Edinburgh's Travel and Tourism Sector: Analysis and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the travel and tourism sector, with a specific focus on the UK and Scotland, and particularly on Edinburgh. The report begins by outlining the historical developments within the sector, including the introduction of relevant laws, product and transport advancements, and evolving lifestyle and work patterns. It then examines the structure of the travel and tourism sector, including the roles of tour operators, accommodation providers, distributors, and various public and regulatory bodies. The report further explores the functions of government bodies and international agencies in promoting travel and tourism, as well as the influence of local and national economic policies. It analyzes the impact of political changes on the sector. The report then delves into the factors affecting tourism demand in Edinburgh, and how supply has adapted to meet this demand. Finally, the report assesses the economic, environmental, and social impacts of tourism on Edinburgh, and proposes strategies to minimize negative impacts while maximizing positive ones, offering a well-rounded perspective on the sector. The report uses various sources such as Evans, N.,and et. al., 2012; Aldebert, B. and et.al., 2011; Buhalis, D. and et.al., 2011; Mok, and et, al., 2013; Hall, C.M.,and et. al., 2012.

Travel and Tourism Sector

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 The key historical developments in the travel and tourism sector in general with a focus on
UK:..............................................................................................................................................1
1.2 the structure of the travel and tourism sector in general and Scotland in particular :..........2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 The function of the local, regional and national government sponsored bodies and
international agencies in promoting travel and tourism:.............................................................3
2.2 Local and national economic policy influences the success of the travel and tourism........4
Sector:.........................................................................................................................................4
2.3 Implications of political change on the travel and tourism sector in different countries:.....5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Explain the factors affecting tourism demand in Edinburgh :..............................................6
3.2 supply has changed to meet the effects of demand for tourism related products and
services in Edinburgh :................................................................................................................7
Task 4...............................................................................................................................................7
4.1 The main positive and negative economic, environmental and social impacts of tourism
on Edinburgh :.............................................................................................................................7
4.2 Strategies that can be used to minimize the negative tourism impacts while maximizing
the positive tourism impact :.......................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism is total of all goods and services which directly provide to business of
leisure and pleasure activities. It is the largest commercial service sector in world which help in
creating employment and income where many of the cities and countries are depended on travel
and tourism (Evans, N.,and et. al., 2012). ‘Visit Scotland’ is Scotland's national tourism
Organization. Major markets for Scotland are USA, Germany, France, and Canada from a long
run. This report focuses on key historical development of travel and tourism and it also talks
about structure of the travel and tourism sector and it also tells about how to reduce the problem
of negative impact of tourism and to improve the positive impact.
TASK 1
1.1 The key historical developments in the travel and tourism sector in general with a focus on
UK:
There are few developments in travel and tourism which are done in UK are introduction of
laws, product and transport development, change in lifestyle and working pattern.
 Introduction of laws: For development of tourism UK introduced new laws and policies
which are as follows:
 Development of tourism act :It is formed to bring all the organization of tourism industry
and developing tourism to or within great Britain and also provide financial help to those
who are opening new hotels or establishments and they provide accommodation through
trade.
 Air passenger duty was imposed on the people who are going outside UK and after that
it was reduced so that growth of tourism sector will not be bound.
 Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations :It was introduced to
remove operators wrong conduct and after that in UK every operator providing packages
following regulations provided by the act (Evans, N.,and et. al., 2012).
 Disability discrimination act was introduced to remove discrimination and also to help
disabled to travel easily in public transport.
 Product development : To promote travel and tourism product development was
necessary for that they introduced holiday camp which includes camps, weekend breaks
and long stays all year. Package development was introduced which include
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accommodation, food and transport. Destination development aware people about
different destination which brought revenue as people were curious about visiting
different destinations. Technology development bring in new changes as it was easy for
people to book tickets, hotels and transports. Internet, call centres and self check were
recent development (Aldebert, B. and et.al., 2011). It also helped people in buying the
travel products easily. After that self checking system was introduced which helped
passengers in early check in ,luggage check in and they can also select their seats.
 Transport development keep on changing according to change in need of customers. For
satisfying the needs of faster and safer travel it introduced rails, air and road travel
facility.
 Lifestyle changed a lot about tourism those with higher income travels more which
generate revenue. And flexible working pattern also increased tourism as employee take
out the time for short breaks.
1.2 the structure of the travel and tourism sector in general and Scotland in particular :
Illustration 1: Structure of Travel and Tourism sector
 Tour operators : They are the people who provides packages for holidays. They negotiate
with the hotels and transporters which reduces their rates and they provide it to its
customers so that they will be attracted towards their offers. It can also be provided by
agents and this agent is a bridge between operators and tourists. And for reducing the
wrong activities UK also have its law to prevent it.
 Accommodation : It is a part of tourism structure which provides hotels , villas or hostels
to the tourist. And it also provides food services like free breakfast along with stay.
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 Distributors : It includes agents or operators who deals with cab services, stay services
and food and help in providing it at one place and they mainly deals online.
 Conferences / Exhibition organization : Conferences are done to make tourist aware
about the local attraction and trained the local public about their city so that they can
handle the visitors easily.
 Public sector organization : There are 2 type of organization which includes public ltd
which are managed and funded by government of UK and charitable organization which
are handled by volunteer (Buhalis, D. and et.al., 2011).
 Regulatory bodies : The main aim of these bodies is to keep any eye on the policies
formed by UNWTO, ICAO, and ABTA etc.
 Tourism agencies : It includes agents, operators and agencies who provide all the
facilities under one roof as they bring transportation, food and stay all together which
ease the life of tourist. Visitors are also an important part of the structure as tourism can
not be complete without visitors. It also has other players who are in these field of travel
and tourism and play an important role in the whole process of tourism.
TASK 2
2.1 The function of the local, regional and national government sponsored bodies and
international agencies in promoting travel and tourism:
 Formulation of national policies for development and growth:For developing the tourism
and for increasing the growth government is coming up with new laws to protect the
tourists right and to provide the right services. as operators are manipulating and taking
more money and cheating the visitors so for that regulations is passed.
 Investment in tourism sector : Government is investing in tourist sector like investing in
marketing,investing in maintaining the destinations, helping the hotels financially,
investing in training of guides and operators etc which is attracting people to their cities
for holidays.
 Promotion of countries destination : Government is coming up with different campaigns
to promote their destinations and creating awareness among people about their
destinations telling about their speciality (Aldebert, B. and et.al., 2011). Doing
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advertisement through advertisements like online and through newspaper or through
airlines like travel to Scotland in less fare.
 Strategies and plans : Government is preparing different plans and strategies for
increasing revenue of countries tourism. For that they organize different events which is
showing their local culture and crafts.
 Security and cleanliness : Government thinks that if the country will be cleaned, secure
and having every facility then they will be able to attract more visitors.
 Data collection : They collect the data of every tourist place and provide it online to
aware others about their destinations and prepare plans according to it and government
also help them financially.
Mainly government manage the legal matters like preparing laws for tourism. Also deals with
the allocation of the managing of various tasks of various places to various companies.
Functions of government bodies of Scotland in promoting tourism are :
Providing support to the businesses related to tourism financially and helping them to
grow (Buhalis, D. and et.al., 2011). It has its own digital channel who engages large number of
people and talk to them and this site has 1.6 million visitors each year. They came up with a
strategy of International narrative which tells about Scotland's stories which are based on
strengths of Scotland. They aim at increasing the tourism near Scotland and so for that they also
have Scotland's winter fest and Scotland week which promote their culture and heritage.
2.2 Local and national economic policy influences the success of the travel and tourism
Sector:
Economic policy covers setting taxation,budget for government etc and it includes three
types of policies. Economic policies have diverse impact on travel industry but it also have
positive impact. Destination marketing is also a policy followed by the government. They also
have a policy in which they create fund to increase the number of visitors and also to increase the
expenditure by per tourist (Mok, and et, al., 2013). This fund will help in developing the
destinations of the country. If government will allow people to enter the country on the basis of
their skills and knowledge, easy procedure for visa this will increase the tourism and also help
the economy of the country. The tax applied on travellers, infrastructure development, improved
facility will help in economic growth. If better transportation,food,hotel will be provided then it
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will increase travel along with increase economy. Economic policies should be formed in such a
way that local society should also get benefited by the development which is done for tourism
around them. As in some areas people are dependent on tourism for their earnings.
As tourism and economic policy are interlinked if tourism will increase it will create
awareness about culture and because of that culture and traditions will be preserved and if
tourism will be their it will lead to need of more infrastructure development and for that money
received from tourism will be used (Buhalis, D. and et.al., 2011). Increased tourism will lead to
development of new infrastructure like better roads, airports for faster means ,hotels for better
stays, trains etc. Economic policy also include tax levied and by increasing tax on traveler will
lead to good economy. Increase in tourism will lead to increase in production capacity of the
economy.
2.3 Implications of political change on the travel and tourism sector in different countries:
Political changes are the changes related to politics that can be internal or external. it can
affect a company both the way either positive or negative depends upon the the change of
situation.Political change will affect directly to tourism as if there are political changes in a
country which will may lead to war and it will create risk for visitors so it will reduce the rate of
visitors (Hall, C.M.,and et. al., 2012). If there is more instability in politics of a destination then
it will promote negative publicity. Any person who is travel-ling to any country first of all check
about its environment so if visitor will found any instability then visitor will think before going
to that place. For example, people prefer to visit UK because of stable political environment.
Egypt is going through instability which is leading to less tourism. Because of tsunami in
Java , Indonesia people are not going for holidays to Indonesia. If a country was suffering from
instability and after that if get stable then it can improve its economy because with the time being
tourism will also increase. So political changes play a vital role in increase and decrease of
tourism (). The local and national policy influences the success of the travel and tourism sector in
the Scotland as politically situation is stable in Scotland which leads to increase in tourism
because people prefer safety first. Scotland is having different laws, product and transportation
development ,also having different events which is increasing tourism.
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TASK 3
3.1 Explain the factors affecting tourism demand in Edinburgh :
Demand means increased number of a product and services. Here demand is in context
with tourism which means increased number of tourists.
Factors are Demographic, Technological, economical, Political and changes in currency rates.
 Demographic : It is related to population. Change in demography is leading to higher
tourism as spending capacity of consumers is increased. And nowadays for refreshing are
going out for holidays (Mok, and et, al., 2013). even youngster also have good spending
power which is increasing demand for tourism.
 Technological : Now everything is online because of that demand is increasing of
Scotland as tickets can be booked online and availability of information on internet like
stable political situation increased the tourism of Scotland. And this information is also
received from internet.
 Economical : Tourism also depends upon the economic factor if economic situation is
good people will spend their and if economic condition is not good their will less
requirement of tourism services. But Scotland's economy is UK'S 4th largest economy
therefore tourism rate is higher.
 Political : Political factors means factor affecting politics either internally or externally.
Political stability is equals to increased rate of tourism (Dickinson, and et. al., 2010).
Political factor is stable in Scotland which is leading to increased rate of tourism because
of stability there is less risk associated so people tends to travel to Scotland.
 Currency rate change : It means there is fluctuation in value of currency. If there is
reduction in value of currency of the country where visitor wants to visit then visitor will
prefer that country for holiday rather than other country.
 Globalization : Globalization means when people start their operations or business
internationally .In present scenario people are frequently travelling from one place to
another
Which is increasing tourism itself. Because of this demand of services and products of tourism
like hotels,traveling and food is increasing in Scotland.
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3.2 supply has changed to meet the effects of demand for tourism related products and services
in Edinburgh :
As it is understood that now demand of tourism is increased which is a good sign for
economy But it is necessary to manage demand and supply (Hall, C.M.,and et. al., 2012). For full
filing the demand one must have that much supply and to overcome this, tourism industry is
focusing on increasing the products and services like accommodation, travelling modes,
quality,food,safety,cleanliness etc. And because of good political environment, good economy
tourism demand is increased in Scotland and to full fill that demand government is also
supporting them. Increased demand resulted good for agents and operators as they got many
business and it also helped in managing the different products at work place. Tourist agent
reduced the burden as they provide the services which are helpful for visitors (). As in season
demand is high and when it is off season demand is low so for managing the demand equally
they are coming with less price for off season. And increase the price in season. As technology
also helped in managing the demand as a person can find out the hotels and transport booking
online which does not create hustle as they are aware that when there is availability.
For managing the demand they are coming with different packages in off season so
people change their mind and go for that packages which will help in managing demand in off
season and supply in season (). Example best time to visit Scotland is September to November
but they come up with their fest in July so people think of going in July so that they can enjoy
both fest and destination whereas people who are particular about visiting destination in season
time only so it will manage the demand and supply both.
Task 4
4.1 The main positive and negative economic, environmental and social impacts of tourism on
Edinburgh :
 Positive and negative effect of economic on tourism :Positive impact includes increased
infrastructure ,higher employment, improved mode of transportation etc. and because of
this earning of people will increase which leads to good life (Hall, C.M.,and et. al., 2012).
Tourism proved good in UK as it increased the economy and it resulted into development
and best facility.It also associates negative impact as tourism is seasonal which result in
seasonal employment. When off season comes it will again bring unemployment.
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 Positive and negative effect of environment on tourism : Positive result is that increased
tourism created awareness about environment as people who stays their don't do anything
which will harm environment (Dickinson, and et. al., 2010). And for that UK government
made the law for protecting the environment which band the activities which are not good
for environment. Negative impact is that because of it air ,water and noise pollution is
increased and it is converting environment into unhygienic.
 Positive and negative effect of social on tourism : Positive impact is that when people of
different countries meet each other they exchange culture , understand their traditions and
get to learn good things from others (Swarbrooke ,and et.al 2012). It also help in
increasing understanding and bond. Negative side is that people get involved in crime,
gambling and prostitution which is very bad for any society.
4.2 Strategies that can be used to minimize the negative tourism impacts while maximizing the
positive tourism impact :
Proper strategies are required to minimize the negative tourism impacts while
maximizing the positive tourism impact. For minimizing the negative effect in environment
government must come up with strict laws for recycling, effluent wastage and flow of wastage
or harmful substances into water and whosoever will break this will be punished. To increase the
positive impact everyone should follow the rules and regulations which are helping in protecting
the environment (Swarbrooke ,and et.al 2012). For minimizing the negative effect on economy
government must involve local people and local companies for tourism which will provide
earning to them and it will result in good lifestyle and for maximizing the positive impact the
destination countries must promote their destination worldwide which will generate the revenue
and will aware others about the destination.
For minimizing the negative effect of society security need to be increased which will
result in less criminal activities and will also reduce gambling ,theft and prostitution. Where as to
maximize the impact they should go for more cultural program and promote art and tradition
which will result in good vibes and reduce the wrong activity.
Each country should have proper monitoring so that it will reduce negative impacts and will
promote positive impact.
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CONCLUSION
Form the above report is based on Government is investing in tourist sector like investing
in marketing, investing in maintaining the destinations. In this report to be focus on different
packages in off season so people change their mind and go for that packages which will help in
managing demand in off season and supply in season. As per the above report is based on
Technology development bring in new changes as it was easy for people to book tickets,hotels
and transports. Internet, call centers and self check were recent development. It also helped
people in buying the travel products easily. In this report Political change will affect directly to
tourism as if there are political changes in a country which will may lead to war and it will create
risk for visitors so it will reduce the rate of visitors.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Swarbrooke ,and et.al 2012. Business travel and tourism. Routledge
Dickinson, and et. al., 2010. Slow travel and tourism. Rout ledge.
Hall, C.M.,and et. al., 2012. Safety and security in tourism: relationships, management, and
marketing. Rout ledge.
Mok, and et, al., 2013. Service quality management in hospitality, tourism, and leisure.
Routledge.
Wilks,and et.al., 2013. Managing tourist health and safety in the new millennium. Routledge.
Buhalis, D. and et.al., 2011. E-tourism. Contemporary tourism reviews.1. pp.2-38.
Aldebert, B. and et.al., 2011.Innovation in the tourism industry:The case of Tourism@. Tourism
management.32(5). pp.1204-1213.
Cook,R.A.,and et. al., 2014. Tourism: the business of hospitality and travel. Boston, MA:
Pearson.
Frey, N. and et.al., 2010. Responsible tourism management: The missing link between business
owners' attitudes and behavior in the Cape Town tourism industry. Tourism
management. 31(5). pp.621-628.
Evans, N.,and et. al., 2012. Strategic management for travel and tourism. Taylor & Francis.
Sigala, M. and et.al., 2012. Social media in travel, tourism and hospitality: Theory, practice and
cases. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..
Evans, N., Stonehouse, G. and Campbell, D., 2012. Strategic management for travel and
tourism. Taylor & Francis.
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