A Report on Global Divisive Forces, Tourism Challenges and Responses

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the global tourism industry, focusing on the diverse forces that influence its patterns and operations. It explores how factors like weather conditions, technological advancements, economic fluctuations, and cultural elements significantly impact the sector. The report delves into the strategies employed by tour operators, specifically using Trailfinders as a case study, to navigate and overcome challenges posed by these dynamic forces. It highlights the importance of adapting to technological changes, leveraging social media, enhancing online booking systems, and utilizing digital marketing to maintain a competitive edge. Furthermore, the report identifies and discusses future challenges that the travel and tourism service providers are likely to face, including the evolving 'experience economy' and changing customer expectations. The study emphasizes the need for proactive strategies to ensure the sustainability and success of tourism businesses in an ever-changing global environment.

GLOBAL DIVISIVE
FORCES ,RESPONSE TO ONE FORCE ,
CHALLENGES FOR TOURISM
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3
1.Factors affecting global tourism patterns..................................................................................3
2. Appraising strategies to respond divisive force.......................................................................5
3. Future challenges for travel and tourism service providers.....................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism is one of the biggest industries in the world with many different types of
services. There are many factors in the environment which is influencing tourism industry, these
factors will be discussed in the present report. The report will analyse how various forces in the
environment are affecting tour operators and their services. This study will also determine how
Trainfinders overcome the challenged faced due to changing environment and external factors.
Furthermore, the future challenges that can influence sustainability of tour operators will be also
discussed in this report.
1.Factors affecting global tourism patterns
In the present time, travel and tourism sector is one of the most significant industries that
continuously increasing due to diverse environmental changes (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick,
2016). This industry also aids in increasing national income as it consists with heritage, medical,
cultural and sports tourism. However, because of several factors in the global environment such
as technology, customer awareness, changing legislations, economy, weather condition, natural
disasters etc. Following are various global diverse forces that influence travel and tourism sector
in large manner-
Weather condition- It is one of the factor that affect travel and tourism sector in large manner.
If country encounters an extreme bad weather condition such as blizzard, heat wave, heavy snow
fall off then no visitors will like to visit in that country (Frew, 2017). For smooth running of
travel and tourism activities in the country, weather is one of the significant aspect. Visitors are
always likes to visits that place that have secure and safe weather condition. Due to heavy
rainfall, floods, heat wave etc, tourist cannot mat visit and it will be very inconvenient to
shopping and sightseeing. Before select the place and destination in any country for travel and
tourism, visitors always consider the weather condition of the country because demand of
tourism is largely depends upon the weather condition.
Technological factor- This is another one of the most significant factor that has influenced
travel and tourism sector in large manner. The advancement of the internet has changed the
criteria of working within the travel and tourism sector(Cornelissen, 2017). Customers can easily
search their best destination for tourism with help of internet and also make their booking of
flight, Hotel room etc. Various Tourism suppliers such as British Airways, Lufthanasa etc has
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started applying ecommerce applications to facilitate visitors. By these applications, travellers
cab directly access the reservation system. Travel and tourism organisation can easily connect
with customers directly with help of internet and social media. Corporation designs their
webpage on the internet through which visitors can easily check the price of hotel, transportation
facilities, destination facilities that company will provide them, attractive discounts and
additional features that associated with tourism services. This thing helps to tourism organisation
in maintaining connectivity with customers and makes business promotion in the market. Social
media also helps to tourism sector in promoting and advertising activities (Doolin, Burgess and
Cooper, 2017). Corporation can easily get information regarding destination, price, time of
flights, hotel location, room numbers, discount etc. Tourism provider can easily resolve queries
and access to customer actual expectation and regarding travel and tourism activities.
Technological changes also bring innovation and creativity within the travel and tourism sector
because services and operation in this sector improved as compare to the previous time.
Corporation in the tourism sector can easily operate its business s with help of internet and other
technologies. In this sector there are numbers of tourism organisation increased that serves the
high quality of tourism services to customers (Factors affecting tourism industry. 2017). They
uses high quality of technology in their business for attract the customer and make them highly
satisfy.
Economy- Economical factor is another one of the crucial element in the travel and tourism
sector that can affect the travel and tourism sector in large manner. This factor is directly
connected with economic condition of the country that directly and indirectly affects travel and
tourism services and cost (Anwar and Sohail, 2017). This factor consists with several condition
such as recession, inflation etc that have major influence upon the services of travel and tourism
sector. Fluctuation in the local and global economies can influence the level of demand and
supply in travel and tourism sector. Favourable economic situation can affect the demand of
tourism at the global level. While employment and economic activity is high then visitors have
sufficient disposal income to spend of tourism and travel activity. While in the country
economic condition is good like employment is high and prices are declined upon the services
and items then people can make saving for spend upon travel and tourism (Kotler and
Armstrong, 2016). On the other hand lower economic activity and employment lead to low
consumption of tourisms service. In the period of recession, travel and tourism demand fell
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because people were forced to cut down on extra costs and level of employment had decreased at
global level. Due to the fluctuation in the local economies in the various nations, demand of the
tourism industry is largely influenced. Tourism organisation also considers this factor at the time
of designing the pricing policies. The interest rate, inflation, recession affect the pricing policy of
this sector.
Cultural factor- This factor also have a deep impact on the demand of the tourism. It has been
seen that millions of people in every year go to the religious tours such as Muslim going to
Mecca and the Christians go to their holy cities etc. Majority of people go to the cultural tour for
understand the culture and region of the other nations (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2016). The
demand of the travel and tourism sector is also affected by the cultural and regional factor in the
global environment. Buddhist and Hindu culture in the Asian Countries hold special appeals for
foreign tourist and attract tourist in large manner. Hence, it can be said that various people’s likes
to visits in the other countries for analyse and understand their region and culture. Thus, cultural
factors in the travel and tourism sector can affect the demand of tourism in large manner.
2. Appraising strategies to respond divisive force
Technology is a major force that influences most of the organizations in different sectors,
travel and tourism is an industry that is highly affected due to change in technologies in the
business environment. There are a lot of advancement in technology such as increase in internet
users, social media platforms etc. In order to survive in the market it is very essential for the tour
operators to manage the technological change in the environment. The rate of change in
technologies is at a rapid pace, due to the development of technologies such as artificial learning,
machine learning, advancement in digital technology etc, various business are facing challenges.
There are many organization which are trying to overcome these challenges due to technological
changes in the environment (Strategies to overcome challenges in tourism. 2017). I t is very
important to develop and implement effective strategies to Trailfinders is one of the leading tour
operators in UK that has developed effective strategies o overcome challenges raised due to
advancement in technology. These strategies can be discussed as below –
 Augmented and Virtual reality – Increasing use of these technologies have brought a
great changes in travel and tourism industry. The virtual reality or VR technology helps
to enhance customer’s experience as well as to promote products and services.
Trailfinders utilize AR and VR technology to show transportation channels, tour
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activities etc to their customers for attracting the, and increasing sales. Enhancing
experience of travelers helps them to make decisions related to their tour package,
destination etc.
Social media marketing – Another most emerging trend or force in the environment is increasing
use of social media. The internet users are increasing day by day with increase in number of
social media users. There are various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter,
instagram etc, which are highly used by many companies or business to promote their products
and services. Trailfinders also manage and maintain its various social media pages or accounts to
provide updates and promote its services to a huge audience all over the world (Álvarez, Martín
and Casielles, 2017). The organization focus on creating an effective online existence that also
helps to collect feedbacks and reviews directly from the customers.
 Online bookings – Increasing use of internet is one of the major trends within tourism
industry. Each and every tour operator is trying to adapt this change in the environment to
meet this trend. Trailfinders has improved its online selling of services or tour packages
to its customers for increasing the sales. The company sells tour packages on various
online platforms such as websites, portals etc. It helps to attract more and more customers
globally, the company can also promote discounts or offers on online purchase.
Mobile technology – The advancement in mobile technology is also a great evolvement in the
business environment that had a major impact on organization operating in different industries.
Tour operators are also influenced by mobile technologies as individuals find it easier to book
their tickets, accommodation and packages directly through mobile applications (Kozinets,
2017). Trailfinders also develop a mobile friendly online platform to let travelers explore
services offered by them and book their trips according to t heir requirements easily.
 Artificial intelligence – The development of technology resulted in enhancement of
artificial intelligence, companies are eliminating the use of human intelligence in the
present world of upgraded technology. Trailfinders also focuses on using artificial
intelligence in their organization to perform various business activities such as bookings,
automated customer care services, computerized payments and transaction etc that help to
increase effectiveness and efficiency in the business.
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Digital marketing – Each and every organization needs to promote its products or services in the
market. There is a intense competition within tourism industry due to increasing number of tour
operators (Morrison and Teixeira, 2017). Not all the companies in tourism industry are capable
enough to meet the changes in technology. But it is necessary to adopt new method of marketing
in order to achieve a good position in the industry and marketplace. Trailfinders successfully
adopted digital marketing technique to promote its tourism services. There are various methods
of digital marketing such as pay per click, Google ad services and other web advertisement.
These digital marketing techniques help Trailfinders to attract more and more customers all over
the world and increase sales.
All the above strategies help Trailfinders to achieve its goals and objectives
easily, the company focus on adopting new technologies effectively in their business activities.
Technological advancement assists the organization to attract more and more travelers and
increase sales.
3. Future challenges for travel and tourism service providers
There are various challenges tourism industry is facing in the present changing global
environment these issues are very essential to be managed in order to achieve competitive
advantages in the market (Moutinho, 2016). The future trends will be much more influencing as
trends of market and customers are changing with a pace. It is very essential for tour operators
such as Trailfinders to make effective strategies that help them to sustain in market or industry
by overcoming these future challenges. The challenges that may influence travel and tourism in
future can be discussed as below –
Experience economy - In older times, travellers just needed food, accommodation and a
destination to visit. But nowadays people are experienced that need high quality of services,
accommodation facilities, adventure activities etc in return of the money they spend on a tour.
These changing and increasing demands or needs of the travellers are a major challenge that can
influence travel and tourism industry in future (Future trends in tourism. 2017). The people
buying tour packages need value for money and fulfilling this demand is very difficult for a tour
operator as there is a increase in cost of the tourism services and there are many competitors in
the industry (Middleton and et.al., 2017). Therefore it is challenging to offer a satisfying deal to
the travellers.
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Changing weather conditions – The another major future challenge that can influence tourism
industry is the changing weather or climatic conditions of the environment. Due to global
warming environment is getting damaged which is resulting in bad or uncertain climatic
conditions in most of the countries in the world (Tussyadiah and Sigala, 2018.). This changing
environment or weather condition can get worst in future that can have a negative impact on
tourism industry as many of the destinations are popular for having a pleasant weather or
climate. It is a huge challenge for tour operators to sustain and provide memorable services to
their customers.
Over tourism – As population is increasing day by day, the demand of products and services is
also enhancing at a high rate. It is obvious that people are attracted towards travelling and
exploring new places in different parts of the world. This can create a over demand of tourism
services that can negatively affect quality of the services as well as environment of the
destinations (Palmer and McCole, 2017). Excessive demand is difficult to be handled effectively
and providing value for money services to the customers.
Social trends – The society and people are also changing with time, people are getting attracted
towards differed cultures and heritage places. Due to rise in modernization social culture of
different places is getting affected. In future there will be no more heritage places available for
the travellers. It will definitely affect the tourism industry as customers demanding for heritage
and cultural experience would not get satisfied.
CONCLUSION
The above report concluded that there are various factors in the environment that is
affecting travel and tourism industry. These factors are technological, social, political,
economical etc as identified in the study. This report also determined various strategies used by
Trailfinders tour operator to control and manage the technological changes in the environment
that have a major impact on tourism industry and functions of tour operators such as digital
marketing, use of social media etc. Furthermore, future challenges which can influence tourism
industry are also discussed in this report such as social trend, over tourism and so on.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Álvarez, L.S., Martín, A.M.D. and Casielles, R.V., 2017. Relationship marketing and
information and communication technologies: Analysis of retail travel agencies. Journal
of Travel Research. 45(4).pp.453-463.
Anwar, S.A. and Sohail, M.S., 2017. Festival tourism in the United Arab Emirates: First-time
versus repeat visitor perceptions. Journal of Vacation Marketing. 10(2). pp.161-170.
Doolin, B., Burgess, L. and Cooper, J., 2017. Evaluating the use of the Web for tourism
marketing: a case study from New Zealand. Tourism management. 23(5), pp.557-561.
Frew, A.J., 2017. Information and communications technology research in the travel and tourism
domain: Perspective and direction. Journal of Travel Research. 39(2).pp.136-145.
Jobber, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2016. Principles and practice of marketing(No. 7th).
McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G., 2016. Principles of marketing. Pearson Education.
Kotler, P., Bowen, J.T. and Makens, J.C., 2016. Marketing for hospitality and tourism (Vol.
893). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice hall.
Kozinets, R.V., 2017. The field behind the screen: using netnography for marketing research in
online communities. Journal of marketing research. 39(1). pp.61-72.`
Middleton, V.T., Fyall, A., Morgan, M. and Ranchhod, A., 2017. Marketing in travel and
tourism. Routledge.
Morrison, A. and Teixeira, R., 2017. Small business performance: a tourism sector
focus. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 11(2), pp.166-173.
Moutinho, L. ed., 2016. Strategic management in tourism. CABI.
Palmer, A. and McCole, P., 2017. The role of electronic commerce in creating virtual tourism
destination marketing organisations. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management. 12(3). pp.198-204.
Cornelissen, S., 2017. The global tourism system: Governance, development and lessons from
South Africa. Routledge.
Tussyadiah, I.P. and Sigala, M., 2018. Shareable tourism: tourism marketing in the sharing
economy.
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Online
Future trends in tourism. 2017. [Online]. Available through:<https://travelshift.com/challenges-
facing-travel-agencies/>.
Factors affecting tourism industry. 2017. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.tutorialspoint.com/tourism_management/tourism_management_factors_af
fecting.htm>.
Strategies to overcome challenges in tourism. 2017. [Online]. Available
through:<https://resources.elitetranslations.asia/2017/08/29/challenges-confronting-travel-
industry/>.
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