparative Analysis of Tourist Destination Appeal: Current Trends

This essay provides a comparative analysis of the appeal of leading tourist destinations, such as the USA, France and Turkey, with that of developing tourist destinations like Thailand. It evaluates how characteristics like economic factors (revenues, sales, taxes), social and physical factors (infrastructure, facilities), and cultural factors (heritage, events) affect the appeal of destinations. The essay highlights the strong tourism sector in the USA, boosted by famous sites and international events, and compares it to the growing tourism industry in Thailand. Furthermore, it contrasts France's lucrative cultural programs and developed infrastructure with Turkey's need for improved financial conditions and infrastructure to enhance its appeal to tourists. The analysis uses examples and data to support its claims, providing a comprehensive overview of the factors influencing tourist destination appeal. Desklib provides access to similar essays and study tools for students.

Understand how the characteristics of
destinations affect their appeal to
tourists

COMPARE THE APPEAL OF CURRENT LEADING TOURIST DESTINATIONS WITH THAT
OF CURRENTLY DEVELOPING TOURIST DESTINATIONS.
 USA is the home of different famous sites is is the host of many
international events. According to Las Casas et al. 2015, within the
travel and tourism sector, USA is considered as the leading tourist
market
 A large number of tourists frequently visit those most famous places
to explore the beauties. Those include the Grand Canyon, Manhattan,
Yellowstone, The Golden Gate Bridge, Niagara Falls, Kilauea, Florida
keys, Las Vegas Strip, Denali national park, White House, and others

 These attract the tourists from various foreign countries.
Therefore, with having a large number of visitors, USA
has crossed the threshold.
 In the first quarter of 2017, the number of international
visitors was around 700000 (Telfer, and Sharpley, 2015).
In 2015, the number was approximately 1.94 million.
Within 2021, at least 1.94 million is expected from travel
and tourism sector (Garrod et al. 2012)

 Whereas in developing country like Thailand, the report
shows that in 2016, the number of visitors in several
tourists’ destinations was around 32.6 million, which is
9% higher from the previous year (2015).
 Regular spending per person is expected to increase at
least 5200 baht in 2017. This was 5100 baht in previous
year (2016). According to the tourism minister, the
number is expected to rise and should reach 33 to 34
million in coming years (Sun, 2014).

EVALUATE HOW CHARACTERISTICS OF A TOURIST
DESTINATION AFFECT ITS APPEAL
The below mentioned factor help to determine and evaluate the
impacts it leaves on the above-mentioned tourists destinations.
France and Turkey has been chosen here for evaluating how those
characteristics are affected.
Economic Factor: Economic factors play an important role in
any country in terms of profits, sales, revenues, tax, jobs, and
income (Mariani et al. 2014).

•It has a huge effect on the tourism sector. In France, high amounts of
revenues are generated through lavish transportation, restaurants,
food and lodging, retail trade and amusements.
•However, in case of Turkey, which is still a developing nation,
economic growth is not so good just like France. They need to
improve their financial condition in order to attract more tourists and
for selling the holiday packages.

Social and physical factor:
 These two factors evaluate the tourist’s approaches.
In Turkey, there are several below poverty line
places with having average financial status.
 The lack of facilities, improper infrastructure, poor
transportation services leave a negative impact on
the natives. In France, the lucrative cultural
programs and social events attract foreign tourists
highly with its leisure infrastructure.

Cultural factor: As described by Leask et al. 2013, rich
heritage and culture of Paris (France) help to gain more
attention of the visitors. In several heritage sites of France,
the French revolution has acquired the tourists’ importance
that in turn led to higher demands for different tourists
destinations.
 Whereas, in Turkey, the demands are less for various tourists
destinations in cultural sectors so the revenue generation is
also lower.

RERENCES
 Mariani, M.M., Buhalis, D., Longhi, C. and Vitouladiti, O., 2014. Managing change in
tourism destinations: Key issues and current trends. Journal of Destination
Marketing & Management, 2(4), pp.269-272.
 Sun, Y.Y., 2014. A framework to account for the tourism carbon footprint at island
destinations. Tourism Management, 45, pp.16-27.
 Las Casas, A.L. and Silverio, A.P.M., 2015. Strategic image management: The
image of the City of São Paulo/SP. African Journal of Business Management, 9(6),
p.288.
 Telfer, D.J. and Sharpley, R., 2015. Tourism and development in the developing
world. Routledge.
 Aktas, G. and Gunlu, E.A., 2012. 23 Crisis management in tourist
destinations. Edited by William F. Theobald, p.440.
 Amaghionyeodiwe, L.A., 2012. Research note: A causality analysis of tourism as a
long-run economic growth factor in Jamaica. Tourism Economics, 18(5), pp.1125-
1133.
 Garrod, B., Fyall, A., Leask, A. and Reid, E., 2012. Engaging residents as
stakeholders of the visitor attraction. Tourism Management, 33(5), pp.1159-1173.

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