Report: Contemporary Issues Affecting Travel and Tourism in the UK

This report examines contemporary issues affecting the travel and tourism sector in the United Kingdom. It identifies technological advancements and their impact on tourist satisfaction, highlighting issues such as the lack of 24/7 online booking and network fluctuations. The report also addresses th...Read More

Contemporary issues in travel and tourism

Table of Contents
Task 1:........................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Issues regarding currently driving change in the travel and tourism sector in United
Kingdom:....................................................................................................................................3
1.2 Two different current issues:................................................................................................5
Reference list:.............................................................................................................................7

Task 1:
1.1 Issues regarding currently driving change in the travel and tourism sector in United
Kingdom:
Travel and tourism industry is an active contributor to the economy of UK. The
contribution gradually increased to more than 23.5% in last 5 financial years. However, as the
industry is unpredictable, it has been affected by some issues regarding chang in trend and
atmosphere of the remarkable place. As stated by Mowforth and Munt (2015), there are
various places in UK which fulfil the dream of the visitors such as Wales, London and
Scotland. Half of country economy is depending on the travel and tourism industry. More
than 12 million visitors come every year to experience what they always dreamed of. The
architecture, nature and atmosphere attract millions of tourists every year (Cohen and Cohen,
2012, p.2178). However, tourists have been found revolted from this popular holiday
destination due to some practical reasons such as:
Technological development:
As stated by Avraham (2015, p.225), technology plays an important role in travel and
tourism industry for maintaining tourist satisfaction and hospitality. Now the concept of the
holiday travelling became more sophisticated and tourists prefer luxury alongwith wonderful
destination. More than 80% tourists prefer airplane rather than train, ship or coach for
arriving or departing from London, Wales and Scotland. Some traditional airplane service
does not provide 24/7 online flight booking facility to the international tourist just because of
security verification of VISA permit (Seabra et al. 2013, p.506). However, booking the flight
ticket from authorised ticket counter is quite lengthy and a harassing process for tourists. On
other hand travellers use more technology than before to stay touch with their travel guide
expert. However, insignificant phone calls and messages from different travel agencies harass
the tourists (Chen et al. 2013, p.199). Therefore, unethical uses of technology and data
protection act have not been maintained by the travel and tourism industry.
It has often been noticed that network fluctuations affects the cellular devices carried
by the tourist. The travel and tourism industry has no such intention to implement the

computer based call service for the tourist. Therefore, uninformed regarding new
technological development directly decreases the interest of tourist.
Figure 1: Contribution of travel and tourism industry in global economy
(Source: Mowforth and Munt, 2015)
According to this graph, it is clear that the rate of contribution of travel and tourism industry
has decreased gradually. Due to technological flaws, the tourist number is decreased.
High package price:
High expense affects the outbound tourists’ plan to visit UK. Holiday trip in UK is
considered as most expensive trip for tourist. According to the poll feedback it is clear those
45% tourists are not planning to visit UK in next year. Among the 55% positive respondent,
21% are planning to stay their relative’s house while visiting UK (VisitBritain, 2016). On
the other hand UK people love to stay in their place and event they do not love to travel other
place for long time. They prefer to spend their weekends in fun place such as Buckingham
palace, London eye, Blackpool pleasure beach, Lake District and London museum.
On the other hand, the travel and tourism industry spend huge amount of money for
developing the accommodation, interior decoration and luxurious level to attract the tourist

(Cohen and Cohen, 2012, p.2195). Therefore, price of those packages are quite expensive so
that the tourist can’t afford it. That is reason tourists have lost their interest to visit UK.
Political reason:
Travel and tourism industry is depending on the political condition of country. In UK
political role has a great impact on the travelling industry because the political condition
depends on two different factors such as kingdom and democracy. The radical change of king
and queen and government change affects the political condition (Seabra et al. 2013, p.505).
Both of them are working in a combination and contributing their efforts to solve different
kind of problems regarding taxation, economic budgets and rules and regulation.
1.2 Two different current issues:
The two current issues being discussed are terrorism in the Middle East and political unrest in
North Africa.
Terrorism in Middle East
The Middle East has been destabilized due to the rise of political Islam and the
collapse of the Arab State. There is display of strong Islamic tendencies by the States which
were considered to be comparatively stable. These include Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia
which provide support to the radical groups engaging in terrorism (Inbar, 2016). Disruption
of the Arab State system was the first development that contributed to the growth of terrorism
in this area. There is large scale presence of religious fanatics in the Middle East area as
compared to any other region. These groups make indiscriminate use of violence against
those people who refuse to adhere to the religious approach.
The Middle East comprising of Oman, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Algeria etc.
are prone to terrorist attacks due to lack of political control and staunch religious views. This
is a current burning issue for the travel and tourism industry as the visitors avoid these places
owing to the terror warnings. Instances such as suicide bombing that shook Egypt in the
month of June last year instil fear among the travellers who avoid making tours to these
places. Similarly, Jordan witnessed its last terror attack in the year 2005 in which 60 people
were killed in three hotels.
Political unrest in North Africa
North Africa has been galvanized due to political demonstrations in Tunisia, Egypt
and Yemen. Egypt suffers from political unrest due to complaints about police corruption and

abuses. Similarly, Libya also suffers from political unrest due to high unemployment and
demands for freedom. The region experiences frequent protests for different groups that leads
to situation of chaos. Political crisis make the conditions within the nations in North Africa
difficult for normal daily life. This also threatens the tourists who restrain from planning
visits to these destination. The political unrest has led to categorization of the countries in this
region. The first group comprises of those countries that were severely affected by political
unrest such as Egypt and Tunisia (Bundhun, 2012). Second group comprises of those
countries that were moderately affected which include Jordan and Lebanon. The third group
is of those countries that managed to sustain growth despite political unrest. However, the
whole region of North Africa faces challenge in terms of travel and tourism due to the
burning issue of political unrest.

Reference list:
Books:
Mowforth, M. and Munt, I., 2015. Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalisation
and new tourism in the third world. Routledge.
Journals:
Avraham, E., 2015. Destination image repair during crisis: Attracting tourism during the
Arab Spring uprisings. Tourism Management, 47, pp.224-232.
Chen, H.J., Chen, P.J. and Okumus, F., 2013. The relationship between travel constraints and
destination image: A case study of Brunei. Tourism Management, 35, pp.198-208.
Cohen, E. and Cohen, S.A., 2012. Current sociological theories and issues in tourism. Annals
of Tourism Research, 39(4), pp.2177-2202.
Seabra, C., Dolnicar, S., Abrantes, J.L. and Kastenholz, E., 2013. Heterogeneity in risk and
safety perceptions of international tourists. Tourism Management, 36, pp.502-510.
Website:
VisitBritain. (2016). VisitBritain. [online] Available at:
https://www.visitbritain.com/gb/en [Accessed 12 Dec. 2016].
Inbar, E., 2016. The Middle East Will Remain a Source of Terrorism. [Online]. Available
Through: <https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/361-inbar-mideast-source-
terror/>. [Accessed on 28 April 2017].
Bundhun, R., 2012. Unrest spurs tourism challenges for Middle East and North Africa.
[Online]. Available Through:
<http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/tourism/unrest-spurs-tourism-
challenges-for-middle-east-and-north-africa>. [Accessed on 28 April 2017].