Analysis of Current Issues in UK Travel and Tourism Sector (BMG203)

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Contemporary Issues in Travel and Tourism
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Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
LO 1: Understand the current issues in the travel and tourism sector.............................................4
1.1 Analyze issues currently driving change in the travel and tourism sector............................4
1.2 Analyze different issues using appropriate methods and resources......................................5
LO2 Understand the current trend in the travel and tourism sector................................................5
2.1 Evaluate current trends influencing change in the travel and tourism sector........................5
2.2 Analyze current trend using appropriate techniques and resources.......................................6
LO3: Understand how travel and tourism sector responds to change.............................................8
3.1: Analyze how travel and tourism businesses could respond to change.................................8
3.2: Develop strategies on how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to
change..........................................................................................................................................9
3.3: Justify strategies for how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to change.
...................................................................................................................................................10
LO4: Understand the impacts of change on the travel and tourism sector....................................11
4.1: Analyze the impacts of issues and trends that drive change in the travel and tourism
sector..........................................................................................................................................11
4.2: Discuss the likely consequences of businesses failing to respond to market changes.......13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
References:....................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction:
Sri Lanka is one of the famous tourist destinations in the world. It is full of nature, culture, and
wildlife. It has rainforests and beaches and has other various attractions for the tourists. In the
below report, the issues are identified and analyzed which changes the travel and tourism sector.
It also includes the issues in Sri Lanka in relation to the methods and resources. The report
consists of the emerging trends which are used to influence change in the travel and tourism
sector and how these trends have an impact in Sri Lanka in terms of product and service offered
by way of accommodations and attractions. The report also includes how Andrew Brownsword
Hotels Ltd. has responded towards the trends related to the type of products offered by the
company in order to meet the changing requirements of the customers. What could be the
consequences which the companies might face if they fail to meet the changing requirements of
the customers.
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LO 1: Understand the current issues in the travel and tourism sector.
1.1 Analyze issues currently driving change in the travel and tourism sector.
The United Kingdom has an increased number of tourists in the past few years and is in the top
few destinations in the world. There are several issues in order to drive change in the travel and
tourism sector in the UK. These issues can have an adverse impact on the on the tourism sector
as a whole. UK has various attractions which motivate tourists to visit the UK. The UK has
numerous tourist destinations like London, Liverpool, Bath, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow,
Leeds, Belfast, Norwich, Portsmouth, Brighton, Canterbury, etc. Issues due to which travel and
tourism sector gets affected include technological advancements or change in the technology,
fluctuation in the currency rate and the exchange rates, increased number of criminal activities in
the travel and tourism sector, environmental change, transportation availability, etc. The actions
taken by the tourist agents have a great impact on the services as offered by the tourism industry
as a whole in the UK. Travel and tourism industries provide services to customers or visitors.
Travel and tourism industry is interrelated with various other industries like the Airline industry,
telecommunication industry, hotel industry, transportation industry, etc (Higham, et. al., 2016).
Employees' strike of any such industry can have a huge impact on the travel and tourism sector.
For instance, if the air traffic controller of France announces the strike, it affects majorly to the
tourists of the British. Weather conditions have also a major impact on the visitors, depending on
the choice of the customers. For example, Scotland Highland's earthquake in May 2013 had an
adverse effect on the tourism sector in the particular area and thus affected the overall travel and
tourism industry in the United Kingdom. Various countries have a huge issue of terrorism.
Hence, terrorism also plays a key role in the increase or decrease in the tourism sector. The
countries which have a major terrorism issue have very less growth in the travel and tourism
sector. The basic concern of the visitors visiting such countries is of health and safety. The
transportation facility is also a major factor which affects the travel and tourism sector. Visitors
would require transportation facilities to move from one place to another without facing any
issue. The UK is the developed country and has various modes of transportations available. It
also has comfortable accommodation available at a cheaper price which enriches the quality
experience of staying in the hotel. UK is one of the best destination countries across the globe
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and solves the communication issue along with certain other issues generally faced by the
visitors in order to provide the visitors an amazing experience so that to make it a memorable
tour for them and thus lead to increase the development of tour and travel business (RSM, 2017).
1.2 Analyze different issues using appropriate methods and resources.
Tourism sector affects the overall economy of the country. In Sri Lanka, the travel and tourism
sector increases the employment in the industry and thus helps in generating the income.
Environmental and weather changes can have a major effect on the tourism sector in Sri Lanka in
both positive as well as negative manner also the change in currency can have an impact in the
same industry.
Positive factors: Weather conditions can have an impact on the development of the travel sector.
Pleasant and warm weather can attract more tourists and hence increase the number of travelers
as people would love the location having pleasant weather conditions. Rainfall can make the
weather pleasant and thus make the place more attractive and visitors prefer for such places.
Reduction in the exchange rates and foreign currency can have a cost-benefit for the visitors and
thus lead to an increased number of tourists. The decrease in flight tickets, or accommodation
charges and transportation charges also has a major effect on the growth of the travel and tourism
sector in Sri Lanka.
Negative factors: The above-mentioned issues can also have a negative effect on the industry of
travel and tourism. Extreme hot or cold weathers can have an effect on the health of the visitors.
Temperature can have an impact on the heath on the customers and can result in reduction of the
growth of the tour and travel industry in the UK. The natural disasters like earthquakes, storms,
etc. affect the destinations and economic conditions. Increased rate of currency in the UK results
in decreased currency rate in Sri Lanka and hence results in making the tour expensive. Different
people have different income slabs and plan the trips accordingly. The change in currency rates
hence becomes an issue for the people who do not have a much income source. Services of travel
and tourism sectors in the UK is related to the services provided in Sri Lanka in terms of the
hotel industry, transportation industry, food industry, airline services, and communication
industry. Lack of service by one of the sectors in Sri Lanka will affect the services of travel and
tourism sector in the UK (Tussyadiah, et. al., 2016).
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LO2 Understand the current trend in the travel and tourism sector.
2.1 Evaluate current trends influencing change in the travel and tourism sector.
Travel and tourism sector has certain positive, negative, and influential trends.
Positive trends include:
 Recovery in the Continental market.
 Reducing in the currency results in an increased number of tourists.
 Improved air routes and reduction in the ticket prices.
Recovery in the Continental market can increase the overseas visitors. The fall in the currency
rate in the UK can result in the increased number of visitors as it makes the tour a bit cheaper.
Also, the decreased price in the air tickets and improved air facilities attracts customers and
motivated them to plan the trip.
Negative trends include:
 The decline in the domestic hotel spend
 Security issues.
 Increase in the hotel building.
The UK has reduced spending in the domestic hotels which is a negative impact on the travel and
tourism sector. UK travel and tourism sector are affected because of the less security in the
country. From the customers/ visitors point of time, increase in the building of the hotels in a
negative trend in the travel and tourism sector.
Influential trends include:
 Technology usage.
 Mobile app booking increases.
The visitors generally make use of technologies to book the trip they plan to spend their
holidays. They can also use various mobile apps to conduct bookings. This increases the number
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of sales and leads to the development and growth of the travel and tourism sector in the UK.
Travelers are highly mobile addict these days and make extensive use of technologies to plan and
book the trip (Verkeer, 2018).
2.2 Analyze current trend using appropriate techniques and resources.
The positive, negative, and influential trends can affect the travel and tourism sector in Sri Lanka
as well.
The positive trends like reduction in the currency rate in Sri Lanka can increase the customers
over there and have an impact on increased travel and tourism sector. The Cost cutting in the
airplane tickets can also influence the customers to visit Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is considered to be
an attractive country and have various attractions to motivate customers.
The negative trends also have a huge influence on the travel and tourism sector in Sri Lanka. The
negative factors de-motivate travelers to visit the country and thus result in a decrease in the
travel and tourism sector in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka also faces certain security issues which become
a hurdle and challenge for the visitors to plan a trip to Sri Lanka.
There are various influential trends as well which results in the growth and development of the
travel and tourism sector in Sri Lanka. The visitors are a technology addict and by using
smartphones can get a tour of any country through the internet. People share their experiences on
various websites about how the place was and what are the nearby attractions which people must
prefer, how was their experience, etc. This can help a visitor to analyze whether or not it is
worthy to visit Sri Lanka. Different people have different tastes, some may like visiting beaches,
and others may don't. Mobile plays a huge role in deciding the place of destination and thus can
result in either increase or decrease of travel and tourism industry as a whole in Sri Lanka
(Fanelli, 2018).
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LO3: Understand how travel and tourism sector responds to change.
3.1: Analyze how travel and tourism businesses could respond to change
Changes are the inevitable facts of the travel and tourism industry of the UK. Andrew
Brownsword Hotels Ltd is a well-known tourism company of Great Britain. The changes in the
travel and tourism industry affect the internal environment of the company to the large extent. It
is vital for the company to respond to these changes in quick time in order to ensure the long-
term growth in the business environment. One of the most significant ways to respond to the
changes is conducting the market research and analysis for the purpose of identifying the vital
information (Jovanović, 2015). The company could conduct an analysis of the internal and
external environment with an aim of identifying the company's strengths and weaknesses,
threats, and opportunities and external factors such as competitors, political, economic and other
external environmental factors that affect the company.
Instead of simply react for mere survival, the company could make the efforts for the analysis for
the environment. This is called the approach of proceeding with caution in which the company
could develop certain effective ways for adapting the changes in the company. The company
could develop a strategic plan by establishing objectives and the effects of internal and external
factors on these objectives. The plan could involve the corrective as well as the adaptive steps for
responding to the changes (Lal, 2018). The company could be benefitted with such strategic
response in the form of growing with an adequate degree of strength and stability as well. The
objective of such strategic response is to move beyond the mere survival. It aims at promoting
the growth and development of the company, mitigation of the threats along with the seizure of
the opportunities identified.
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3.2: Develop strategies on how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to
change.
Adapting the changes in a business environment requires the implementation of specific
strategies. Andrew Brownsword Hotels Ltd could adopt strategies such as SWOT analysis,
Marketing mix, Implementation of new technologies and Leadership. SWOT Analysis is an
effective strategy that helps in the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of a company
along with the threats and opportunities being dealt with by the company. It basically involves
the utilization of strengths and opportunities for eliminating the weaknesses and threats
(BADERTSCHER, 2019). The marketing mix is another strategy that helps in the adaptation of a
change in the travel and tourism industry. It involves the set of actions and decisions that are
required developing before the launching of a new product or service or promoting the company
or product.
The key decisions in the marketing mix are Product, Place, Promotion, and Price. Leadership is
considered as a significant strategy during the change adaption as it involves convincing the
employees or staff in accepting the change for the betterment of them and company. Leadership
refers to the continuous methodology of influencing and motivating the subordinates or other
individuals for the purpose of attaining a common objective (Cascio, and Montealegre, 2016).
Implementation of new technological developments implies the use of new technologies in
certain aspects such as production, marketing, human resource management, supply chain, and
distribution and so on. Technological advancements play a significant role in the travel and
tourism industry of the UK.
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3.3: Justify strategies for how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to
change.
The strategy of SWOT analysis could assist Brownsword in making aware of the company’s
health. It helps in the evaluation of the business environment in such a detailed way so that
strategic decisions can be taken regarding future actions. This tool further contributes to
assessing the internal as well as the external environmental factors and their contribution to the
success or failure of the company (GÜREL, 2017). For Brownsword, marketing mix could assist
in the new product or service development for the adaptation of change in the business
environment. This can help further in the expansion of the product portfolio. Marketing mix
strategy also leads to providing guidance to the company regarding the improvement in the
products or services offered or the business.
Changes in the business environment require the company to become dynamic that can be
achieved with the marketing mix. An effective leadership helps in the clarification and
communication of the vision of change.
The leaders are considered as the bridge between the company as well as the change being
envisioned. The leaders prepare the employees for accepting the change in the company and
assist the management in the development of strategic planning for the change adaption. The
leadership plays a crucial role in the adaption of change in the business environment (Hao, and
Yazdanifard, 2015). Furthermore, they assist in the development of a healthy work environment
and organizing resources required for the change adaptation. Implementation of technological
advancements helps in the enhancement of the employee and organizational efficiency. It
provides assistance in saving time and reducing manual work which leads to the stress and
tension of the employees regarding their workload. Technology further contributes in developing
ways for making the work of employees easier and more efficient. Lack of technology can
hamper the success or growth of the company. Also, it could help Brownsword in developing
new ways for the purpose of enhancing communication within the company.
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