Exploring Tourist Destinations in the UK and Globally

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TOURIST DESTINATIONS
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
LO1..................................................................................................................................................4
1.1................................................................................................................................................4
1.2................................................................................................................................................6
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................9
LO2..................................................................................................................................................9
2.1................................................................................................................................................9
2.2..............................................................................................................................................10
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................12
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................12
3.1..............................................................................................................................................12
3.2..............................................................................................................................................15
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................16
LO4................................................................................................................................................16
4.1..............................................................................................................................................16
4.2..............................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................19
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Introduction
Tourism is the commercial organization that performs the operations of holidays by providing
people to visit the places that they are interested in or in simple terms it can be defined as the
travelling of people to different places for fun. This may include activities like camping and
sightseeing. The people are tourists who travel to different places just for fun and the places
where they go are called as the tourist destinations. In this report, a deep study on the tourist
destination will be done and for effectively studying the topic the chosen company is the Audley
Travel Group Limited which is also known as the Audley travel.The discussion on the
understanding the scope of key destinations for tourist in the UK and worldwide will be done in
this study. The discussion on the physical, social, and cultural features of the tourist destinations
will be done in this study. Then, identification of the issues that might affect the popularity of the
tourist destination will be done.
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Task 1
LO1
1.1
Tourist destinations are the places where most of the people who travel for fun visit; they can be
also called as tourists. There are numerous number of tourist destinations in the world where
tourists visit and spend their quality time and also there are many countries who are the
generators of the tourists. Travelling for fun has become a new trend for the people of today’s
generation and people from all around the world is practicing tourism. The major tourist
destination countries are the UK, Spain, France, and Thailand. These are the major destination
for tourists because the number of visitors per year in the UK is 38 million, number of visitors
per year in Spain is 81 million, number of visitors per year in France is 87 million, and the
number of visitors per year in Thailand is 36 million (Amir, et. al., 2015).
The main tourist generating countries for the United Kingdom is France that has provided the
most visit to UK with the number of visitors as 4.06 million. Spain is a very popular country for
the tourist destination since 1970s. People from all around the world visit Spain in all season but
especially it is best for the summer holidays. A large number of visitors come to Spain from the
United Kingdom with around 18 million of tourist per year. France is another major tourist
destination that receives a lot of visitors from around the world but the most number of visitors
come to France are from Switzerland with around 6 million visitors per year. Thailand has been a
major tourist destination for tourists from around the world from decades but number of tourists
from China has topped the list with around 8 million tourists that have visited Thailand per year
and the number is rising every year.
It has been observed from studies that the tourism has been a sector which is growing rapidly
since 2010 in the UK in terms of income generating and also in the terms of employment. The
UK is forecast to have an industry of the tourism which will be by 2025 worth around £257
billion. The industry of travel and tourism has contributed 10-11% per cent to the Gross
Domestic Product of the UK in the year 2013. Contribution to the Gross Domestic Product by
the industry of travel and tourism in France is around 77 billion Euros in 2013 from which 30 per
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cent comes from the visitors internationally and 70 per cent from spending on the domestic
tourism (Boes, et. al., 2016). The contribution of the industry of tourism in Thailand to the Gross
Domestic Product was found to be around 19.5 per cent of the Thailand’s Gross Domestic
Product.
Figure 1: contribution of the tourism industry to the GDP of France.
From the above figure it can easily see that the industry of tourism has contributed majorly to the
Gross Domestic Product of France.
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The total contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of the tourism and travel in Spain from the
year 2012 to 2018 has been shown in the graph below.
Figure 2: contribution of tourism industry to the GDP of Spain.
It can be observed effectively from the above graph that the tourism industry in Spain is
regularly contributing to the Gross Domestic Product of Spain and the contribution is regularly
increasing every year (Claveria, 2016).
1.2
Current and future trends in the tourist destination
It has been observed from many different studies that the most important trend that is increasing
rapidly in the tourist destination is the educational and ecological tours. The tourists from
different countries demand the destinations to be educational and ecological where they can relax
and learn something in the meantime. Another current trend in the tourist destinations is that the
tourists want to visit the countries where the political stability is good and is increasing so they
do not face any type of legal problems in other countries. These trends in the tourist destinations
are needed to be considered by the government of the country with high tourist destinations
(Cucculell and Goffi, 2016).
Some more latest trends in the tourist destinations are as follows:
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 The booking for the basic requirements are increasing for the tourist destinations and it
has become a common trend in today’s generation.
 The destinations that are the tourists visiting are new and exotic. It has been observed
from many surveys that the around 20% of the tourism participants have visited to some
new destinations that has not been visited within years (Dwyer, et. al., 2016).
 The travellers of today’s generation are tends to visit the destinations that can provide
them the local experience culture and it has become a new trend for them.
 The travellers of today’s generation also started to love the tours that are adventurous and
full of enjoyment.
Below is the graph that shows the continents with the countries that have the above mentioned
trends has welcomed the most tourists arrivals in their tourist destinations.
Figure 3: projection of tourist arrivals from 1995 to 2030.
It can be also observed from the above graph that the future trends of the tourist destination are
assumed to be in the Asian and European countries. The future trends that might come into the
action after few years are experiencing of the unique handcrafting and providing the services to
tourist anywhere and anytime (Gillen, et. al., 2015). As it has been observed that people of
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today’s generation have become curious about knowing different cultures and experiences
unique and antique things (like handcrafting) and also the tourists of this generation can spend
money but in return of best services provided to them (like providing services anytime and
anywhere).
Some more future trends that will boost the industry of tours and travels are as follows:
 Some of the major and famous destinations for tourist are becoming overcrowded with
the visiting of a lot of tourists to the place and will become more crowded in the future
that will force the government to limit the influx of tourists to those places for the safety
of selves.
 The tourist destinations for the tourist in future will be sensory and experiential. The
travellers of this and future generation want to have genuine experience from their
travelling.
 The tourists of the future generation will seek for the authenticity which will play the role
of crucial and special ingredient to their travelling and vacations (Koo, et. al., 2016).
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Task 2
LO2
2.1
The tourism industry has seen a significant rise in recent years as more and more people have
started visiting such tourist places for spending a vacation away from their work and
responsibilities. An individual may visit a tourist destination for a reason which may be specific
to him/her and thus every tourist has his/her own reasons for visiting such destinations. The
major component of such practice is the appeal such destinations have for the people and how it
plays an important role in their choice of selection. For this assignment, 4 destinations have been
chosen – UK, Spain, France, and Thailand. All of the mentioned destinations have established
tourism industry and are considered to be major tourist destinations around the globe. For this
section 2 destinations will be discussed and their appeal for tourists, namely UK and Thailand. A
destination may appeal to a tourist for a number of reasons such as Cultural, Social and Physical
and tourist may give importance one over the other according to his/her preference. Chosen
destinations offer different tourism experience in terms of all the mentioned features that appeal
to the individual and hence are will provide a clear picture of different experiences offered by
them.
Cultural: Cultural heritage plays an important role in attracting tourists from around the World
as people are often seeking to explore different cultural norms and heritages. The UK has a rich
cultural heritage in the form of Historical Monuments which depicts and tells the story of ancient
Roman times. The UK is considered to have given birth to classical as well as modern art. In
comparison, Thailand is known for its religious beliefs blended into the culture and society as a
whole. There are many temples built around the country which are major tourist places in
Thailand.
Social: Another major reason that the tourists travel hundreds of miles away from their home is
to experience social lifestyle other than theirs and learn about other societies. The UK is one of
the oldest developed societies in the world such that it is known for its arts, commerce, and the
industrial revolution. 1st metro transit was established in London during the times of the
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Industrial Revolution. Thailand is known more to be a leisure society rather than the industrial
one like that of the UK. People are more inclined towards the primary sector mainly involved in
agriculture, fishing, etc.
Physical: Physical traits suggest the economy in general and what facilities it provides. The UK
is a highly developed economy with established and stable transport, communication and
accommodation facilities to the tourists. The UK is a fast-paced economy such that it is for the
tourists to move from one location to another easily. Not only it benefits from the
industrialization, but also provides leisure such as warm and pleasant weather conditions in cities
like Italy and France. Thailand's major attraction is its beaches and nightlife that the country
provides to its tourists. It is considered to be the liveliest tourist destination in the world. The
economy is also well developed providing tourists with all the necessary accommodation (Li, et.
al., 2017).
2.2
There are many differences between the countries which are leading tourist destination and
developing tourist destination (Maru, 2013). The differences are shown below between India
(developing tourist destination) and the United Kingdom (leading tourist destination) in terms of
features.
India United Kingdom
India is developing into the industry of tourism
and has an open–market economy for the
industry.
UK is the leading market and financial center
for the industry of travel and tourism.
India is the country which is attracting tourist
because of its historic monuments and beauty
of the nature.
UK is the destination for the tourists that
ensures them to provide experiences which are
new and exotic.
The sector of tourism and travel in India
contributes around 6.9% to the Gross Domestic
Product.
The sectors of tourism and travel contribute
around 10-11 % to the Gross Domestic Product
in the United Kingdom.
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India is at the developing stage in the industry
of tours and travels according to the
competitive index.
According to the index of competition of the
tours and travels the United Kingdom is ranked
7.
It has been observed that around 10 million
tourists visit India per year for the tourism
purpose.
The number of tourists visit UK every year in
an estimate is around 37 million for the
purpose of tourism.
India is known for its spicy food culture and
food is cheap.
UK is known for providing hygienic food but
is expensive.
The transport facilities are good but not very
effective.
The facilities of transportation are very
effective that helps the tourists to reach every
corner of the country.
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Task 3
LO 3
3.1
It has been analyzed from the statistics that the one of the most leading destination of tourist in
the sector of tours and travels is the United Kingdom where a large number of tourists visit every
year. The tours and travels industry of the United Kingdom has been ranked 7 and still the
government of the United Kingdom is working hard to improve this industry as it has been
observed that the tourism industry is one of the most major industries that are expanding rapidly.
For the improvement in the industry of tours and travels the government of the United Kingdom
is taking many major steps for the identification of the flaws and is bringing the changes that are
necessary for attracting more and more tourists to the country like there are many changes that
has been made in the monuments which are manmade and after that it has attracted a lot of
tourists to the place, there are many theme parks that also helped the industry of tours and travels
to attract tourists to the destination in a vast number in an effective manner (McKercher, et. al.,
2015). It has been calculated from the stats that around $20 billion per year is being earned by
the industry of tours and travels of UK by the visitors of the theme parks of UK.
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