Tourist Destination Analysis: Visitor Numbers, Income & Trends

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of tourist destinations, focusing on visitor numbers, income generation, and future trends. It examines both leading and developing destinations, specifically comparing London and Mumbai based on their cultural, social, and physical features. The report further explores the impact of cultural, social, and physical features on the appeal of tourist destinations, analyzing statistics to determine tourism trends and predict future developments. Additionally, it discusses issues affecting the popularity of tourist destinations and the potential for responsible tourism to enhance host communities worldwide, with a focus on how tour operators like Virgin Holidays can adapt their strategies to meet evolving market demands and promote sustainable tourism practices.

Tourist Destinations

Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
LO1...................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 ANALYSE MAIN TOURIST DESTINATIONS AND GENERATORS OF THE WORLD IN TERMS OF
VISITOR NUMBERS AND INCOME GENERATION.........................................................................3
1.2 ANALYSE STATISTICS TO DETERMINE TOURISM DESTINATION TRENDS AND PREDICT
FUTURE TRENDS..........................................................................................................................6
LO2...................................................................................................................................................8
2.1 ANALYSE CULTURAL, SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES OF TOURIST DESTINATIONS
EXPLAINING THEIR APPEAL TO TOURISTS...................................................................................8
2.2 COMPARE FEATURES OF DEVELOPING AND LEADING TOURIST DESTINATIONS................10
LO3.................................................................................................................................................14
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION...................................................................................................14
LO4.................................................................................................................................................26
4.1 ANALYSE ISSUES THAT AFFECT THE POPULARITY OF TOURIST DESTINATIONS..................26
4.2 DISCUSS THE POTENTIAL FOR RESPONSIBLE TOURISM TO ENHANCE THE HOST
COMMUNITY AT WORLDWIDE TOURIST DESTINATIONS..........................................................28
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................31
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................32
1

INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism industry is very important for the development of any country and is
considered as one of the important pillar of the economy of country. It is observed since the
last few decades that the travel and tourism industry of UK as well as entire word is growing
very fast. People globally are showing interest in the travelling and spending big amount for the
purpose of travel. The purpose of travelling can vary from person to person, the reason behind
travelling includes; leisure, education, business, holidaying etc.
In UK, presently there are many tour operating companies which provide tour services to its
visitors all around the world, such tour operators include Virgin Holidays, Thomas Cook etc. For
this assignment Virgin holidays is taken into consideration. The main purpose of this operator is
to provide all the required services to its client and make them satisfy. The assignment gives a
comparison between developing and leading tourist destination of world and also predicts the
future trends which are helpful for the travel industry.
2

LO1
1.1 ANALYSE MAIN TOURIST DESTINATIONS AND GENERATORS OF THE
WORLD IN TERMS OF VISITOR NUMBERS AND INCOME GENERATION
Tourism of any tourist destination can be of two types, it can either be international or
domestic tourism. UK is also having both kinds of tourism which is very much helpful in the
development of economy of UK. Under international tourism, people from UK either go to visit
other countries or visitors comes to visit UK from other countries. While in domestic tourism,
people from UK visits different parts within the region, it usually takes place in a day or
overnight trips (Ghimire, 2013). Tourism industry is growing fast and is contributing in the
development of country. In today’s world, every country is trying their best to get the best
possible numbers of tourist. UK is world 8TH biggest tourist destination with total number of
visitors visiting it in 2015 be 36.115 million. The popular tourist destination of UK includes;
Buckingham Palace of London, Royal Mile shops, castle & art festivals, Roman Bath, Skye etc.
There are different types of tourist destinations in UK which attract variety of visitors in the
country.
FIGURE 1: TOURISM TO UK
SOURCE: [https://ashbysgeograpghysite.weebly.com/tourism-within-the-uk.html]
3

The numbers of visitors are increasing rapidly in UK which is clearly shown by the picture above.
In 2003 the number of tourist was 24.7 million in UK which goes up to 30.7 million in 2011 and
34.3 million in 2014. It is forecasted by Visit Britain that the number will reach to 41.7 million in
2018. It is estimated that UK is increasing its tourism sector and showing a growth of 5% per
year. Tourists who are coming to visit tourist destinations bring a huge income for UK. In 2013
tourist spend around £11.855 billion which increased to £21.849 billion in 2014.
Figure 2: INTERNATIONAL TOURIST ARRIVAL
Source: [http://www.swissperu.org/2017/05]
The above image shows the numbers of international tourist arrival in 2012-2013. Form the
image above it can be seen that UK is ranked 8th in the world in terms of tourist arrival. France is
number 1 with total arrival of tourist being 83 million. UK has shown a growth and the numbers
of visitors increased from 29.3 million to 31.2 million. One of the main reasons behind such
growth is tour operator companies like virgin holidays which offers attractive policies to visitors
4

and which makes the visitors to invest in their offers and helps the tourist destination of host
country develop (Mason, 2015).
5

1.2 ANALYSE STATISTICS TO DETERMINE TOURISM DESTINATION TRENDS
AND PREDICT FUTURE TRENDS
Tourism department is one of the major sources of revenue generator in UK and many other
countries. There is a mixture of many factors in the tourism department such as; cultural
tourism, medical tourism, dark tourism, seasonal tourism etc. (Wang, 2014). London among the
other destination is the leading tourist destination in UK and contributes a big amount in the
economy of UK. The country is having diverse numbers of destinations which attract people all
around the globe. In UK more than 40% of tourist visits for the purpose of fun, holidaying,
partying etc and other 30% are for the purpose of education or business.
Heritage plays an important role in UK’s culture; many people from different parts of world
visits such destinations and spend a large amount to such places. It was shown in a survey
conducted in UK that among top five destination that tourist visits, heritage is at number one
and is most popular. The main reason behind such most visits to such places is because it
provides an experience of rich culture to the visitors. Thus it can be concluded that culture
tourism becomes the latest trends in the tourism industry of UK. It is the main duty of tour
operators like virgin holidays to change their strategies and policies according to the changing
trends of in the travel and tour sectors. The image below clearly shows that in 2016 the
average number of trips per person in UK is quite high.
FIGURE 3: TRIPS PER PERSON IN UK
SOURCE: [https://www.cyclinguk.org/resources/cycling-uk-cycling-statistics]
6

Considering about the future trends of travel industry, it is expected that the travel industry will
see so many changes in the future. Unemployment rates will be reduced as their will be growth
in the travel industry of UK as well as the whole world. Organisations for tour operation such as
Thomas cook and virgin holidays are providing jobs to the locals when there is heavy season of
tourism. Also transportation modes, communication modes, payments methods become easy
and people can easily make use of it (Laudon and Traver, 2013). It is also expected that tour and
travel industry will make the policies accordingly to prevent the loss of excessive resources in
the market. The committee and the marketing managers of virgin holidays are conducting time
to time surveys and collecting feedbacks from people to research the market and analyse all the
current as well as future trends of market. Virgin holidays will then develop the strategies and
policies which would help in the development and tourism industry and satisfy their customers
with the existing trends present in market at that time.
7

LO2
2.1 ANALYSE CULTURAL, SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES OF TOURIST
DESTINATIONS EXPLAINING THEIR APPEAL TO TOURISTS
Every tourist destination in the world has some key features into it which attract the visitors
who then come and invest on the destinations. Presence of those features in the destination
will help them to stand out better than other places. For this section of report two destinations
i.e. one leading and other developing is taken into considerations which are London (UK) and
Mumbai (India) respectively. Both the destinations are getting huge numbers of visitors in
today’s scenario and generating more revenue every year. The impact on Cultural, social, and
physical features on both the tourism destination are as follows:
CULTURAL FEATURES
Every destination has the presence of some kind of culture it which plays an important role in
attracting the tourist. This culture can be in the form of monuments, foods, drinks, cloths,
museums, language etc. (Ringer, 2013). People get connected with these cultures and then visit
the places. UK is known for its well-developed cultural destination in the world. Whereas India
is also having a kind of culture which is attracting a lot many people, Mumbai is known for its
diverse culture and traditions. Both the destinations which are discussed in this section offer
variety of culture which is very helpful in attracting variety of tourist.
SOCIAL FEATURES
Social features of any tourist destination include some religious, national, regional etc. factors
in it. All the government policies, market demand, market trends, resources, economic rate etc
are some of the features which are included in it and can either have a positive as well as
negative effect on the destination. Both the countries UK and India have their own policies and
plan regarding their tourist destination. Many plans are applied in the countries to appeal more
tourists in the country.
8

PHYSICAL FEATURES
Physical features of any country refer to the external structure of a tourist destination. Tourist
usually gets attracted with the outer beauty first and then proceed further. Therefore it is very
important for every country to maintain and develop the external feature of the destinations
(Swarbrooke and Page, 2012). This can attract the tourist globally and thus, contribute in the
economy of host country. Both the places London and Bangkok are beautiful and attractive
places which attract the tourist very much. The tourist destinations of London include; big ben,
London eye, Tower of London etc whereas the tourist destination of Mumbai include; Essel
world, Haji Ali Dargah, Gateway of India etc.
9

2.2 COMPARE FEATURES OF DEVELOPING AND LEADING TOURIST
DESTINATIONS
There are varieties of tourist destination in world and every destination is somehow different
from others in some aspects. Features which are the major reason in comparing between the
tourist destinations and concluding whether they are developed or not include; social, physical
and cultural features. For this section of assignment comparison is made between UK and India
among both one is leading and other one is developing respectively.
FEATURES UK (LONDON) INDIA (MUMBAI)
Cultural The culture of UK is
developed by the history of
UK. Similarly the culture of UK
concerns on the engineering,
festivals, music, museum and
other entertainment features.
London is the capital city of
UK and is widely known for its
culture in the world. There
has lively nightlife of approx.
25.6 events on per thousand
people through music, theatre
and comedy. 44% of these
shows are of theatre. This
nightlife and shows attract a
lot of tourist who came from
far away and spend their time
and money in all this activities
(Bermingham and Brewer,
Culture of India is a mixture of
various things such as music,
food, traditional festivals etc.
Mumbai is the biggest
cosmopolitan city in India and
it is holding very traditional
culture of India in today’s
world. Music plays and
important role in the culture
of Mumbai and it serves
variety of old and traditional
music and dance forms.
Mumbai is blends of so many
Indian states therefore tourist
can came here and have a
brief idea of entire India.
Culture of Mumbai also
includes the festivals such as
Diwali, Ganesh chaturthi, Holi
10

2013). There is a variety of
landmark in London which is
aesthetically very beautiful
and adds to the beauty of
London.
etc. which attracts so many
people who visit to enjoy the
festivals. Culture of Mumbai
cannot complete without its
food, it has a variety of food
which is a special part of
Mumbai’s culture.
Physical feature London is not only the capital
city of London but it is also
most urbanised city there.
London is situated on a total
area of 610 sq. mi (1579 sq.
km). Highlands of London are
made up of valleys,
mountains, plains and hills.
This area is generally suitable
for farming as it has a cooler
climate. The most important
physical feature which is
included in London is River
Thames. Some other
destination which includes lot
of tourist in London includes;
Big ben, Buckingham palace
and the tube map etc.
Transportation also adds to
the physical features which
include the Tram system
A long coastline of Mumbai
consists of rocks, rivers,
beaches and mangrove
swamps. It is among the most
urbanised city in India and
one of the most populated
city in world. India is a
developing country and it
contributing a lot in the
development of its
infrastructure and tourist
destinations. Mumbai has a
variety of tourist destinations
for domestic as well as
international visitors. The
most famous destination of
Mumbai includes rock-cut
temple, Gateway of India,
Marine drive, etc. It also has a
quite a lot temples which is
the key reasons for the
11