Special Interest Tourism Report: Analysis and Evaluation - HND Unit 13

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Special Interest Tourism (SIT), covering various aspects such as the definition of SIT, differentiation between special interest operators and specialist operators, and a diagrammatic classification of SIT. The report delves into the range and diversity of SIT packages, evaluating how these packages meet the needs of different tourists. It also assesses tourism trends, factors, and changes in demand that have contributed to the development of SIT. Furthermore, the report analyzes the appeal of four special interest package types, evaluates the motivations of tourists, and discusses different organizational and logistical issues within SIT. It concludes with a discussion on how operators can resolve these issues to ensure successful tourism experiences. The report also includes various examples of SIT packages, benefits of features, and a classification chart to illustrate the diversity within the industry.

Special Interest Tourism

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
a) Discussing Special Interest Tourism and difference between Special Interest Operator and
Specialist Operator.................................................................................................................1
b) Investigate and create a diagrammatic classification chart to show the range and diversity
of SIT......................................................................................................................................3
c) Evaluating how the range and diversity of packages will meet the needs of different tourists
................................................................................................................................................6
d) Assessing tourism trends, factors and change in demand has contributed in special interest
tourism development..............................................................................................................8
Task 2.............................................................................................................................................10
a) Analysis of the appeal of four Special Interest types of packages:..................................10
b) Evaluation of motivation of tourists.................................................................................12
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................13
a) Different organizational and logistic issues in special interest tourism...........................13
b) Resolution of different issues by the operator..................................................................17
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Special interest tourism comprises tourist’s activities that provides service to special
interest groups of people. Tourism is the business of attracting, entertaining people by providing
various facilities. It means people travel for enjoying their holidays, leisure, adventure and
making fun. Tourism may be national and international. Nowadays, tourism industry is making
more money for international countries. The main aim of this industry is to attract more people
by providing the best accommodation and other facilities. It is the business of operating tours and
is responsible for affecting various factors like economy, environment and social and cultural of
the people.
Huttons travel is a travel company of UK which is listed in London Stock Exchange. It
was established in the year 2007 by Huttons travel and sons. Its total revenue is approximately
£7,812 million and has employed 21,940 employees to provide best services to the tourists
(Petrić and Mandić, 2014). Manchester city and football club of Peterborough United are
sponsored by Huttons travel. It is giving its services in Germany, UK and Europe and gives
services to 19.1 million tourists every year. Further, it has owned 97 aircraft and 2,926 stores.
In this report, the special interest tourism is defined in the context of product
differentiation and types of tourism. The contribution of tourists, trends, shift in interests of
visitors in the development of Special Interest tourism is defined. Evaluation of how expectations
of tourists are fulfilled by special interest tourism. Further, analysis of different types of
packages and their costs are studied. Moreover, the evaluation of logistics and organisational
issues are discussed. Effect of resolution strategies on Special interest tourism are studied.
Task 1
a) Discussing Special Interest Tourism and difference between Special Interest Operator and
Specialist Operator
Special Interest Tourism (SIT) is considered as a part of current tourism industry. People
now are much more excited for travelling abroad and wish for something different rather than
sun and moon. Special interest tourism is one such tourism, that had replaced the conventional
travel packages and provide its tourists with appealing packages according to needs of clients.
Special interest tourism is among the quickest flourishing region inside the tourism business
(Costa, Panyik and Buhalis, 2013). It mainly contains various unit of expert tourism activities
that are distinct from the conventional collective tourism, conveying that tourists will begin to
1

get more varied and challenging holiday experiences. It is a type of tourism that brings together
tours that are related to the hobbies and interests of respective individuals. It mainly
compromises of four experiences-:
 Satisfying experience
 Enrichment
 Adventurous experience
 Learning experience
The simple interest tourism, assist the customer to acquire more, improve their awareness
and express themselves. The clients demand high standards of work and personalized focus.
They wish to travel in a healthy environment and want to have a beautiful experience. The range
that SIT offers is tremendous. Ways of categorizing various types of tourism is according to the
interest that causes people to travel (Rogerson and Collins, 2015). The tourism manager should
have an idea about why the people are going to a particular place, they should create a package
that supports the reason for travelling. Huttons travel is one of the leading travel company
affiliated to commercial enterprise that offers a huge range of services that includes Insurance,
travel, e-business etc.
The Huttons travel offer various tour packages like coach holidays, fly holidays, cruise, event
show and resort holidays etc.,
Special Interest Operator
This is a type of tour operator that keeps the packages together according to the hobbies
and likeness for small bunch of individuals. These group live together with a specialized group
leader. The type of package decides the number of departures. They are mainly dependent on
seasons.
Specialist Operator
This operator is specialized in a holiday type or a particular destination. The size of the
operator will decide the number of tourists in a specialist package. These operators have regular
departures for the entire season. They are free to make out their own itinerary once the tourist
arrives at their destination. They also provide outing to several tourist attractions. They are more
bendable for the client so that they can do what they want to do, they mainly work for the
traveller interests. For example, cycling holidays, trekking. They mainly have less customer than
other operators.
2

Special Interest Operator Specialist Operator
These operators package the groups that are small
and less.
It will depend upon the size of operator that will
decide the number of tourists.
In this the group of people will live together
throughout the tour (Van Rheenen, Cernaianu and
Sobry, 2017).
In this the tourists are free to make plans of their
desired destination.
These packages can be seasonal or one off. This will work on daily basis throughout the year.
There will be specialized leader to guide the
people throughout the journey.
A tour representative will be there on the journey.
This will be a set of planned guides for travelling This is not a planned one.
Different range of operators-
Finland Northern lights holidays- this will be including the different type of winter activities
like that of light adventures, aurora workshops, cross country skiing, snowmobiling etc. the tour
will be including 5 days and 6 nights package of about £1445 to £1645. All the direct flights,
airport transfer, accommodation and also free use of snowshoes (Finland Northern lights
holidays, 2018). Thus, this will be enabling to see lighting show which will be taking place in
wild jungles of Finland and also whole accommodation and site seeing will be pre decided so
that there are no further problems.
3

Illustration 1: Finland Northern lights holidays
[Source: Finland Northern lights holidays, 2018]
Archaeology holiday in Greece- this will be of 8 days and 7 nights with amount of £1150
breakfast, accommodation, transportation, tickets fee and flights tickets are all included within
price. Highlighted of this tour package will be ancient Olympia, Delphi, Tripoli, ancient Gosport
etc., The tour will be including the depth study of 3500 year old historic places and birthplace of
science as well (Archaeology holiday in Greece, 2018). The biggest benefit will be this only that
everyone can come to know about history and covering all major cities of Greece. The whole trip
would be based on small group holiday with maximum of 20 people and including the tour guide
and this guide will also be travelling along with group so that they could easily experiencing and
learning from tour.
Yoga holidays in Spain- this would be including retreats that too near sea into luxurious hotels
accompanied with yoga teachers this tour will last to 6 days and 5 nights with amount ranging
from £565 to £800. Healthy food, great reviews and optional activities with all the guest be
having own en suite rooms (Yoga holidays in Spain, 2018). The major highlights would be
4

morning and evening yoga classes, mediation, coastal hiking, Spanish cookery workshop,
refreshments etc., All the early bookings will be receiving free massage and mini facial and also
the choice of yoga teachers.
Illustration 2: Yoga holidays in Spain
[Source: Yoga holidays in Spain, 2018]
Benefits of features-
Transportation facilities- this will be enabling and also saving time of all the tourist so that
they are having lot of time to enjoy their holidays.
Meals- all the meals including breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffee or tea will be included within
the amount which is been taken at the starting this will also be saving time.
Accommodation- this will be beneficial in refreshment or mind and body of the tourist who will
be getting tried after hiking or travelling.
Tour guides- they will be telling and explaining about history of Greece as they are
accompanying the tourist throughout the tour or trip. This become easy to understand and learn
from the tour.
5

b) Investigate and create a diagrammatic classification chart to show the range and diversity of
SIT
SIT provide tourism on education, sports, entertainment, beauty products and so on.
Various products are also divided as above water, below water, rural etc. Products that comes
under SIT are as follows-:
 Tourism providing education: This type of service is one of the well-known SIT. In
order to enhance education system there are tours that are being organized. People are
also travelling to improve the education system, to get knowledge of foreign languages
like French, German. To learn foreign languages people, take special training. Travel
company also promotes the diversity of people through strong company policies. This
tourism also provides short time period courses so that learners can get to improve their
language (Ferreira and Hunter, 2017).
Short term language courses and classes on different courses related to their studies are
developed to improve their second language and knowledge. Like if we are going to any other
country then it is required to learnt the language of that country so that it is easy to settle.
 Tourism on culture: These are related to cultural holidays. People visit monuments,
museums or visiting theatres. Historical attractions and resources are focused by Travel
company tourism. Cultural tourism provides its tourist with the chance to see and
acknowledge the essential traits of the culture that may have people and their different
way of living.
Cultural trainings of particular state and country are provided to increase the number of tourists
and help them to interact more with the people of the destination place.
 Tourism related to religious events: The main goal of such tourism is to focus on
visiting religious places. Like the holy land, here the tourists cover up the entire world of
Jesus and enjoy the activities such as rides and enjoy themselves. The operator of such
tourism comes under specialist tour operators.
Example: Providing various religious books and special programs on religious gurus.
 Tourism on Sports: In this type of tourism people take holiday to see their favourite
sports and to participate in it. The operators providing such packages also comes under
specialist operator (McKercher, 2016). Such operator provides packages related to world
6

cup, internal tournaments etc. which help them to enjoy the pleasure of different events at
reasonable price.
Free tickets for live matches in Olympics stadium and provide chance to meet with superstars of
hockey and football players.
 Tourism on health and wellness-: Through this tourism people want to pay attention to
their health-related issues, they want to look better, lose more weight, to reduce the
effects of ageing etc. This type of tourism had become more popular as people have
become more conscious related to their healthcare. There are basically two parts of health
and wellness tourism: spa hotels and medical tourism. Travel company tourism provide
the best spa's packages in the UK.
Providing free yoga treatment and Nordic walking to attract more health nand wellness
concerned tourists.
SIT can further be divided on the basis of environment. Under environment comes land, air,
wildlife etc.
 Land Tourism- Under land based tourism comes trekking, cycling. The way of
travelling through rail. There are luxurious trains that are appealing to the customers’
7
Illustration 3: Sports Tourism
(Source: Global Sport Tourism is expected to flourish in Europe, 2015)

needs and provide passengers to see some beautiful view from train. Travel company
tourism also provide its customers with some good railway experience with trains that
have luxurious suites with baths and well-furnished beds (Harper, Khey and Nolan,
2013). These also offer some fresh good meals.
Skydiving and free boating in big rivers like packages will attract more customers towards
tourism. This will help them to meet their desire of enjoying various places and adventures.
 Water Tourism-This can come in the form of underwater tasks like swimming, diving
event. The Travel company tourism offer some excellent package for tourists that are
looking for such activities which will attract them to prefer water services.
Swimming with Dolphins and providing free entry in water parks.
 Nature and wildness Tourism- Such tourism pays its observation on the wild animals
and birds. Like wildlife sanctuaries. Tourist who are animal lovers are interested in such
packages.
For example, Bird watching and visit to wildlife sanctuaries. This will provide more leisure and
enjoyment specially to nature and wildlife loving people.
8

The success of SIT can be measure by ensuring that tourist types are matched with tourist
products. Travel company promotes diversification by treating everyone equally depending upon
the capabilities based on the need for business. So no illegal or harassment is done on the basis
of nationality, colour, sex, age etc.
c) Evaluating how the range and diversity of packages will meet the needs of different tourists
Special interest tourism has to provide four main experiences to their customers like
rewarding, learning experiences, enriching and adventurous experiences. Tourists mainly focuses
on high standard of services and facilities (Holden, 2016). For this, Travel company Travel
Company has provided various packages to meet the needs of people at single trip. The
organisation has provided various packages to different types of tourists. For example, it is
providing packages which are related to the wildlife and sports loving people. It has given
various discounts on rail and bus journey so that can attract more tourists.
9
Illustration 4: Range and diversity of special interest tourism

Further, various packages are provided by the company which includes land, water, nature
tourism to make their journey comfortable, easy and profitable. Land, water and natural tourism
will attract the customers to enjoy various activities like cycling, trekking, swimming etc.
Moreover, it has provided luxurious train facilities like well-furnished beds and dining
area to enjoy food. These gives them thrilling experience and help them to learn the culture,
language of the region. Nature tourism attract the visitors which love animals and birds
(Hjalager, 2015). Travel company organisation has included bird and animals Sanctuary Park so
that nature loving tourists can also feel that the company is taking care of the needs of each and
every tourist.
Special interest tourists are also provided various tourism events which are based on
religious, educational, health and sports related activities. Through these activities, the visitors
are able to gain knowledge of various culture of the country.
Furthermore, these activities have helped the visitors to learn new languages and heritage of
monuments. Travel company has given concentration on health and wellness tourism to
encourage the people to take safety measures during travelling. For this, they have provided spa
and other packages so that they feel comfortable.
Different packages related to the sports activities are provided by the travel company to
attract more sports loving tourists. Visitors which like Olympics, international tournaments,
cricket matches will come to different countries to enjoy these games. Therefore, the
organisation provides discounts on entry tickets and transport tickets to encourage more people
to visit the place by preferring their services to travel (Lau, Koo and Dwyer, 2017). They have
provided various offers like discounts on bringing more than three passengers with them.
Travel company has provided tourism related to education. Various tourists wants to
travel other countries to learn their language, culture and beliefs of the people. They also travel
other areas to complete their studies.
In order to attract educational tourists, they provide various offers to the students and
other visitors. They provide various tutors to the visitors which help them to learn the language
of different countries. These packages will motivate the tourists to have world tour by using their
services and travelling agency to complete their goals and objectives.
Travel company agency has contributed to motivate different tourism so that they can increase
their customers.
10