Tourism's Role: Contribution to the UK Economy Analysis

This essay discusses the significant role of tourism in the UK economy, highlighting both its positive and negative impacts. Tourism contributes substantially to the UK's GDP, generates employment, promotes cultural awareness, and supports infrastructure development. However, it also leads to increased imports, over-reliance on the tourism sector, exploitation of labor, and rising land values. The essay emphasizes the need for the UK government to address these challenges by improving visa regulations, developing less appealing tourist sites, and combating crime to ensure sustainable growth in the tourism sector. Despite the drawbacks, tourism continues to grow, contributing to poverty reduction and overall economic development, making it essential for the UK to maintain its competitive edge by innovating and promoting its tourist destinations effectively. Desklib offers similar essays and resources for students.

DISCUSS HOW TOURISM CONTRIBUTES TOWARDS THE UK ECONOMY
1

Table of Contents
Essay..........................................................................................................................................3
Reference:..................................................................................................................................7
2

Essay
The tourism industry is termed as the essential market sector in the economy of the United
Kingdom. A lot of efforts and strengths have been put by the foreign and the home visitors to
visit the spectaculars from the different parts of the globe. The United Kingdom government
is very focused and dedicated to engage more visitors and attract more foreign national to
their country.
The United Kingdom is one of the most significant and leading countries in Europe. The
United Kingdom is a autonomous nation that is placed near the north-western coastline of the
Europe Continent. Size-wise Tourism is one of the primary industries in the United Kingdom
alone. As per the statistics, it can be very well evidenced that United Kingdom is the 7th
highest tourism attraction after Turkey, Italy, France, China, USA and Spain. It is estimated
that approximately 29.2 million tourists are visiting in 2011 alone (Page, et. al., 2012). There
is the tremendous influence of the suppliers and buyers in a tourism industry. In this essay, it
has estimated that buyers are the main tour operators in the tourism sector. There are
numerous tour operators operating in the UK alone such as Thomas Cook. They will
recognize new tourist destinations and are able to convince tourists towards these destinations
that have significantly less expenditure attached to it.
For all tourism business, there are three “A’s” that are very crucial and this is also similar to
the case with the suppliers. The three A’s are as below:
Attraction: There are many tourist spots in the United Kingdom that are popular because of
their natural beauty or are developed in such a pattern that is attracting the tourists. These can
place that are developed by the individual owners or can be developed by the government/
owners. For example, Windermere Boat Cruises, Tower of London, Zoo, Royal Botanical
Gardens, Eden project, Stonehenge etc.
Amenities: Amenities can be described by the facilities that are provided to the tourists such
as motels, guest houses, hotels etc. It is very necessary on the part of the government to keep
sufficient funding for developing these facilities adjoining to the tourist destinations (Mason,
2015).
3

Access: Access means different means of travelling that are available to reach the tourist
destinations. The United Kingdom is known for providing excellent transportation
infrastructure to tourists such as railways, buses, airline services, motorways etc. London is
also known for its super high-class underground tube system that is serving approximately
3.22 million commuters on daily basis.
According to the Tourism ministry of United Kingdom, the nation has significant potential
for the developing the condition and economy of the nation. Employment generation has to
get positive impact because of the tourism industry of the nation. The main focus sectors of
the tourism industry in the United Kingdom are events, tourist attractions, hospitality, visitor
transportation, education as well as services related to tourism (Kelly and White, 2014). The
tourism sector in the United Kingdom is estimated at £105 Billion and is the sixth largest
sector after other sectors in the United Kingdom alone. The United Kingdom has various
integral features that have provided different meaning towards the development of the tourist
destinations specifically regarding tourist attractions. The United Kingdom alone has
significant cultural heritage sites and also significant sites that have rich historical heritage
history. In this manner the tourism contributes in the growth of UK economy.
(Figure 1: Economy facts of Britain’s Visitor)
(Source: Page, et. al., 2012)
4

It has also seen there are various positive impacts of the tourism. Tourism will create
employment for the citizens of the nation and improve their standard of living. Tourism helps
in promoting the cultural awareness and also helping in preserving the prevailing local
traditions and culture. Tourism also helped in developing the local infrastructure of the
United Kingdom by developing the airports and new roads. The revenue generated by the
tourism industry is utilized for developing clean water, sanitation and developing education
across the United Kingdom.
There are also observed the good impacts of the tourism on the economy. It helps in
generating the foreign revenue for the nation. Tourism sector also stimulates the related
business such as income and entrepreneurship and small business setups Such as tour
Operators like Thomas Cook etc. Tourism also increases the regional and communal
development of the nation by developing the less appealing areas (Goh, 2012). Tourism
supports the government by assisting them in the collection of taxes and the revenues.
Though there are also bad economic impacts that are being observed by the tourism sector in
the United Kingdom. This sector has increased the import of the nation and will try to meet
the demand of the tourists through the external help of resources rather than getting it from
their own ground. It is also seen that tourism sector in the United Kingdom has
overdependence from any other industry (Kelly and White, 2014). Initially, people are
investing there funds in this sector which are producing negative growth of the other sectors
which are also seemed to be potential for the economy also. The tourism sector has also seen
the over-reliance of the labour in this industry and the result of this the labour are highly
exploited by the business that is related to this sector. Since the tourist requires
accommodating due to the rise of the tourists in the United Kingdom alone the land value
across the tourist site in the UK has risen of exponentially (Page, 2014). The tourism sector
has also made the goods prices exponentially on the higher side because of significant
demand by the tourists that are visiting the sites globally.
It has also seen that Tourism ministry in the United Kingdom is only focussing on the
destinations that are already developed and have higher natural appeal. Tourism sites that
have low appeal are not developed and not have proper infrastructure like primary tourist
destinations. High visit of the tourist has also gained an increase in the crime and also
increase in the robbery as well as human trafficking to a large extent (Page, 2014). It is very
necessary for the Law and authority of the United Kingdom to take strict action towards
5

reducing the crime and should focus on the less appealing tourist sites with proper
infrastructure. These negative impacts helps in the government to take such actions which
helps in enhancing the growth of the business.
Still, it has evaluated that tourism sector across the United Kingdom has impacted more over
the nation by its positive impacts. Tourism alone in the United Kingdom is growing at 9.4 per
cent annually and has resulted in a reduction of poverty by giving employment to more
peoples. The revenue earned by the government with the help of the tourism is helping in the
development of the infrastructure, facilities of the health care, increasing the majority of
motels and hotels.
Over the past few years it has been observed that the United Kingdom has made significant
changes on their Visa rules and regulations and due to this change in rules and regulations,
the people from other nations are facing difficulty in getting a visa. It is necessary for the
United Kingdom foreign ministry to make smooth and easier Visa norms for the tourists
without compromising on the security (Ghimire, 2013). Stricter Visa norms are impacting the
tourism business of the nation and simultaneously impacting the government authorities.
Tourists are looking for the alternative destinations if they are getting issues in getting Visas.
Tourism sector also needs innovative concepts for keeping the flow of tourists but since
tourism is a growing sector for the economy it has also seen that new countries such as
Germany, Egypt Turkey, Mexico, Malaysia etc are also increasing their spend on developing
the tourist destinations (Goh, 2012). So it is very necessary for the United Kingdom to
develop newer fascinating sites for keep flow of tourists increasing towards their nation.
The role of major tour operators such as Thomas Cook that are operating in the United
Kingdom is also striving to increase their business on this nation. United Kingdom is in such
a position with the major competing tourism nations and helping the country in sustaining its
position on the global map. United Kingdom is running the Visit Britain tourist campaign
every year to promote the tourism sector through the outbound and the inbound level
(Ghimire, 2013). It has been estimating that tourism in Britain alone will earn £257 billion
by 2025 which is estimated as 10 per cent of the whole GDP of the nation.
6

Reference:
 Ghimire, K.B. ed., 2013. The native tourist: Mass tourism within developing countries.
Routledge.
 Goh, C., 2012. Exploring impact of climate on tourism demand. Annals of Tourism
Research, 39(4), pp.1859-1883.
 Kelly, U., McNicoll, I. and White, J., 2014. The impact of universities on the UK
economy.
 Mason, P., 2015. Tourism impacts, planning and management. Routledge.
 Page, S., Song, H. and Wu, D.C., 2012. Assessing the impacts of the global economic
crisis and swine flu on inbound tourism demand in the United Kingdom. Journal of travel
research, 51(2), pp.142-153.
 Page, S.J., 2014. Tourism management. Routledge.
 Rosselló-Nadal, J., 2014. How to evaluate the effects of climate change on tourism.
Tourism Management, 42, pp.334-340.
7