Tourism Trends in the Latter Half of the 20th Century: An Analysis

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HUS: TLH 112 ASSESSMENT {USL}

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Critical discussion of tourism trends in later half of 20th century..................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference list...................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
This principal concept of this essay is to focus on the changing trends related to tourism industry
in later period of 20th century. Tourism industry comes under hospitality services which includes
travelling, cruise line, transportation, theme parks event planning, drink and food services and
lodging. The spectre of tourism is so large that it holds a greater number of employees,
customers, relation with several countries and other travel related responsibilities. Travel
industry gets its financial contribution from induced, indirect or direct global economy. Growth
in tourism industry refers to the growth of its four sub industries. The sub industries of tourism
are travel services, transportation, entertainment and recreation, beverage and food services and
accommodations. From the last century this industry has experienced immense growth in their
sector. There can be several causes which resulted into such a hike in short period time. Those
critical factors responsible for its growth are needed to be discussed in this essay.
Critical discussion of tourism trends in later half of 20th century
Within preceding century tourism industry has confronted to consistent alterations that not only
influenced destinations but also impacted on economic growth of a particular country. The
modern changes in the travel industry have mediated the way travellers were experiencing travel
in this world (Bimonte and Punzo 2016). The massive innovations and research in the
technological section has stimulated the travel industry to change their orientation towards travel
and travel related services. In order to understand this concept in threadbare the researcher need
to put light on different theories related to tourism (Lamers et al. 2017). The changing trends in
the travel industry have also triggered this industry to incorporate adequate changes in them so
that they can stand with the changing global trends.
Development of tourism concepts and theories
Tourism is an economic, cultural and social phenomenon that entails movement of individuals to
places or countries out of their usual environment either for professional or personal purposes.
The customers of this tourism industry are often referred as tourists or visitors. There are several
relevant theories of tourism that need to be discussed in this context.
Christaller’s theory:
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As per the concept of Christaller’s theory, tourists’ areas are subjected to continuous
development. The process of development includes following steps. Initial step is to
development of destination and alterations overtime (Ruhanen et al. 2015). Second stage
includes introduction of several visitors overtime. After this stage tourists experiences changes
periodically. Engagement of locals in case of tourism destinations are subjected to changes
overtime.
Cohen’s Theory:
This theory was postulated by Cohen in the year 1972. The theory is directly correlated with
behaviour of tourists. He has formulated four different typologies.
Organised mass tourists: They generally travel in groups. In this type tourists tend to buy
packaged tours. This type of travelling packages is previously arranged by tour operators or
travel agents (Liu et al. 2017).
Individual mass tourists: Each and every member of this group possesses certain control over
itinerary and time. They are usually cannot be bound to a group. Decisions regarding activities
are typically prepared without any interference.
Explorers: Explorers are such tourists who make arrangement for their own trip. They often
relied on learning local languages to talk and associate with local residents. They do not tend to
adopt life of that specific host country or community (Klein et al. 2017).
Drifters: Drifters generally like to stay with locals. They also like to share habits, shelter and
food with the local communities. They get entirely immersed in host culture. They pertains their
basic native customs. In some cases, they deny themselves of being tourists.
History of tourism and its influence
There pertains rich heritage of culture and people that structures foundation of tourism. Digging
into history provides significant insights about how and why travel has developed and and reason
behind its structural development. Early history or records provides small glimpse into the
ancient tourism activities (Kysela and Štorková 2015). Travellers tend to go out in several
countries and unknown places in trigger of discovery and curiosity. Some of the historical
tourists also travelled in order to establish trade routes with their home countries.
Empirical era: The history of tourism suggests that it started in the empirical era. It initiated
from Egyptian period and stretched up to Roman Empire (Doerr and Sant 2016). They used to
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travel for religion, educational, commercial and governmental purposes. Travelling was both
pleasure and necessity.
Middle ages: In the renaissance era or middle ages, travelling was a rare phenomenon. It was
considered as sporadic and dangerous due to the advent of Roman rules.
Great tour era: After the invasion of English, tour and travel were spread in hike. The immense
power and money stimulated them to travel all around the world (Vila et al. 2015).
Mobility era: In the mobility era, tourism activities also escalated to a great extent due to advent
of new roads, sailing ships, passenger trains, stagecoaches and other travelling modes. People of
this era used to travel to both familiar and new locations. Invention of air travel and automobiles
supported sustainable development of tourism in this mobility era.
Modern era: Mass tourism was introduced to common people with the initiation of World War
II. Soldiers and militaries were bound to travel in several unknown countries. Hence, they shared
their positive experiences with friends and families after their returning. At the middle of 20th
Century two groups of travellers arises in the tourism sector. Figueroa-Domecq et al. (2015)
opines one of the group include tourists who bought packaged tours and bound to follow
itinerary organised and prepared by tour operators. Second group can be referred to individual
mass tourists. In the beginning of 21st centuries the travel and tourism industry has used all the
available opportunities of information technologies in their industry. There are several factors
that mediated the growth of travel and tourism sector in this era. These are internet access,
increased mobility and wealth and opening of international borders.
Changing trends in tourism infrastructure:
Tourism industry has faced several challenges in their way of providing services to their
customers. In this globalised era modern people needs no formal reason to travel inside or around
countries? People love to explore new countries and unveil unknown places for the sake of
hobbies or professional needs. The cause of travelling in previous era was not as fluent as now.
People had little access of money or other opportunities. Hence, travelling was initiated in only
some rational purposes. In current years, perspective of individuals has changed. Yang et al.
(2017) comment over 70% Visitors wants to travel because it opens their mind, teaches new
languages and new experiences can be achieved through this. About 34% of the individuals also
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travel for the sake of having an adventure. Some others thought hat travelling makes them
rejuvenated and relaxing.
Growth of tourism technology in national and international market0
There are several technological trends in the modern era of 20th Century that has changed the
shape and mode of pleasure among tourists. The current as well as global trends are as follows.
Personalization: Personalised services and customised offerings by some progressive tourism
company are a great initiation for attracting clients. It has become first priority among modern
trends in tourism and travel industry (Roshan et al. 2016).
Recognition technology: Recognition technology such as fingerprints and facial recognition
allows tourism industry to keep track of their travellers. As per Mowforth and Munt (2015) it
generally involves identification of respective travellers’ personality and collection of viable
data. It is also important in terms of checking viability of their travelling data. In such a way,
personalised service providing can be easier for the industry.
Robots: Robotic technology aids in multiple operations currently starting from mediating
cognitive functions to physical ones. The increasing demand of self-service facilities has
enforced tourism industries to introduce robotics. Through this technology, forbidden items as
well as hidden weapons can be detected easily (Zhu et al. 2017). The regulation of check-out and
check in procedures become easy to go through robotics.
Online booking: In this modern era, more than 57% of reservations in the travelling sector is
conducted through online mode. Through online surfing, customers can find better deals and
opportunities as travelling options.
Mobile applications: Mobile applications not only facilitate reservation and booking procedures
but also allow other facilities such as control room appliances.
Conclusion
From the above critical analysis it can be concluded that, the aforementioned factors have
mediated certain escalation in tourism sector in such a short period of time. Tourism industries
must accommodate current global trends into them so that travel can be innovative and areas of
exploration for travellers. The employees or workers working in the tourism sector also need to
be motivated with their work performances so that they can give their best to serve people. In
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addition to the local and global trends, some traditional and viable methods should also be
followed so that customers can be ultimate delightful with the services. Tourism is also vital for
providing well being in several countries. The reason is that, the economy of a particular home
and travelling country get benefitted by certain taxes levied on tourism industry. The economy
also gets flourished by income generated through consumption of services and goods by tourists.
Hence, tourism industry must look forward to the global trends and make suitable changes as per
them.
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Reference list
Books:
Mowforth, M. and Munt, I., 2015. Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalisation and
new tourism in the third world. Abingdon: Routledge.
Journals:
Bimonte, S. and Punzo, L.F., 2016. Tourist development and host–guest interaction: An
economic exchange theory. Annals of Tourism Research, 58, pp.128-139.
Doerr, S.H. and Santín, C., 2016. Global trends in wildfire and its impacts: perceptions versus
realities in a changing world. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological
Sciences, 371(1696), p.20150345.
Figueroa-Domecq, C., Pritchard, A., Segovia-Pérez, M., Morgan, N. and Villacé-Molinero, T.,
2015. Tourism gender research: A critical accounting. Annals of Tourism Research, 52, pp.87-
103.
Klein, G., Vitasse, Y., Rixen, C., Marty, C. and Rebetez, M., 2016. Shorter snow cover duration
since 1970 in the Swiss Alps due to earlier snowmelt more than to later snow onset. Climatic
Change, 139(3-4), pp.637-649.
Kysela, J. and Štorková, P., 2015. Using augmented reality as a medium for teaching history and
tourism. Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 174, pp.926-931.
Lamers, M., Van der Duim, R. and Spaargaren, G., 2017. The relevance of practice theories for
tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research, 62, pp.54-63.
Liu, X., Li, J. and Kim, W.G., 2017. The role of travel experience in the structural relationships
among tourists’ perceived image, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Tourism and
Hospitality Research, 17(2), pp.135-146.
Roshan, G., Yousefi, R. and Fitchett, J.M., 2016. Long-term trends in tourism climate index
scores for 40 stations across Iran: the role of climate change and influence on tourism
sustainability. International journal of biometeorology, 60(1), pp.33-52.
Ruhanen, L., Weiler, B., Moyle, B.D. and McLennan, C.L.J., 2015. Trends and patterns in
sustainable tourism research: A 25-year bibliometric analysis. Journal of Sustainable
Tourism, 23(4), pp.517-535.
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Vila, T.D., Darcy, S. and González, E.A., 2015. Competing for the disability tourism market–a
comparative exploration of the factors of accessible tourism competitiveness in Spain and
Australia. Tourism Management, 47, pp.261-272.
Yang, E.C.L., Khoo-Lattimore, C. and Arcodia, C., 2017. A systematic literature review of risk
and gender research in tourism. Tourism Management, 58, pp.89-100.
Zhu, H., Liu, J., Wei, Z., Li, W. and Wang, L., 2017. Residents’ attitudes towards sustainable
tourism development in a historical-cultural village: Influence of perceived impacts, sense of
place and tourism development potential. Sustainability, 9(1), p.61.
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