Tourist Destinations Report: Analyzing UK and Italy Tourism Trends

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of tourist destinations, focusing on the United Kingdom and Italy. It begins with an introduction to the importance of tourist destinations and the factors that influence visitor selection. Task 1 analyzes the main tourist attractions in the UK and Italy, comparing their features and visitor statistics. Task 2 delves into the cultural, social, and physical characteristics of these destinations, comparing them and highlighting differences between developing and leading tourist destinations. Task 3 compares the appeal of leading and developing destinations, evaluating the factors that influence their attractiveness. Task 4 addresses issues affecting the popularity of tourist destinations and explores how responsible tourism can enhance the host community. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and a list of references.

Tourist Destination
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1: Analyzing the main tourist destinations of the world: UK and Italy....................................3
1.2: Analyzing statistics to determine tourist destination trends and predicting future trends....7
TASK 2 .........................................................................................................................................10
2.1: Analyzing cultural, social and physical features of the destinations..................................10
2.2: Comparing features of tourist destination in developing and leading tourist destinations 11
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................12
3.1: Comparing the appeal of current leading tourist destination with currently developing
tourist destinations.....................................................................................................................12
3.2: Evaluating characteristic of how tourist destination affect its appeal................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................14
4.1: Analyzing issues affecting popularity of tourist destinations.............................................14
4.2: Potential issues responsible for tourism to enhance the host community at the worldwide
tourist destination.......................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16
2

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Record number of visitors spent 100 Million Pounds...............................................9
Illustration 2: Number of overseas visitors to the UK...................................................................10
Illustration 3: Statistics of visitors in Italy.....................................................................................10
3

INTRODUCTION
Tourist destination are of core importance as is referred to as a place of interest of the
visitors. In travel and tourism sector, the organizations are selected by the customers on the basis
of destination providers as a key factor in selecting the best tourist operators (Cooper, 2012). The
places of interest are identified on several grounds such as natural or cultural value, historical
importance, built beauty, entertainment, adventure or amusement. Present assignment is prepared
to explore the tourist destinations and the related statistics by selecting two countries namely UK
and Italy. Various attributes such as social, cultural or physical features of locations are
compared for enhancing visitor's appealing. Thomas Cook which is the largest tourist operator of
UK has been researched on assessing its product development department. Lastly, issues
affecting popularity of the tourist destination are analysed and potential of responsible tourism to
enhance host community have been explored.
TASK 1
1.1: Analyzing the main tourist destinations of the world: UK and Italy
The following two destinations have been used to analyze the main tourists attraction as
follows:
UK
Tourist destination is a place where the visitors like to visit at the most because of the
major attraction sources. UK is regarded as a tourist generator nation and is the world's eighth
biggest destination for visitors. According to VisitBritain, UK's most spending of tourist remains
in the hands of domestic tourism (Murillo, 2014). Tourists are attracted in Great Britain as it is
inclusive of various castles, zoos, gardens, theme parks, royal palaces, art gallerias in its major
four cities, London, Wales, Scotland and England. Following table is an illustration of some
main tourist attraction of UK with number and kind of visitors, cash generation and what makes
them such attractive place below:
Italy
S.n Main tourist- Number of visitors What made Amount of cash Kind of
4

o. attractions
2013 2012
them
attractive
generated visitors
1. The Library of
Birmingham
2.4 million 2 million Art gallary £4.00 £4.00 Architect
lovers
2. Somerset House 2.4
millionn
2 million 80
photography
of the beards
8.50
pounds
8.50
pounds
Fashion
designers
3. Tower of London 3 million 2.5 million It was filled
with 888246
ceramic
poppies
18.40
Pounds
18.40
Pounds
Artists and
anyone.
4. V&A 3.1 million 3.2 million Focus on
luxury and
exploration
of luxury
life
£4.00 £4.00 Any
visitior
5. Science Museum 3.3 million 3.3 million Gallary
dedicated to
mathematics
5 pound 5 pound Researche
rs,
students
and
academici
ans
6. Natural History
Museum
5 million 6 million Museum 5 pound 5 pound Any
visitor
5

7. Tate Modern 5 million 4.5 million Huge
museum
free free Exhibitors
8. Southbank
Centre
6 million 6 million Festival of
Britain
1.75
pound
1.75
pound
Culture
lovers
9. The National
Gallery
6.4 million 4.5 million 2300
paintings
gallery
Free Free Artists
10. The British
Museum
6 million 4.5 million Collection
of 8 million
objects and
Mummies
and Elgin
marbles
£14 £14 Artists
and
anyone
(10 Top Tourist Attractions in England. 2014)
Italy:
Tourism at Italy is one of the fastest developing and most profitable sector. It is the fifth
most visited nation of the world. Every year approximately, 47 million visitors came to Italy. The
major cities are inclusive of Rome, Milan, Pisa, Bologna etc and are attractive because of its rich
art, beauteous beaches and coastlines, history, fashion and culture (Brown and Cave, 2010). Italy
is identified as richest in World's Heritage Sites in the world.
Italy
S.no
.
Main tourist-
attractions
Number of visitors What made
them
Amount of cash Kind of
6

2013 2012 attractive generated visitors
1. Collosseum 4 million 3.9 million Ancient
Monuments
£ 12.00
£7.00
£2.00
£12.00
£7.00
£2.00
Those who
have keen
interest in
history
and past
facts.
2. St. Peter's
Basilica Voting
250
visitors/
day
200
visitors/da
y
Architect of
the church
Free Free Those who
possess
interest in
architectur
e.
3. Grand Canal
Venice
4 million 4 million Its reverse S
shape canal.
Free Free Nature
lovers
4. Leaning Tower
of Pisa
Millions
of tourists
Millions
of tourists
Its
unintended
tilt to one
side.
£15.00 £15.00 Lovers of
remarkabl
e
architectur
e and
local.
5. Florence
Cathedral
4 million 4.2 million It is largest
brick dome
ever
constructed.
Free Free Holy
catholic
people
6. Vatican Museum 4.2 million 3.9 million Classical
sculptures
£16.00 £16.00 Anyone
and art
7

and
masterpieces
of
Renaissance
art
£8.00
£4.00
£8.00
£4.00
lovers
7. Milan Cathedral 1.2 million 1 million 5th largest
church in
the world
Free Free Any
visitor and
catholic
people
8. Teatro Alla
Scala Milan
25000/day 20000/day Finest
singers
around the
world
£8.00 £8.00 Artists
9. Sistine Chapel
Apostolic Palace
3.9 million 3.9 million Official
residence of
the Pope
£ 70 £ 70 Anyone
10. Pantheon Pata
Rotend Rome
4.2 million 4 million Roman
temple
Free Free Religious
and
anyone
(Law, 2015)
1.2: Analyzing statistics to determine tourist destination trends and predicting future trends
Tourism trends is of core significance as it helps to analyze the behavior and perception
of visitors to visit the place (Greaves and Skinner, 2010). The analysis of statistics of UK and
Italy as the two major tourist destinations are analyzed below as follows:
UK tourism trend analysis:
8

The tourism in UK is growing at a very fast rate and as per the statistics, most of its tourists
came from The United States of America. They spend about £2.1bn in 2010. there are various
sectors which are part of the tourism industry in UK (Heeley, 2015). It covers the airline
industry, lodging companies, travel organizations, motor coach workers and cruise lines. The
European tourism has faced an issues such as recession, economy instability, political unrest etc.
This has affected its tourism business as well.
As per the graph which is a representation of UK residents visit till 2008. The graph
shows that both visiting and spending have shown an upward trend but both fell more than 20%
in 2009.
9
Illustration 1: Record number of visitors spent 100 Million Pounds
(Source: Mail Online. 2015.)

The above graph shows that the spending (£6.5 billion in absolute terms) associated with
these visits was 10.3% higher than the previous year. Visitors who came to the UK for the
purpose of the Olympics spent an average of £1,553 on the visit (including any tickets bought in
advance or during the visit), which is more than double the average spend among all visitors
(£731) (Jung, Ineson and Miller, 2014). Spending associated with overnight visits to London
increased by 11% from £2.8 billion to £3.2 billion, and again the purchase of Olympics and
Paralympics tickets will have accounted for part of this increase. The number of visits abroad by
UK residents fell slightly (down 0.2% compared with a year ago) to 19.2 million.
Italy tourism trend analysis:
10
Illustration 2: Number of overseas visitors to the UK
(Source: Office for National Statistics. 2013)

From the above graph showing the statistics for the visitors at Italy at its famous places
such as Italian museums, archaeological sites and art galleries has increased in recent years,
rising from 30.4 million in 2003 to 38.2 million in 2013 (Italy24. 2015). In 2012 the visitors
dropped to about 37.1 million. Monuments and archaeological areas are attracted by the largest
number of people (more than 19 million in 2013) (Leask and Rihova, 2010). Very positive was
also the execution of 38 museum circuits active in Italy in 2013. Paying visitors in 2013 were
17.6 million analyzed to 16.8 million in 2012. Overall, non-paying visitors were 8.7 million. The
number of people who had access to one of the 208 sites with no entry fee was very high, too. In
2013 they reached 12 million (11.5 million in 2012) (Italy24. 2015).
11
Illustration 3: Statistics of visitors in Italy
(Source: Italy24. 2015)

TASK 2
2.1: Analyzing cultural, social and physical features of the destinations
The UK is regarded as a land of museums and there exist various destinations known for
culture, religions, politics, amusement etc. Various destinations have been evaluated on the
following grounds as follows: Cultural
Culture of UK: Visitors to UK came for enjoying the rich culture of UK. There are various such
places such as churches, monuments, man made buildings etc which are mostly attracted (Office
for National Statistics. 2013). Different food patterns and entertainment events are identified in
stated destinations of UK. Including the four major cities of UK namely, England, Wales,
Scotland and London, rich cultural resources exist here which is the major source of tourist
attraction (Durmaz, Platt and Yigitcanlar, 2010). Majorly, in cultural respect, The museums of
UK are the most appealing destination where the ample of customers came throughout the world.
Culture of Spain : The visitors came to Spain to enjoy Spanish culture which is widely known for
Flamenco music and dance, bullfights, fantastic beaches and lots of sunshine. The people infuse
full efforts in providing an extraordinary artistic heritage and architectural ranges. Some famous
places where the tourist visit the most are Balearic Islands to the Roman ruins of Merida and
Tarragona, the decorative Lonja in Seville, Mudéjar buildings, Gothic cathedrals, castles,
fantastic modernist monuments and Gaudí's intricate fabulous sculptures in Barcelona (Jackson
and Harssel, 2014). Social
Social feature at UK: The term social refers to inclusive of national, local or social group
destinations. In UK, this factor plays direct role in attracting and appealing visitors. They work
altogether to provide an environment to satisfy the visitors coming from abroad to visit the place.
The attitude and behavior of the localities of UK highly play role in appealing customers.
Social feature at Spain: Social life is very vital at Spain. They interaction with the people in
informal manner, physical contacts, greetings, embraces are very common. Shopping is very
popular for both local and tourist people. The nightlife at Spain is legendary. Several bars and
12