Report: Travel and Tourism Organisations in a Global Context

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of travel and tourism organizations operating in a global context. It begins by differentiating between travel and tourism organizations, examining their roles, structures, and services. The report then delves into the responsibilities of these organizations, including adherence to international regulations and industry standards, and evaluates strategies employed to maintain or develop operations in a competitive environment. The impact of the national economy, government measures, and national/global events on the travel and tourism sector are also assessed. Furthermore, the implications of global integration, the interplay between international and domestic tourism, and the influence of the global economy on these organizations are explored. A case study of Thomas Cook is included to identify current global issues and strategies for addressing them. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for the sector's future.

Travel and Tourism
Organisations in a Global
Context

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Differences between travel and tourism organisations.........................................................1
1.2 Responsibilities of travel and tourism organisations operating globally..............................2
1.3 Evaluation of strategies employed by organisations to maintain or develop operations......3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Impact of national economy on the activities of travel and tourism sector..........................3
2.2 Measures taken by governments to influence the activities of the travel and tourism sector
.....................................................................................................................................................4
2.3 Effect of national and global events on the travel and tourism sector.................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Implications of global integration on tourism organisations.................................................5
3.2 Effect of international tourism on domestic tourism.............................................................5
3.3 Impact of the global economy on travel and tourism organisations.....................................6
3.4 Facilitation of new technologies on globalisation of travel and tourism organisations .......6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Current global issues faced by Thomas Cook.......................................................................7
4.2 Strategies for global issues faced by organisation's business activities................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism is a segment of hospitality industry in which various organisations
operate to provide several conveyance services and facilities. In the current scenario, this
segment is operating on a global platform and has high growth rate. Hideaway is a private
limited company which has a chain of hotels in domestic market and has decided to spread their
business globally with the help of travel and tourism services. In this project report key
differences of travel and tourism organisations are discussed along with their responsibility
which are operating globally. External and global factors impacting this sector are also
mentioned along with its exemplification. Thomas Cook is a tourism organisation which is
selected to identify various issues and strategies.
TASK 1
1.1 Differences between travel and tourism organisations
Travel and tourism sector can include two type of organisations such as public and
private. These organisations are further classified into two categories and they are national,
regional and local. All these entities are different from each other and has variation in their roles,
structures, products, services and the size of those organisations (Cave, Jolliffe and Baum, 2013).
Basis Brightsun Travel Limited Thomas Cook
Role
Brightsun travel Limited is a travel
company which has role that is
limited only to providing
transportation services via various
sources.
Tourism industry has a wide role
as it includes ample of services
which are included in the course of
a tour such as transportation,
accommodation, food etc.
Thomas Cook is a tourism
company and its role includes all
the services which can be covered
in tourism.
Structure Brightsun is a private Limited
company which privately owned
and its structure is much more
Thomas Cook is a public limited
company which is privately
owned. The structure of this
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simpler than tourism companies.
This organisation follows line
structure.
company is much more complex
than Brightsun as it operates in
numerous activities and operations.
This organisation follows
functional structure.
Size When it comes to size, Brightsun
Limited has small size than Thomas
Cook due to its narrow scope which
is only limited up to transportation
and its number of employees are
way lower.
Size of Thomas Cook is much
more larger than travel entities as
they has wider scope which
includes multiple products and
services. This company has 22000
estimated employees and estimated
annual revenue of 9007 million
(Size of Thomas Cook, 2017).
Products and services Only transportation services are
provided by Brightsun Limited.
These services includes travel from
flights, buses, railways, private
vehicles and many more.
Tourism organisations such as
Thomas Cook offer various
products and services which are
included in a tour package such as
accommodations(hotels, hostels,
camps), food and beverages(in
multiple star category), sightseeing
and many more.
1.2 Responsibilities of travel and tourism organisations operating globally
Travel and tourism sector is a fast growing industry which is required to be regulated. In
order to control organisations operating in this sector, government of United Kingdom has
developed various such authorities or organisations which are described below along with their
responsibilities:
International Civil Aviation Organisation – ICAO regulates international air transport
services and is responsible for maintaining all the standards of air navigation and its
infrastructure. They prevent any unlawful interference and facilitates cross border procedures for
international civil aviation.
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Association of Independent tour operators – AITO is a British based travel industry
trade group which represents tour operators of entire United Kingdom and other 169 countries.
This organisation is responsible for monitoring standards, maintaining fair customer relations
and look after professional services and continual developments. There main responsibility is to
bring sustainability in this sector.
Association of British Travel Agents – ABTA is a UK travel trade association for tour
operators and travel agents. This organisation is responsible for providing effective schemes of
financial protection, raising standards of industry and giving guidance on issues such
sustainability, health and safety. They also have to develop a code of conduct (Edgell and et.al.,
2008).
1.3 Evaluation of strategies employed by organisations to maintain or develop operations
Organisations engaged in travel and tourism industry operate in a fast paced environment
where they have to face intense competition. In order to maintain and develop activities and
operations of these organisations, there are various strategies which are adopted by these entities.
Some of them are described below:
Competitive strategies – These strategies are used by an organisation in order to spread
awareness about their brand by the way of effective marketing and promotion. Competitive
strategy has a main aim to attain competitive advantage through employing strategies such as
using latest upgraded technologies and effective pricing techniques. Hospitality is a growing
industry due to which they have intense competition and to attain competitive advantage,
organisations develops efficient marketing plans and policies. Cost leadership and differentiation
are few competitive strategies which are used in this industry.
Defensive strategies – According to this type of strategies, organisations are more
concerned with building strong and positive relationship with their clients in order to increase
their chances of longer survival. In this type, strategies of defence such as sustainability and
survival are used.(Knowles, 2004).
TASK 2
2.1 Impact of national economy on the activities of travel and tourism sector
United Kingdom has a developed economy which plays a major role in the development
of its industrialisation. The sector of travel and tourism is predicted to grow at an annual rate of
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3.8% and this prediction is a cause of developed economy. National economy of this region
believes to encourage new business which are related with tourism sector. This industry
contributes approximately 9.9% GDP and provides 3.7 million jobs per year. It can be said that
national economy has a big impact on the functioning of this sector. In the case of European
Union and United Kingdom, national economy has a positive influence on this industry.
Not only travel and tourism sector but also the organisations operating in this sector are
influenced with the national economy. Policies and rules of the economy highly effects
operations of these organisations. Due to flexible and encouraging rules of this economy,
organisations engaged in tourism and travel are benefited. Fall in the exchange rate post Brexit
have persuaded more people to visit the country as it comparatively economical (Impact of
national economy on the activities of travel and tourism sector, 2014.).
Despite of these benefits, there are few negative influencers also and they are, due to
political instability(stability of the government and radical changes in the policy) several
organisations face decline in the number of international tourists. (Sawyer, 2004).
2.2 Measures taken by governments to influence the activities of the travel and tourism sector
Travel and tourism industry is a sector which not only benefits few operating
organisation but it is advantageous for whole nation as it contributes a lot towards country's
GDP. In order to develop these organisations, there are certain measures which can help to tackle
these entities from above issues and these measures are discussed below:
Action Plan – UK Government has published Tourism Action Plan in which they have
included series of new initiatives such as welcoming more visitors. They have developed plans
for improving advice hubs.
Perception management – Government of United Kingdom has limit the negative media
which influence travel and tourism industry in a negative way. The government of this nation is
highly concerned about this sector due to which they perceive insecurity situation and develops
communication campaigns.
Business events – Government of United Kingdom conducts various business events
through continued administration of Event support programme.
Initiatives – UK's government make efforts to make travelling easier by offering great
tourism offers. Another effort from them is driving continuous improvements in their visa
services. (Boniface, Cooper and Cooper, 2016).
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2.3 Effect of national and global events on the travel and tourism sector
United Kingdom is a tourist friendly nation where thousands of domestic and
international tourists visits annually. This sector is affected from national as well as global events
and some of real events are depicted below:
National event – One of the national event which has influenced the travel and tourism
industry of United Kingdom is BREXIT. This event has a global impact but BREXIT is related
to UK and EU only. In this national event, UK has to exit from European Union due to which
they are no longer benefited with the advantages of this union which has impacted their tourism
and travel industry severely. BREXIT is a national event which has decreased the value of the
currency of the country which makes it easier for people to visit Britain ultimately enhancing
stature of tourism.
Global event – This event is not only concerns with only one or few nations but it effects
almost every country in the world. Global recession was the global event which has adversely
influenced tourism industry of UK. Due to this recession, income of every individual reduced
due to which priority of travel reduced severely (Global event, 2018).
TASK 3
3.1 Implications of global integration on tourism organisations
According to C Chung, global integration is a process of product standardisation and
technology centralisation. This integration has implied on tourism organisation and influenced in
both positive and negative way. Due to product standardisation, an organisation can bring
simplicity in their products and services but this integration is not possible as one product serves
various clients of different regions having varied environment.
Another process involved in global integration is technology development centralisation
which also has positive as well as negative influences. Positive impact of this process is, due to
technology development an organisation can take advantage of globalisation and can promote its
operations around the globe. Technology have provided travellers sources of appropriate
information from which they can decide the places and areas they wish to visit and even book
accommodations and tour packages online. Negative influence of this process is high cost
involvement due to which profit rate of the organisation can reduce (Morrison, 2006).
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3.2 Effect of international tourism on domestic tourism
United Kingdom has a large industry of tourism and travel which is divided into two
parts and they are international tourism and domestic tourism. International tourism is a sector
where tourists from all over the world visit United Kingdom and domestic tourism is a sector
where tourists of UK or Europe visits this destination. International tourism earns economic
benefits than domestic tourism as those tourists are more capable to spend. The trend of
travelling within the country have also been influenced by the international travellers. Despite
this competition, international tourism is a reason of improved and increased domestic tourism.
In order to increase international tourism, government improves infrastructural facilities
which also improves domestic tourism. Similarly, in order to gain profit from international
tourism various hotels and tour operators improves their activities which also attract domestic
tourists. Along with the above positive impacts, there are few negative impacts also.
Government of United Kingdom also prioritise international tourism due to which domestic
tourism has to suffer from less consideration and negligence (Mowforth and Mun, 2008).
3.3 Impact of the global economy on travel and tourism organisations
Travel and tourism industry which is impacted due to global economy is international
tourism. Due to recent global recession, international tourism market of United Kingdom faced
significant decline. Recession reduces the spending ability of individuals due to which UK
tourism faced major decline. Other global economic factors which effects travel and tourism
organisations are fluctuations in global tourism rules and policies developed by organisations
like WTO, UN and many more.
Travel and tourism industry together contributes over 6.3 trillion dollars every year due to
which global regulators and authorities develops flexible policies and rules for this sector in
order to earn ample of funds (Impact of national economy on the activities of travel and tourism
sector, 2014). These flexible policies can include decrease in visa regulations and taxation rates.
Despite of these flexible policies, few of these rules are a big negative impact on this industry.
Another negative impact on travel and tourism industry from global economy is high tax rates.
Tourists does not prefer to visit destination which has high tax rates such as United Kingdom
(Reid, 2003).
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3.4 Facilitation of new technologies on globalisation of travel and tourism organisations
New technologies in the context of travel and tourism industry is digital technology. With
the help of digital technology tools such as social media, a nation can promote their tourism with
employing low cost measures. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
facilitates travel and tourism organisations to market and promote their operations by using low
cost.
Apart from social media tools, technology which is facilitating this industry is another
digital technology tool and that is website and applications. These tools enables a user to book a
tour package or book a flight ticket with a single click. This tool is facilitating ease to clients due
to which they are more inclined towards travelling.
Digital technology and social media tools are considered as the helping hand of tourism
and travel industry but other technologies such as upgraded machineries and centralised systems
are few other technologies which has facilitated globalisation of travel and tourism organisations
(Boniface and et.al., 2016).
TASK 4
4.1 Current global issues faced by Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook is an international organisation which operates in multiple nations due to
which they have to face various issues related with global environment and some of them are
discussed below:
Level of competition – Thomas Cook is a multi national company operating in tour and
tourism industry due to which it has to face intense level of competition. This competition has
decreased their market share in the global market and resultant into low profitability than before.
Financial market – Due to large debt on Thomas Cook, investors of this company has
lost their confidence over operations and strategies of this entity. The share price of this
organisation has also declined and there are various profit warnings alarmed to this company. its
Operations in numerous countries are being disrupted by the legislation of individual nations
which enforce an organisation to change accordingly (Ryan and Huang, 2013).
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4.2 Strategies for global issues faced by organisation's business activities
Thomas Cook is known as market player and in order to tackle the above global issues
they have adopted various strategies so that they can capture large market share and can bring
sustainability in their organisational operations. Some of those strategies are mentioned below:
Re structuring and Re positioning – Management of Thomas Cook has decided to re
structure and re position their organisation and operations in order to simplify their complex
products and bring differentiation in products. They have adopted strategy of re positioning to
improve their sales distribution network.
Clearing priorities – Thomas Cook has adopted strategy of clear priorities under which
management of this company has categorised their short and long term priorities in order to
restore market confidence. This strategy is adopted with the aim of tackling issues of financial
market and in order to gain competitive advantage. Clearing priorities refers to the prioritise
activities and operations which are most important for organisation's development. For example,
profit maximisation and client satisfaction is usually the top priorities (Theobald, 2005).
CONCLUSION
From the above project report, it has been observed that travel and tourism industries are
two different segments of hospitality industry which is highly influenced from global and
domestic market. Hideaway chain of hotels should expand their activities by engaging in T&T
industry as it is considered as the most growing sector. This industry is controlled by various
organisations which are typically developed by government. National economy, global economy,
governmental measures, global events and global environment influences operations of
organisations engaged in this industry.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Boniface, B., Cooper, R., & Cooper, C. (2016). Worldwide destinations: The geography of travel
and tourism. Routledge.
Boniface, Brian, Robyn Cooper, and Chris Cooper. Worldwide destinations: The geography of
travel and tourism. Routledge, 2016.
Cave J, Jolliffe L. & Baum T. (2013), Tourism and Souvenirs: Global Perspectives from the
Margins (Tourism and Cultural Change), Channel View publications 1.1
Edgell D, DelMastro Allen M, Swanson J, Smith G, (2008) Tourism Policy and Planning:
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Butterworth Heinemann
Knowles, T et al (2004) The Globalization of Tourism and Hospitality: A Strategic Perspective
Thomson Learning 1.3
Morrison J., (2006) International Business Environment: Global and Local Marketplaces in a
Changing World, Palgrave Macmillan 3.1
Mowforth, M & Munt,I, (2008) Tourism and Sustainability: Development, Globalization and
New Tourism in the Third World Routledge 3.2
Reid D (2003) Tourism, Globalization and Development: Responsible Tourism Planning 3.3
Ryan C., & Huang S., (2013) Tourism in China: Destinations, Planning and Experiences
(Aspects of Tourism), Short run Press Ltd
Sawyer M., (2004) The UK Economy: A Manual of Applied Economics, 16th edition, OUP 2.1
Theobald W., (2005) Global Tourism, Elsevier publishing
Online
Global event. 2018. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.ozy.com/opinion/is-this-how-
the-next-global-recession-begins/85174>
Impact of national economy on the activities of travel and tourism sector. 2014. [Online].
Available through: <https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/role-of-tourism-
industry-in-indias-development-2167-0269.1000126.php?aid=28312>
Global integration. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.709.8917&rep=rep1&type>
Size of Thomas Cook. 2017. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.thomascook.in/>
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