UK College - Contemporary Travel and Tourism Industry Report (Unit 1)

This report examines the contemporary travel and tourism industry, focusing on its key milestones, elements, and current trends. The report begins by defining tourism and outlining its evolution, including significant historical periods like the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of air travel. It then identifies and analyzes the different elements of the travel and tourism industry, such as transportation, accommodation, and amenities, and their interrelationships in providing a comprehensive tourism experience. The report also provides details of the travel and tourism industry with a case study of Titan Travel. The assignment is divided into two parts, a magazine article, and a PowerPoint presentation. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding tourism behavior, emerging trends, and factors influencing the popularity of global destinations to gain insights into the current travel and tourism industry.

CONTEMPORARY
TRAVEL AND
TOURISM
INDUSTRY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Discussion of Key Milestones in Development of Travel and Tourism Industry............1
P2. Identification of Different Elements of Travel and Tourism Industry.............................4
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
Covered in PPT.......................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Tourism refers to a combination of all the activities which individuals undertake in order
to travel to a destination for the purpose of leisure, spirituality or adventure (Radojevic, Stanisic
and Stanic, 2015). It is a highly crucial activity which is related towards changing the status quo
of an individual's lifestyle. Moreover, it is one of the highly dynamic and constantly changing
industry which has been quite in trend in recent years due to enhanced accessibility and
digitalisation. The report below is based on Titan Travel, which is a part of Saga Group and is
one of the most preferred tourism organisation in the United Kingdom. The assignment in
relation to this company is divided into two parts, which are a magazine article and PowerPoint
presentation. As for the former, it consists of discussion of development of travel and tourism
industry and explanation of different elements in providing a tourism experience. Moreover, the
latter covers factors driving tourist behaviour, current patterns and factors that are affecting the
current levels of popularity of global destinations.
PART 1
P1. Discussion of Key Milestones in Development of Travel and Tourism Industry
As per World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Tourism is a combination of all the
activities of individuals who travel to different places outside their cliché environment,
particularly for leisure. Moreover, according to the organisation, Tourist refers to a person who
enters a different destination outside the place of their own residence.
However, there is a prominent difference in tourism and other types of travelling
activities. For instance, the former is focused upon obtaining leisure from travelling (Moutinho
and Vargas-Sanchez, 2018). However, there are still different types of activities that are
associated with the same apart from tourism. For instance, one type of travel is of travellers, who
are inclined towards getting an insight and being a part of different cultural practices, food and
aspects associated with tourism, rather than just visiting new destinations and returning.
Moreover, visitors is another type, that is related to just visiting a place for residential purposes
for a brief timescale. Lastly, commuters are the ones who travel to a destination in relation to a
business purpose. In addition, Hospitality is a term which is now being widely used within the
tourism industry. It refers to providing individuals with effective services, accommodation and
diner services with utmost professionalism within hotels and restaurants. It is increasingly
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becoming an important activity for the tourism industry as tourists expect an appropriate value of
money through enhanced services (Prebensen, Chen and Uysal, 2018).
In relation to tourism, there are different milestones within this activity that have been
evident from an expanded timeline within the past. Hence, below is an explanation of the
milestones in development of travel and tourism industry that is explained in detail below:
TIME PURPOSE TRAVELLING
AGENTS
MODE OF
TRAVELLING
Pre-Historic Times
(16th - 18th Century)
Tourism was
considered as a status
symbol to explore
different cultures
within civilisation
NO
Boats and Ships were
the prime mode of
travelling.
Industrial Revolution
(18th - 19th Century)
Prominent milestones
include technological
advances within trade
and commerce.
Commencement of era
of Cargo Ships
NO
Cargo and Passenger
Ships were used for
travelling.
Era of Thomas Cook
(1841)
Thomas Cook was
introduced within
England which was a
key milestone and it
began providing
Group Tours.
YES
A train of almost 500
passengers was
organised, from
Leicester to
Loughborough, a 10
mile distance (Thomas
Cook: A Timeline Of
The World’s Oldest
Tour Operator, 2019).
World War I Era
(1914-1919)
Ford's Model-T came
into existence during
YES Model T was highly
utilised to travel to
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commencement of
World War 1, which
became a key
milestone for years
ahead. Another
milestone in this era
were Passenger Flights
from London to Paris.
shorter distances,
whereas passenger
flights and ships were
used by civilians.
World War II Era
(1939-1945)
Industrial production
began of Boeing, with
its B-17 Flying
Fortress, carrying
more passengers for
farther distance (The
Boeing Story, 2019).
YES
Passenger ships like
RMS Queen Mary,
Boeing passenger
plans and Rails were
used to travel by war
veterans and civilians.
Era Of Evolution
(1950-1980)
Credit Cards for
travelling was
introduced by Diner's
Club. Franchising of
hotels saw expansion.
Jet Passenger services
was inaugurated
between London to
South Africa.
American Airlines
introduced SABRE,
electronic reservation
system
YES
Passenger jets, cruises
and railroads were
used to travel from
one destination to
other
Contemporary
Tourism Era (2000-
Tourism Packages by
companies like
YES Boeing Aircraft,
Cruise Ships, Cars and
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2011) Thomas Cook, Super
Planes, Super Ships
and Self-Check in
Facilities were
introduced to make
travelling easier.
Private Jets are used
by individuals.
P2. Identification of Different Elements of Travel and Tourism Industry
Travel and Tourism Industry has several elements that are required to be identified and
analysed in order to understand different systems that constitutes the whole sector. Moreover,
according to Leiper, who is a prominent theorist for travel and tourism sector, the Tourism
System comprises of several functional components, which are Human, Cultural, Social,
Economical, Physical, Technological, Political and Legal environment (Slocum, Kline and
Holden, 2015).
Moreover, within the tourism industry, there are three prominent types of ownerships.
The very first one is Private Companies, that refers to a corporation that is started by two or more
individuals to provide tourism services to individuals, like Cosmos Travels. The next type of
ownership is Public Limited firms, that are quite large in their operations and are open to
investments from others, such as TUI. Further, voluntary organisations are the ones that are not
profit oriented, and provide free tourism and accommodation services for a specific purposes,
such as tourism for disabled individuals.
Furthermore, there are several factors that are that are associated with tourism systems
and are prominent factors of the industry. For instance, in terms of Push Factors, these these are
the ones which initiate interests within a person to travel, for instance, attractiveness of
destinations, adventures, social interactions. Moreover, pull factors are the ones that are required
to make effective decisions, for instance, safety, natural environment, local culture and so forth.
On the other hand, it is crucial to understand the concept of tourism experience. It refers to a
prominent model which is associated with a complete experience of destination travelling.
Moreover, there are five prominent stages of tourism travel, such as appropriate planning of the
tourist experience, travel to phase, which is referred to travelling within the destination, then
comes participation within the experiences in the destination, followed by travelling back to
one’s own place and finally, recollection of all these activities.
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There are several elements within the tourism industry that are required to be assessed to
determine the functionality, as well as their interrelationship. Hence, some of these elements are
highlighted below: Transportation: One of the most effective and essential element of travel and tourism
sector is related to transportation. This is because it helps individuals in enhancing
accessibility within destinations which facilitates their travelling. Furthermore, the scope
of transportation has also enhanced as it helps families and tourist groups to travel
together through better facilities and lower rates. Moreover, with infrastructural
development, travelling has become very convenient and easy for patrons all over the
world. Accommodation: This is yet another element of Travel and Tourism industry which is
one of the basic environment of individuals. Its role within the industry is that it provides
a residential facilities to travellers or them to fulfil their food and rest requirements. This
is where the hospitality sector within this industry comes into play, which provides
exceptional, technologically advanced and professional facilities that encourages
individuals to travel within different destinations. Amenities: These refer to the services and facilities which people expect while travelling
to a destination. For instance, effective electricity and internet access, luxury offerings,
shopping facilities, exceptional food and so forth. The role It plays is related to develop
effective attraction and interests within individuals in relation to visiting the destination
and experiencing the services themselves.
Interrelationship Between Elements
All the factors mentioned above are related towards providing effective and ultimate
travelling and tourism experiences to individuals. Moreover, there is a strong interrelation
between all the elements through which customer satisfaction within this industry is achieved. As
an example, transportation helps individuals to travel to a particular destination, for instance,
cities like London. Whereas organisations like Intercontinental Hotels Group provides
accommodation facilities which is inclusive of suites, restaurant facilities, internet access, gym
and swimming services and so forth. Additionally, firms like TUI provides effective amenities,
such as provision of tour packages, travelling to different tourism destinations, internet
accessible areas and so forth (Yuan, Gretzel and Tseng, 2015).
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PART 2
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
Hence, it is concluded that tourism is a highly essential activity, as well as industry which
is required to be analysed in order to determine different facets and functioning of the sector.
Discussion of key milestones and different elements is highly important as it helps in
understanding the evolution of the industry and different operations within the same. In addition
to this, tourism behaviour is highly important to be understood so that their preference could be
enhanced and developed. Moreover, this could be achieved through appropriate motivation by
application of several models. Lastly, recent and emerging patterns and trends, along with
examination of factors affecting popularity of global destinations helps in gaining an insight on
the aspects that affect the recent environment of the current travel and tourism industry.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Moutinho, L. and Vargas-Sanchez, A. eds., 2018. Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI
Tourism Texts. Cabi.
Prebensen, N.K., Chen, J.S. and Uysal, M. eds., 2018. Creating experience value in tourism.
Cabi.
Radojevic, T., Stanisic, N. and Stanic, N., 2015. Ensuring positive feedback: Factors that
influence customer satisfaction in the contemporary hospitality industry. Tourism
Management. 51. pp.13-21.
Slocum, S., Kline, C. and Holden, A. eds., 2015. Scientific tourism: researchers as travellers.
Routledge.
Yuan, Y., Gretzel, U. and Tseng, Y.H., 2015. Revealing the nature of contemporary tourism
research: Extracting common subject areas through bibliographic coupling.
International Journal of Tourism Research. 17(5). pp.417-431.
Online
The Boeing Story. 2019. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.nationalww2museum.org/visit/museum-campus/us-freedom-pavilion/
boeing-story>
Thomas Cook: A Timeline Of The World’s Oldest Tour Operator. 2019. [Online] Available
Through: <https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/thomas-cook-
bankrupt-timeline-tour-operator-travel-package-holiday-a9116836.html>
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