The Contemporary Travel and Tourism Industry: Comprehensive Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the contemporary travel and tourism industry. It begins with an introduction to the industry, outlining its development, key milestones, and the various elements that contribute to the tourism experience, such as accommodation, travel agents, trans...Read More

The Contemporary
Travel and Tourism
Industry
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
LO1..................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Key milestones in the development of the travel and tourism industry............................4
P2 Different elements of travel and tourism industry............................................................5
M1 How different elements interact to provide a tourism experience...................................6
D1 Inter-relationship between the different elements of the sector and demonstrate how a
weakness in one can affect the overall tourist experience......................................................7
L02...................................................................................................................................................7
P3 Factors driving tourist behaviour......................................................................................7
P4 Models of motivation how it influences consumer decision making process...................8
M2 Factors underpinning tourist behaviour and their impact on the decision making process10
D2 Link between the key drivers tourist behaviour and the popularity of different tourism
destination and experiences..................................................................................................10
Lo3.................................................................................................................................................10
P5 Recent and emerging patterns and trends in the global travel and tourism industry......10
M3 Significance of recent and emerging patterns and trends to the development of travel and
tourism industry globally......................................................................................................11
LO4................................................................................................................................................12
P6 Examine the factors affecting the popularity of a range of global destinations..............12
M4 Factors affecting the popularity of different destinations and their level of importance to
destination's popularity.........................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism sector is growing in a rapid manner within United Kingdom. The
industry simply offers tour associated services to customers such as hotels, travel insurance,
airline services, rentals services etc. Number of tourists are increasing year by year as interest of
people are diverting towards exploring the world (Baka, 2016). This project provides information
on development of travel and tourism industry and contribution of different elements in
maximising tourism experience. Further, it will provide brief description about factors that drives
tourist's behaviour. Also, it will explore current patterns and emerging trends in travel and
tourism industry at global level. The last section of this assignment will deeply elaborate about
specifically those factors which places influence over popularity of global destinations.
LO1
P1 Key milestones in the development of the travel and tourism industry
Travel and tourism sector is consist of numerous of services which are offered to
customers so that it can generate maximum revenue. It has also been analysed that development
in this industry is taking place day by day for providing better experience to customers. This
development serves national economic system a lot as it supports in advancement of the nation
(Baker, 2014). It can be said that there are numerous of milestones which have taken place in
between the years that is, from 19th century to 21st century at the time of development of the
industry. Some of essential among them are described below along with the explanation that how
they have contributed in shaping up the industry:
Pre 1945: Before 19th century, travel and tourism sector was only offering basic facilities
to customers, but with the passing time, the industry have started offering some additional
services like laundry systems, food & beverages and accommodation to their customers in order
to provide better experience to them. But, later travel agents have transformed their working
pattern and emphasised on selling travel packages with affordable prices (Boniface, Cooper and
Cooper, 2016).
Mid (from the year 1945 till the year 1979): This duration is termed as the mid
development range for travel and tourism sector. In this period, focus of travel operators
transformed towards connecting to different companies belonging to same sector for the common
motive of expansion. At this time, airline and railways industry have started connecting with the

travel industry for gaining better benefits from customers by offering them satisfactory service.
This have increased number of trips within the tour package as customers are getting better
experience at the time of their travelling with more number of options.
1980 to present: At current level, travel and tourism sector is providing whole sum
packages to customers which includes all amenities, such as from food to accommodation, rental
cars, healthcare, insurance and numerous of other facilities which satisfies maximum number of
customers (Dickinson and et. al., 2014). This have boosted up national economy of particular
nations as well as across the world. Also, it can be said that this sector is considered as one of the
most important pillar which contributes in growth of culture and society.
On the basis of overall information, it is advised to tour operators to up grade their
knowledge on changing demand and expectation of tourists so that they can improvise the same.
This will also improve experience of tourists as they are getting better deals from tour operators
as per their requirements and preferences.
P2 Different elements of travel and tourism industry
Travel and tourism industry is consist of different elements which supports this sector in
influencing customer's interest towards it. Some of the main components among them are
described as below:
Accommodation: Travel and tourism industry offers effective hotels, motels and other
accommodation places where customers can stay in comfort zone. Travel industry of UK is now
successfully adding few more services like housekeeping, food, medical, laundry etc. for their
tourists at their room only (Forno and Garibaldi, 2015). This combination of services are also
termed as bundle services. It can be said that most of the customers are giving major priorities to
these bundle services as they believes that if they pay for one to one services, then their
travelling will become more expensive.
Travel agents: Travel agents are mainly responsible for making trip packages. Their
main role is to book hotels, make itinerary, arrangements of tickets for customers etc. The main
focus of travel agents is to provide additional services to customers in order to make their trip
best. For this, they modify packages according to customers requirements by charging extra sum
of amount for it. This have enhanced tourist experience as they are getting services according to
their requirement only.

Transport: Transportation facility plays an essential role in improving travelling
experience of tourists. It can be said that nation like UK has numerous of places which creates
requirement of good and effective transportation facilities so that travellers can cover all areas
without facing any error. Travel industry is having good connection with all modes of
transportation like cars, ships, airlines, buses and other local mediums which contributes in
making quick arrangements for travellers with the usage of advance technology (Ghimire, ed.,
2013). Travellers considers transportation as major tourist experience as it allows them to enjoy
their trip within the time limit.
Attractions: Every traveller feels attracted towards attractive monuments, museums,
religious places like mosques, temples, churches etc. at the time of their travelling. It can be said
that beauty and uniqueness of these places are not enough for tourists experience, but they also
requires high quality of services. Thus, it is essential for government to take care of all attractive
places to provide better experience to customers. Along with this, it is important for them to
maintain effective balance between traditions and modernisation, so that religion of any traveller
does not get affected.
All the elements of travel and tourism industry are interrelated with one another with
contributes in developing tourism behaviour. For instance: Without effective transportation
facility, tourist will not be able to visit their desirable destination. Also, travellers requires good
place to stay at new place for which they require support of travel agent who could arrange better
place for their stay (Hudson and Thal, 2013). Travel agents provides suitable trip packages to
customers which includes all facilities that makes it easy for travellers to visit many destinations.
This shows that all the elements are interrelated with one another which collaboratively provides
better experience to tourist at their travelling time.
M1 How different elements interact to provide a tourism experience
Every component of tourism industry plays an essential role in creating tourist experience
and also contributes in the enhancement of their satisfaction level. It has been analysed that tour
operators includes accommodation in their travel packages for making travelling easier for
customers as they do not have to search for any other place to stay which enhances their
customer experience. In this, they basically offers different range of rooms to customers from
low range budget hotels to luxury rooms. Also, it can be said that effective collaboration between
modernisation and traditions of different attractions (Destinations and monuments) influences

customer's tourism experience at highest level. This is because, travellers belongs to different
culture, religion and age group. If in case, these customers do not find appropriate balance in all
parameters, then they might goes through negative tourism experience which ultimately
influences number of travellers for the same position.
D1 Inter-relationship between the different elements of the sector and demonstrate how a
weakness in one can affect the overall tourist experience
The overall analysis from all explained elements are interrelated with one another at
different terms in travel and tourism industry. For instance: Accommodation and travel agents
are interconnected with one another as travel agents are always required to have better
relationship hotels and other staying places so that they can arrange quick accommodation place
for customers. Whereas, other two elements that are travel agents and attractions are interrelated
with each other as they without effective attractions (Monuments) travel agent cannot influence
customers to travel (Lee and Brahmasrene, 2013). It can also be said that all of these elements
collaboratively provides better tourist experience and absence of single element could affect
tourist experience in negative manner. For instance: If travellers does not receive comfortable
accommodation then its worsen tourist experience. Alike, attractions places are not maintained in
appropriate manner then tourist might regret on their decision of choosing their destination. As a
result, if tourist finds absence of any element this directly negatively influence their tourism
experience.
L02
P3 Factors driving tourist behaviour
There are numerous of factors which influences revenue generating nations, destinations
and also affects tourism behaviour. For understanding this effectively, United Kingdom and
Greece has been taken into consideration in order to evaluate influence of various factors which
drives tourist behaviour. These factors are geographical factors, social factors and cultural factor.
All of them are described as below:
Geographical factors: Sudden changes in climate that is, uncertain heavy rain in
particular location might influence tourists to cancel their trip. This will place negative impact
over tourism industry as well as nation's economical status. For instance: Excessive rain in the
region of Disneyland of UK will influence its footfall as traveller might be able to approach this

place due to unavailability of convenience. Whereas, excessive summer temperature also affects
sustainable tourism of Santorini, Greece. This situation mainly results in decline of tourist for
this place.
Social factors: Changing taste and preferences of tourists in terms of destinations,
amenities, accommodation etc. influences overall tourism industry as they have to modify their
services according to the requirement of tourists (Meyer, 2013). This develops situation of loss
for the industry. For instance: Historical museums of UK attracts specific zone of tourists only
because they gets various opportunities to grab knowledge about particular place and its
relevance in past. This means that sudden change tourist taste and preferences might influence
them to approach other attractive places. On the other hand, while analysing influence of social
factor on tourism behaviour of Greece, it can be said that any change in basic amenities or its
quality might affect tourist footfall at Meteora as they do not find it comfortable. This could
influence them to go for other places.
Cultural factors: This factor includes language and other cultural barriers which
influences tourism behaviour as if any tourist plans to visit different destinations of United
Kingdom like Disneyland, Buckingham Palace etc. and do not know to use English. Then there
are high chances that these traveller would not be able to enjoy their trip. This might reduce
number foreign travellers in host nation. Whereas, influence of cultural factor on Greece can be
seen in positive manner as its tourism industry investing a lot on maintaining its monument and
other historical places for tourist so that they can grab same experience in their every visit
(Mowforth and Munt, 2015). This influences of every tourist towards all destination of Greece as
they are getting similar experience every time.
On the basis of above provided description, it can be said that all factors influences
tourism industry in positive as well as negative manner both. It is important for this industry to
upgrade itself according to the changing time and customer's requirement for providing better
tourism experience to customers.
P4 Models of motivation how it influences consumer decision making process
Motivation is termed as an essential factor which influences consumer behaviour in travel
and tourism industry. For moulding customer's interest towards themselves, tour operators of this
industry uses different theories and models in order to keep their business active every time.
Both the theory and model of motivation are described as below:

Maslow's Hierarchy theory: This theory includes five different stages which are used
by tour operators to motivate consumers and also influences their decision making at the time of
planning trip. At first Physiological needs, main objective of tour operators is to fulfil basic
needs of consumers such as food, accommodation and provide other basic amenities to satisfy
them in order to make them enjoy their trip (Munoz-Leiva, Hernández-Méndez and Sánchez-
Fernández, 2012). Safety needs, in this main focus of tour operators is to provide safe and secure
travel to consumers. At third stage, major concern of industry is to motivate consumers and
influence their decision-making of travelling again and again with the same group by creating
friendly environment during their travel. At next, tour operators emphasises on providing luxury
services to consumers in order to satisfy them at highest level and fulfil their Esteem needs. This
is the initiation taken by tour operators as per the budget of consumers as every traveller has its
own budget according to which they takes decision of adapting services. For fulfilling Self
actualisation needs, tour operators motivates consumers by providing them best packages
according to their budget with additional services in order to develop willingness among them to
visit again the same place or plan next trip with the same operators.
Vroom's Expectancy theory: Organisations belongs to travel and tourism industry can
use this framework in order to motivate its tour operators for influencing consumer decision
making towards their industry in positive manner (Noti, 2013). Vroom's expectancy theory
includes three main factors which collaboratively contributes in motivating tour operators. At
expectancy factors, tour operators are motivated by developing belief among them that if they
will place better efforts while providing services to consumers, their business will become
successful. Instrumentality factor states that tour operators can be motivated by providing
rewards to them according to their performance. This motivates tour operators to perform well
for attaining better rewards. In valence factor, motivation of tour operators is measured by
observing that kind of reward is termed as success for individual. This helps them in giving
rewards to individual for influencing their interest to serve traveller in more effective manner for
the sake of receiving their desirable rewards (Page and Hall, 2014). Effective implication of this
theory helps tour operators in enhancing their motivation level. This boost up their performance
and influences them to serve better services to consumer's. It directly influences decision making
behaviour of consumers as they are getting better services which influences them to plan more
number of trips from same tour operators.

M2 Factors underpinning tourist behaviour and their impact on the decision making process
Various factors such as cultural, geographical, social etc. underpins tourism behaviour
and places impact over decision making process of tourists. It can be geographical factor which
is directly associated with the climatic condition of country. This means that traveller's choice of
destination completely rely upon climatic condition of a particular place. For instance: Maximum
travellers prefers to visit destination in winter season only (Standing, Tang-Taye and Boyer,
2014). Therefore, in summer season these customers would not feel comfortable to travel. This
will influence tourism industry. Its influence can also be seen on decision making process over
the travellers as well as tour operators as they have to modify their plans according to the
climatic changes.
D2 Link between the key drivers tourist behaviour and the popularity of different tourism
destination and experiences
Key drivers of tourism behaviour are interconnected with the popularity of destination
and tourism experience. While discussing about cultural factor, it is observed that it places both
positive and negative influence over the tourism experience and popularity of destination. In this,
new or foreign culture attracts customers a lot because they finds every thing interesting. Also,
they enjoys different cultural food, products, places etc. at the time of their travel at foreign
destination of different nations. This simply increases popularity of places due to different
cultural values. It also provides better memorable experience to tourists. On the other hand, there
are probable chances that cultural factor might also affects tourist behaviour in negative manner
as many travellers finds difficult in visiting completely different culture because its not possible
for them to deal with their different food, customs and religion during their travel. This might
reduce popularity of destination as travellers do not find it fascinating which also spoils their
experience.
Lo3
P5 Recent and emerging patterns and trends in the global travel and tourism industry
Travel and tourism industry is termed as one of the fastest growing sector within UK and
world wide. The passing time has brought numerous of trends and patterns within the industry
which influences experience and satisfaction level of customers.
Current pattern and trends in travel and tourism industry are described below:

Online booking: Customers prefers to book their tour package with different online tools
and mobile application while their travelling mood (Swarbrooke and Horner, 2012). This trend is
currently quiet popular among tourist as they believes it makes their planning smoother without
consumption of much time.
Solo travel: People now a days prefers to travel the world all alone. For this, they
emphasises on grabbing solo packages available at different travel portals. It is essential for
travel industry to promote all solo travel packages with the help of technology, so that individual
interested in this kind of travel can communicate and start their travelling all alone.
Last minute booking: In today's world, the trend of last minutes booking is increasing
rapidly because of various attractive packages that pops up on booking sites. This facility
enhances experience of customers as they enable to choose trips at their own level according to
the ratings with different stars available on internet.
Emerging pattern and trends in travel and tourism industry are described below:
Robot: Artificial intelligence is making its own place in every industry. In context of
travel and tourism industry, introduction of robots within the industry will improve quality of
services delivered to the customers. This will also reduces costing of companies as they have to
hire less number of employees for executing work.
Eco tourism: It is considered as most amazing emerging trend of tourism industry. In
this, visitors gets opportunity to experience beauty of wildlife and nature as their chosen
destination. This trend is becoming most favourite among all age of travellers (Theobald, 2012).
M3 Significance of recent and emerging patterns and trends to the development of travel and
tourism industry globally
On the basis of all discussed patterns and trends within travel and tourism industry, it has
been analysed that different trends like last minute booking, online booking, Eco tourism, robot
and solo travel are seen as some of the most important trends which contributes in the
development of travel and tourism industry at global level. It can be said that emerging trends
within the industry are also pushing it to develop effectively so that customers can get better
experience during their travel. With changing preferences of travellers, tour operators and travel
agents are emphasising on developing their services. This ultimately contributes in the growth of
travel and tourism industry globally. Moreover, emerging trends like last minute booking within
travel industry are changing every single day which provides opportunities for this industry to

improve for global development (Vellas, 2016). Furthermore, it can be said that in today's world
lifestyle of individuals are becoming more busy which makes them to plan their trip on urgent
basis. In context of travel and tourism industry, various advance technology is adopted by them
so that they can satisfy the requirements of travellers. For instance: Software like TrekkSoft
booking data is the application which is capable of booking hotels, train or flight tickets and
other basic requirement that every traveller wants in last 2-3 hours. Any traveller who plans to
travel at last minute can easily use this software for booking their trip just before the arrival.
LO4
P6 Examine the factors affecting the popularity of a range of global destinations
Global destinations defines as a place which provide various top class services to their
customers and have very limited chance of mistake. There are ample number of factors which
affects the overall brand image of the organisation at competitive marketplace (Lee and
Brahmasrene, 2013). In the present context of Travel and Tourism industry, it can be said that
customers' are highly satisfied by the services provide by it, but on the other hand, some external
factors might affect the performance of overall industry. These factors includes: Offers and Discounts: It is considered as one of the most effective part of marketing
strategies. In this context, management team of travel and tourism industry provide
various offers which includes discounts, coupons, offers, packages and many more for
attracting maximum number of travellers (Vu and et. al., 2015). For example, In case of
United Kingdom's festive season, travel and tourism industry provide special offers in
order to attract large number of customers towards it. Therefore, marketing manager need
to develop effective strategies in order to grab attention of ample number of consumers.
This clear states that this factor influence growth of industry in positive manner by
increasing number of travellers for same destination. Social factor: It is the factor which includes values, beliefs, attitude, customs and norms
of an individual. There are ample number of countries where travel and tourism is
considered as one of the biggest hub. Social factors which includes culture, religion,
historic places affect the popularity of destination. Each and every individual have their
own interest as well as preferences which affects popularity of destination. For example,
Egypt is famous for its Pyramids which attracts large number of people from all over the

world. It can be said that social factor improves popularity of this destination as the
positive response of traveller's towards the destination increases its popularity across the
world which also increases number of traveller for the same place (Mowforth and Munt,
2015). It is essential for the marketing manager to consider requirements and needs of
customers before providing them facilities so that they can refer more people towards the
same place for the future travel.
 Reviews of friends and relatives: Individuals highly trust their friends and family. They
take recommendations from their family members before going on vacations so that they
can grab various new things. Apart from this, they consider online reviews and comments
before going on a trip. For example, If an individual plans to visit Greece, then they
prefers to take reviews from their family members and friends so that they will be able to
know about the place and take decision whether to go on the trip or not. All this, highly
affect the decision making, as if the place is not popular or well reputed then individual
will cancel out their plan which will ultimately influence popularity of destination within
travel and tourism industry.
M4 Factors affecting the popularity of different destinations and their level of importance to
destination's popularity
All the above discussed factors like discount and offers, social factors, reviews from
family and friends etc. place influence over the popularity of destination in a positive and
negative manner. With the help of offers and discounts, large number of customers are attracted
towards festive season of United Kingdom which increases the footfall of travellers at the same
destination. This directly increases overall profitability and popularity of destination. In addition
to this, there are some external factors which includes; social, economic and political factors
which highly influence the popularity of destination in both positive as well as negative manner
(Meyer, 2013). For instance: Changes in political status in United Kingdom directly influence
tourism industry as they have to upgrade themselves on travel packages for Buckingham Palace
according to the changed norms. It might raise their prices of travel packages which declines
footfall of travellers for same destination. This also plays an essential role in the popularity of
Buckingham Palace as if due to any reason number of traveller for Buckingham Palace declines
then it develop negative perception in other customers mind that the place is not good this is why
traveller's are not preferring this destination. Therefore, it is essential for travel and tourism

industry to consider all these factors in an effective manner so that they can develop marketing
strategies according to the current business environment.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it has been analysed that travel and tourism industry is
one of the fastest growing industry worldwide. It has been identified that services offered by this
sector are changing according to the expectation of customers. Also, every element such as
transportation, attraction, accommodation, travel agents are collaboratively provides best tourist
experience and their weakening effective of any of these elements places negative impact over
the customers. Usage of Maslow's Hierarchy model is helpful in motivating individuals so that
their experience can be improved. Robot and ecotourism are identified as the main emerging
trends in travel and tourism sector which will enhance profitability of the overall industry and
also contributes in the economic development of the nation.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baka, V., 2016. The becoming of user-generated reviews: Looking at the past to understand the
future of managing reputation in the travel sector.Tourism Management. 53. pp.148-
162.
Baker, D. M .A., 2014. The effects of terrorism on the travel and tourism industry. International
Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. 2(1). p.9.
Boniface, B., Cooper, R. and Cooper, C., 2016. Worldwide destinations: The geography of travel
and tourism. Routledge.
Dickinson, J. E., and et.al,. 2014. Tourism and the smartphone app: Capabilities, emerging
practice and scope in the travel domain. Current Issues in Tourism. 17(1). pp.84-101.
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.
Ghimire, K. B. ed., 2013. The native tourist: Mass tourism within developing countries.
Routledge.
Hudson, S. and Thal, K., 2013. The impact of social media on the consumer decision process:
Implications for tourism marketing. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 30(1-2).
pp.156-160.
Lee, J. W. and Brahmasrene, T., 2013. Investigating the influence of tourism on economic
growth and carbon emissions: Evidence from panel analysis of the European Union.
Tourism Management. 38. pp.69-76.
Meyer, D., 2013. Pro-poor tourism: From leakages to linkages. A conceptual framework for
creating linkages between the accommodation sector and ‘poor’neighbouring
communities. In Tourism and the Millennium Development Goals (pp. 131-156).
Routledge.
Mowforth, M. and Munt, I., 2015. Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalisation and
new tourism in the third world. Routledge.
Munoz-Leiva, F., Hernández-Méndez, J. and Sánchez-Fernández, J., 2012. Generalising user
behaviour in online travel sites through the Travel 2.0 website acceptance model. Online
Information Review. 36(6). pp.879-902.
Noti, E., 2013. Web 2.0 and the its influence in the tourism sector. European Scientific Journal,
ESJ, 9(20).
Page, S. J. and Hall, C. M., 2014. The geography of tourism and recreation: Environment, place
and space. Routledge.
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.
Swarbrooke, J. and Horner, S., 2012. Business travel and tourism. Routledge.
Theobald, W. F. ed., 2012. Global tourism. Routledge.
Vellas, F., 2016. The international marketing of travel and tourism: A strategic approach.
Macmillan International Higher Education.
Vu, H. Q., and et. Al,. 2015. Exploring the travel behaviors of inbound tourists to Hong Kong
using geotagged photos. Tourism Management. 46. pp.222-232.
Online

Structure of the travel and tourism industry. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.marketwidth.com/Economic_Value_of_Travel_and_Tourism_Industry.
htm>.