Pearson BTEC HND Unit 6: Travel & Tourism Contemporary Issues Report

This report examines contemporary issues in the travel and tourism sector, focusing on their impact and the industry's response to change. It identifies key issues such as technological advancements, environmental awareness, and health warnings, alongside political and economic challenges like Brexit and unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. The report evaluates current trends, including adventure, rural, spiritual, and health tourism, analyzing medical tourism in detail. It further explores strategic responses to industry changes, considering the International Airlines Group's changes, and the consequences of failing to adapt. The analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the travel and tourism landscape, offering valuable insights into current challenges and future directions.

Contemporary issues of
travel and tourism

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1.1 Issues and its Impact on the travel and tourism sector.....................................................1
1.2 Analysis of the issues.......................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Evaluation of current trends.............................................................................................3
2.2 Analysing current trends using appropriate techniques....................................................5
Analysing Medical Tourism with appropriate factors............................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Change by International Airlines Group..........................................................................7
3.2 Strategies on the way the selected tourism can respond to change..................................8
3.3 Justification of the strategies............................................................................................9
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
4.1 Understanding the impact of issues driving change on the travel and tourism sector.....9
4.2 Consequences of businesses failing in responding the market changes.........................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism is considered as one of the biggest service industries. Whether it is
about culture, heritage, sports, medical etc., all these sectors are combined in this industry and
the main objective behind it is promoting and improving the tourism, thus ensuring employment
and economic growth as well (Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012). These include various
destination spots for tourists so that they can spend their holiday time there and have fun.
Various hospitality services are also provided at these destinations. This however satisfies the
tourists in getting almost everything they want and the vendors as well earn much amount from
these sales. As near these spots, some limited stalls and shops are available only that are meant
for tourist purposes and those vendors earn a quite extra amount from the general stores. The
report is about identifying the issues that are impacting the travel and tourism sector. Along with
this, it also includes the expansion of the company in a niche market.
1.1 Issues and its Impact on the travel and tourism sector
Although there are various issues that are affecting the travel and tourism industry, it
affects the world economically, politically and financially as well. Three of the issues are
discussed below :
Technological advancements
This factor has almost affected the dimensions of the travel and tourism sector. An
example of this can be the bookings or reservations, the hospitality or the aviation sectors
provide. This became possible because of the advancements in the technology. The hospitality
industry is still focusing on variations and modifications that they can involve in the sector that
seems beneficial in attracting more and more customers (Connell, 2013). Internet, another
advancement of the technology makes it possible for people to search for various famous places
and its factors. It has become much easy to explore on the internet before going for any holiday
as all the details like packages, stay time, other included services and coupons are available on
the internet.
Maximized environmental awareness and Natural disasters
It can be termed as an element that has a huge impact on changing the effectiveness of
the travel and tourism sector. Natural disasters can have a huge impact on the tourism sector and
they can decrease the number of tourists as well. Because of the less number of tourists to visit
these destinations, there will be a decrease in the finance as well that is being used in that
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specific area for cleaning and the other important factors. Lesser number of tourists means less
use of the hospitality services that are provided by various stalls and vendors to the tourists at
these destination spots. Similarly, the travelling status of that specific area as well.
Health Warnings
It is essential to consider the warnings usually come from the other areas of the world.
Currently swine flu is associated with affecting the travel and tourism sector. Swine flu is
considered as an infection that happens because of its virus and the disease is spreadable as well,
it can even spread from person to person contact (Dickinson, Lumsdon and Robbins, 2011)
. Like this, various other infections are un avoidable, so people avoid visiting these places after
the news of these types of infections, so it also affects the number of visitors at such places. So
this also affects the travel and tourism industry. People might change their plan sometimes
because of these types of news as nobody wants to get sick for sake of enjoying or having fun for
a few days. This is so as the symptoms of these diseases may be painful for the person as it
includes fever, muscle pain etc.
Security
Security is one of the basic concerns between the people who visit for any tourist place.
Whether the planned destination is for a longer or smaller period, the people are always
concerned about the security factors. At various places, crimes have been observed, so people
mainly avoid that kind of places in order to save themselves from any hazard. People, with their
families often plan to visit such place that seems safe and secure for their family so that they can
enjoy their life as well as can be able to take fun of the destination spot. No one wants to keep
their life in risk for having fun or enjoyment. So, security features should be kept in mind at
these tourist spots so that no individual feels unsafe in visiting any destination, thus it will further
help various holiday spots in gaining more tourists.
1.2 Analysis of the issues
Out of all the challenges in the travel and tourism industry, there have been some issues
associated with the political and economic factors as well. UK is already suffering from price
competitiveness and North Africa is suffering from political unrest. Both of them are described
below :
Post Brexit Challenges
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Brexit may affect the purchasing power which may decrease the confidence level of the
tourists. There may be some changes in the immigration and employment laws as well which
may affect the whole travel and tourist sector. Another important challenge can be considered as
the working time which can be more than before the Brexit and it may highly affect people's
normal as well as personal life. Another issue that has expected is the uncertainty in the foreign
rates, so the tourists from other countries may have to pay quite more than the before. There has
been an opportunity with the European Union for minimization of the VAT in case of labour
intensive industries but it has been declined by the treasury. This is so because according to the
treasury, the growth in economy may not fulfil the all loss over revenues.
Impact of political unrest in the middle east and North Africa
In various parts of the Middle East and North Africa, the condition of unrest has lost at
least 7.5 million tourists in 2016. There were a huge amount of challenges that the region had to
faced. Various economic implications have also been observed along with some political
tensions as well. Oil prices have also seen increasing which also affected the travel and tourism
as because of increasing costs, people tend to plan shorter trips. The unrest situation divided the
regions in three parts. First, the counties that were efficiently working but were affected by
indirect methods. Second, the regions that were affected by the spillover and then, the regions
that sustained the innovation and growth and worked well. The political unrest has impacted very
negatively on the travel and tourism sector and severe measures have been taken for controlling
the situation.
TASK 2
2.1 Evaluation of current trends
There are various factors which has some influence on the travel and tourism industry.
The same way, some current trends that influence some change in the travel and tourism sector
are discussed as below :
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As per the statistics, it is clear enough that UK resides in between for an efficient travel and
tourism sector. So, various current trends can be involved in order to make sure that it can gain a
higher position and also attract a higher number of tourists. Current trends as niche markets etc.
as per the need of the youth of today can be adopted and also, it can help in increasing the
productivity of the travel and tourism sector.
Adventure tourism
Adventure tourism is considered as one of the types that come in niche tourism. Out of all
the tourists, it has been observed that youths and the new generation are in the highest number as
the youth these days want to experience everything in life and wants to enjoy life to the fullest.
They want to have something unique, whether it may be any risk taking activities or any such
other activities. Although, it provides different ways and opportunities to explore the world but
all this is being done within a certain percentage of risk because along with fun and adventure, it
is very essential to stay ensure about the health and safety of an individual.
Rural tourism
Rural tourism is also considered as a niche tourism and as a wide amount of people are
still living in rural areas, therefore, it focuses on the need of development of rural tourism in such
sectors and areas. But it should be attractive enough. Along with this, maintaining the
sustainability of it is also necessary so that their future generation can also take use of it. The
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objectives of the rural tourism can be considered as that it will help in improving the quality of
life of people living there, also, the quality of the environment can stay maintained.
Spiritual Tourism
Spiritual tourism is also considered as a niche tourism. As it is clear enough that these
days, everyone seems to be quite disturbed and this disturbance in their life may be because of
various reasons such as issues in personal life, problems in relationship with family or friends
etc. So, a huge amount of people are mentally disturbed because of such issues in their life. As
the competition is going high day by day, people are also becoming more stressful as everyone
wants to get better than others. Such factors cause tensions in mind, so people may want to visit
some spiritual places so that they can seek peace and also, they can relax themselves. It can be
any places having peaceful environment, where they can medicate etc. So, it can influence the
travel and tourism to a huge extent. So, the popularity for such places where a person can seek
for peace is increasing widely as it is accepted by much amount of people.
Health tourism
Health tourism is also termed as a niche tourism. Health care services as a private sector
in tourism can also be considered as one of the most essential trends as it can provide a range of
world class treatments such as yoga, Ayurveda, naturopathy etc., nowadays a huge range of
people are interested in the mix of these traditional factors with the modern allopathic methods.
So, this can also be considered as one of the important and popular trend that can influence the
travel and tourism sector to higher rates.
2.2 Analysing current trends using appropriate techniques
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Analysing Medical Tourism with appropriate factors
REFERENCES
Baker, D. M. A., 2014. The effects of terrorism on the travel and tourism industry. International Journal of
Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. 2(1). p.9.
Connell, J., 2013. Contemporary medical tourism: Conceptualisation, culture and commodification. Tourism
Management. 34. pp.1-13.
Dickinson, J. E., Lumsdon, L. M. and Robbins, D., 2011. Slow travel: Issues for tourism and climate
change. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 19(3). pp.281-300.
INTRODUCTION
Medical tourism can be considered as the tourism in which a person travels to various
healthcare destinations regarding their medical treatments and this medical treatment can be any
surgery or organ replacement etc. It can also be said as coupling the arrival of foreign tourists along
with a proper medical assistance. Medical value tourism can be achieved by clinical outcomes along
with the service quality, overall experience and the cost of the treatment.
KEY DRIVERS OF MEDICAL TOURISM
Some key drivers for medical tourism are discussed as under:
 Lifestyle affected factors: There are various disease that are currently on the rise such as
cardiac arrest, kidney failure, diabetes, obesity etc. and they can be treated with specific
surgeries and advanced care. So, medical tourism provides that care and treatment to those
people.
 Rapid ageing: As the people are going more older, their chances of developing disease is also
increasing, so this can also considered as a factor for requiring medical tourism and this
tourism provides facilities for the people suffering.
REASONS FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT
People from different parts of the world, because of various reasons visit for medical treatment and
some of these factors and reasons are represented in the graph below:
POPULARITY OF MEDICAL TOURISM
There are several reasons why the medical tourism is becoming popular and is in a huge demand.
Some of the reasons are discussed as following:
 Excellent quality: Many service providers are been accredited by governmental
organizations such as JCI, JCAHO and ISO, so the tourists can stay ensure of the quality of
the treatment and services being provided there.
 Comfortable stay: It is considered as one of the attractive features that on medical
travelling, one can stay for an efficient amount of time in the hospital without paying any
extra charges.
MEDICAL VALUE TOURISM
Medical tourism can be provided in several ways and these are discussed as under:
 Hospital: There are inpatient treatments, cosmetic surgeries involved in medical
tourism that can be provided to the one needy.
 Inbound tourism: Arrival of foreign tourists for means of getting treatments is
considered within this.
 Wellness: Wellness involves some specific ways of providing medical treatment to the
individuals that are required to undergo specific treatment or procedures. Naturopathy
and Ayurveda can be considered within this as a means of providing some relaxation to
the person suffering.

TASK 3
3.1 Change by International Airlines Group
While creating new products, the airline industry can keep in mind the requirements of
the tourists. Like in case of British airways, the airlines is deciding to expand the services in
some other area, they need to check the requirements of the people there. On the basis of that,
they can continue their work. It will not disappoint the tourists as well as the airline industry
itself. They can use appropriate marketing strategies as well for managing all the changes in the
products and services they are offering to the tourists. Like in case of the costs of fuel, the
airlines can make sure to increase the taxes by a little amount so that the tourists are not bothered
as well by the new and modified rate structure. The British airlines can also consider the
marketing mix for these new changes. It includes the 4Ps of marketing which are product, price,
place and promotion (Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012). The products should be made
according to the requirement of the time. It should be in that way in which the people also feels
satisfied and the airlines as well. The products may be tangible as well as intangible. The price
should refer to that amount to which the tourist is willing to pay. Place means that the the
product is available to the area in which it is accessible to the people as well. IN places with no
or less population, it is an obvious fact that the sales of the product will get decreased.
It can further be explained by the pestle analysis and it is discussed as following :
Political : The British airlines have to make alliances with the other airlines, because of which
their reachability increases. It also helps the alliance members for an embankment on the
political benefit mutually.
Ecological : In context with the British airlines, ecological influences are increasingly important
and the British airways also have to consider the responsible use of the available resources in a
way that it is satisfying the customers.
Social : AS the British airways flies from one destination to the other, it is obvious enough that ir
makes various social contacts. The socialism of the competitors of the British airways has an
impact on that of the British airways.
Technological : An advanced version of the technologies has been used by the British airways in
order to stay competent enough for competing with the competitors.
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Legal : One of the significant factors that affect the British airways can be considered as the
power of trade unions. It is because of the legislations, the airways has suffered. Now, the British
airways should have to stay aware of all the implications that can be used by the trade unions.
Economic : Economic activities are very important for the whole country, including the British
airways as well. Although the economic environment for the airways is quite difficult. It is
because the global economy has already experienced a very sharp and wide downturn and this
has also affected the demand of the air travel.
3.2 Strategies on the way the selected tourism can respond to change
Following are the sections which can discuss the statement above ;
Changing the goal
Iberia airlines should have a set of strategies that it can use at the time of change. If one
strategy could not work, then another strategy should be ready for the time of change. It will help
the whole process to provide a sense of motivation so that the things can get smooth and reliable
(Hannam, Butler and Paris, 2014).
Change the vision
It is a better idea to think about the changes in the starting only. Iberia airlines can also
adopt a habit of pre planning of the strategies and changes that they can make use of at the time
of requirement (Connell, 2013). Modifications and the ways of modifying the situation are
decided and planned on a regular basis. This strategy can help at the time of need.
Technological changes
British airways should consider the fact of making their customer care more specific and
efficient as customers get happy if all their queries are been successfully resolved and are heard
with patience. So, the airlines can make sure to make customers comfortable enough.
Changes in consumer demand
Many times, there has been a large demand for holidays and tours, thus, the British
airways can provide some facilities to the customers such as of lodging and customised packages
or also, they can involve some factors that can satisfy the customers. By these means, customers
will get happy and satisfied and this can prove beneficial for the airlines as in gaining a huge
number of customers and popularity as well.
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3.3 Justification of the strategies
Creating the vision to be changed
A clear vision can help in setting the goals efficiently, thus achieving them efficiently as
well. By this strategy, the tourists could be able to understand why this is required and how it can
help them. Iberia airlines can determine the values that also has an important role for modifying
and developing a brief summary of people so that they can understand the change. The sector
should make sure for the arrangement of special meetings (Hannam, Butler and Paris, 2014) .
The travel and tourism sector should also start working on its vision and should ensure that it is
efficiently helping in resolving the issues. Also, it is essential to ensure that the following aim
and objectives are honest and are open with all the concerns.
Technological changes
Technological changes for the British airways is necessary because it can actually have a
good impact on their productivity. When the customers get their issues and queries solved
efficiently, it will help in maintaining their interest because at various places and organisations,
the customer care either seems not reachable and in case of reachable also, they are not able to
solve queries of the customers and they seem quite less interested as well. So, if British airways
will be able to make these improvements before only by assigning selective and specialised
customer care so that they can listen to the issues of customers patiently, this can help in
attracting much number of customers.
Changes in consumer demand
As the world is becoming more advanced and developed day by day, the customers are
becoming more demanding too. So, for satisfying those demands of the customers, British
airways can take some measures such that giving them some small offers on tickets, booking
their lodging etc. as these can actually attract the customers as there are very few airlines that
provide any modified facilities to the customers. So, it can help the British airways in gaining a
huge productivity, thus satisfied customers as well.
TASK 4
4.1 Understanding the impact of issues driving change on the travel and tourism sector
While there will be a change in the travel and tourism sector, it is an obvious fact to face some
issues and challenges. Some impacts of it are discussed as following:
Improper infrastructure
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Infrastructure acts as an essential part in the travel and tourism sector. Whether it may be
the entry points of some tourist place or the entire place. Although there are various natural
sources that are important components of the travel and tourism sector, but along with it there are
man made monuments as well which comes in the same industry. Some very common examples
of this can be the museums etc. So, infrastructure has a very essential role in the travel and
tourism industry. There are various companies that are working along and under with the travel
and tourism sector, So, lack of infrastructure terms as a negative part of it. It throws a negative
impact on these travels and tourism companies. It however minimizes the worth of the specific
company. So, the Myla travels should consider the fact that they can involve some measures for
the modification of the improper infrastructures so that the tourists may not have to face any
issue regarding this. So, it is very important to ensure the fact that the infrastructure present at
these places are up to date so that it can seem attractive enough for the customers that they will
like it. If there are some areas that needs some sort of modification or improvement, then the
company should complete it as soon as possible. It should be managed in a way that proper
painting and maintenance should be done at regular intervals so that its beauty and appearance
stay maintained.
Maximizing cost of fuel
The whole travel and tourism sector depends on the fuel as well. After the increase in the
fuel prices, the tourists have also limited their stays, thus planning short trips as a huge amount
of money is spent in transportation. This has also affected the tourism sector. Various companies
in the travel and tourism sector are searching for various strategies and ways by which they can
minimize the following problem. This is becoming more challenging as various other sectors are
dealing with the similar products and services. So, this can also be termed as a very challenging
factor for the travel and tourism sector as people are planning smaller trips than before and it is
effecting the minimization of costs in the travel and tourism sector. So, Thomas cook has
managed various facilities for the tourists to travel from one place to the other for smaller
destinations. As the company has issues buses for the convenience of the customers and it can
actually help Myla travels in gaining higher level of productivity. These means of transportation
by the company can help in attracting various number of customers and also will prove
beneficial for the company as well.
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