Impact of Tourism on Edinburgh: Economic, Social, and Environmental

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the travel and tourism sector in the United Kingdom, with a particular focus on the case of Edinburgh. It begins by outlining the historical development of the sector, discussing key milestones and factors that have shaped its evolution, as well as the current structure of the industry. The report then explores the functions of various government bodies and international agencies in promoting tourism within the UK and Scotland, highlighting the influence of economic policy on the sector's success. Furthermore, it examines the impact of political changes on tourism and analyzes the factors affecting tourism demand in Edinburgh, including economic, social, and environmental considerations. The report concludes by discussing the economic, environmental, and social impacts of tourism on Edinburgh, and strategies for minimizing negative effects while maximizing positive outcomes. The report covers the role of Visit Scotland, and includes an analysis of supply and demand factors in the tourism sector.

TRAVEL AND TOURISM

INTRODUCTION
Travel and Tourism nowadays is considered to be a huge industry in the world. Travel
and tourism is rapidly growing in UK. This encourages them to travel in different countries.
Travel and tourism sector is considered as a part of high class services which is being provided
by different organization in the world. It will focus on the effects of tourism on company ‘Visit
Scotland’ of Scotland’s National Tourism Organization of Great Britain, UK. It will cover topics
of historical development in travel and tourism sector and its structure UK. It will also explain
the functions of local, regional and national government sponsored bodies and international
agencies in promoting travel and tourism in UK and influence of economic policy in this sector.
This report also emphasis on the topics like political change on the travel and tourism sector and
factors affecting tourism demand in Edinburgh. The main positive and negative economic,
environmental and social impacts of tourism on Edinburgh and strategies which can be used to
minimize the negative impacts and maximizing the positive impacts on Edinburgh tourism in
UK.
TASK 1
1.1 Key historical developments in the travel and tourism sector in UK:
Travel and tourism sector has contributed in the development and growth of tourism in
United Kingdom. The industry has grown so much with time and changing human behavior and
their interests. This change in behavior and their expectation from the tourism industry has made
them to keep increasing in other industries as well.
Development in tourism sector starts from late 1960s, where various factors came into
existence such as increase in free time availability, increased interest of people for long trips,
income growth of people in UK. All these factors have contributed in the overall development
process of tourism sector in United Kingdom.
Now-a-days development of new industries in tourism has highly affected this segment,
as newcomers are offering great packages for the customers in order to bring more revenue from
of this sector or industry. The evolution of the industry can be categorized into different time
period based on the development in tourism. For example, in the time period of 1945-1979's,
development of tourism industry started in the UK. The development of tour operators started to
change in the industry from individual business activities to integrated activities (Boniface, B.,
Cooper, R. and Cooper, C. 2016).

By the end of 1980's, several other factors or services were also included in the tourism
sector like managing customer's holidays, medical services, hiring car, etc. In the 1990’s,
development of United Kingdom's tourism sector by providing more options for their
entertainment which helped them to attract more tourists to visit UK. In the future, tourism
business is likely to expand more and more. Tourism is helping a country to create more peaceful
and internationalized universal society by providing cultural trade to people. Tourism
development in United Kingdom is also helping in enhancing education and improving the
tourism business for newcomers in this sector to take on tourism business.
1.2 The structure of the travel and tourism sector in United Kingdom:
Travel and tourism sector is a huge industry, which can be sub divided into several
sectors, such as attractions, transportation, accommodation, tour operators, travel agents, tourism
development department of the country. These are explained below,
 Tourist Attraction Destination: A Tourist attraction place is most important for the
country to maintain the tourist rate. Attractions can be natural like palaces or man made
like parks and gardens, museums, etc. because these are primary factors which motivate
tourists to travel to any country. There are many attractions in UK which helps to attract
tourists to visit it for example, Thames River, London Eye, Tower of London,
Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge and many more.
 Transportation : It is important as it contributes 25% of tourists’ outlay for a trip. In
order to get to a desired destination, proper transportation is required. There are various
modes of transportation like air planes, buses, trains, sea ferries etc. Tourists can opt for
any one of these options according to their comfort and liking.
 Accommodation : It is very important for the travel and tourism industry to provide good
accommodation to their customers. In accommodation, food and beverages services are
also included in it (Coshall, J., Charlesworth. 2015).
 Tour Operators : These are those agencies which organize different tour packages for
clients according to their needs and requirements. For example Thomas Cook is a
traveling company which provides tour packages which includes flight ticket expenses,
accommodations prices, tours, tickets in a combined package
 Travel Agents : These are those agents who help the tour operators to manage the tour
for the client. They do their job by selling brochures of their respective organization.

There are so many travel agents working with different agencies in UK who can help
tourists to manage their trip while visiting
 Tourism Development Department : This department helps tourist’s get all the
information regarding tourist places of country and all related factors for tourism is also
available in the website like, ticket prices, timings, distance, etc. These websites are very
helpful as through this the person can get all the details he/she required for the trip and
plan according to that.
These are some factors which are responsible in tourism sector for its growth and development.
All these factors has to be done properly in order to attract tourism in United Kingdom.
Illustration 1: Structure of Tourism Industry
Source : Components of Tourism Industry. 2015

TASK 2
2.1 Function of local, regional and national government sponsored bodies and international
agencies in travel and tourism in UK and Scotland:
In functioning of tourism sector in UK and Scotland, Government plays an important
role. It allows so many new comers to try their hand in it. There are so many strategic decisions
which has been taken by the government to increase social and economic growth of a country.
Involvement of Government's laws and regulations in tourism industry is necessary. The
government mobilizes the tourism sector in various factors like economic, cultural, social,
industrial and infrastructural growth of UK.
In travel and tourism in UK and Scotland, there is a great impact of local, regional and national
government sponsored bodies and international agencies :
 Local and regional government sponsored bodies : In past years, it was only the local
government which was responsible for growth in tourism sector of UK. But today, there
is an involvement of Central Government as well. Different rules and regulations of
Government in UK and Scotland is an essential part of travel and tourism industry, which
involves various policies which the tourism department has to follow. These laws ensure
that the duties of tourism sector is covering all the factors related to tourist's health,
safety, and infrastructure in transport such as roads, railways and ports which is available
to people visiting UK and Scotland (Forno, F. and Garibaldi, R. 2015).
 International Agencies or Organizations : There are number of international
organizations which are responsible for growth in the tourism sector. In order to increase
tourism in UK, many efforts have been made by the government at local level as well
international level. International agencies are those bodies which helps to promote
international tourism and encourage visits to other countries. These usually supports the
countries which have some common interests in achieving their goals. There are many
international agencies like, United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
which helps in uplift tourism in UK and Scotland
2.2 Influence of Local and National economic policy on the success of the travel and tourism
sector in Scotland:
To become successful in travel and tourism sector, economic policies has a great impact.
There are so many economic policies which is being used by the government in Scotland which

has a huge impact on the tourism industry in a positive way. Scotland is a very beautiful, exciting
and vibrant country which is good for an iconic destination that offers a dramatic and enduring
visitor experience to have in life. There are some other policies and regulations also which are
set by the government that will affect the tourism in various economic front of the country such
as visa and immigration policies for the customers. All the members working in Scottish tourism
recognize the help for a change in the way which helps to do both promoting and delivering
growth in the economy (Franzoni, S. 2015).
The visitor economy is the term which is used for the interaction between tourists and
services which contribute in the benefit for Scotland tourism. This is one of the most important
part of the Scottish economy and helps in enhancing Scotland’s future economic growth.
Similarly, there are many other economic policy in Scotland such as hike in value added tax by
hotels, taxing higher to tour operators, making cheap finance available for hotel development or
tourist site development policies, can lead to have significant impact on tourism sector which can
be either good or bad for the Scotland tourism.
2.3 Implementation of Political change in travel and tourism sector:
Political changes plays a significant role in increasing the economic growth of UK in
travel and tourism sector. There are various political situations and regulations in different
countries which can affect the tourism industry. Tourism can be greatly affected by changes in
economic and political trends in the country. For example, UK has voted out itself from the
European Union which leads to affect the tourism industry of UK. It will decrease the tourists
rate there. Another example which explains the implication of political change is when there is
an unrest in political issues of Thailand, the number of tourists visiting there has decreased in a
huge amount as they did not want to go in such countries where there are issues regarding safety
and security measures (Hindle, N., Martin, A. and Nash, R. 2015). When a good political party
tries to focus and concentrate there mind in building good travel infrastructure, improving their
transportation systems which includes air planes, buses, rails etc. Developing Tourists sites more
attractive and providing better facilities of food and washrooms. Keeping all this in mind, it will
help the country to increase their number of tourists and will also improve their image in travel
and tourism industry.

TASK 3
3.1 Various Factors affecting the Tourism demand in Edinburgh:
Different factors that governs the level of demand, and its different types is termed as
Tourism demand, and important characteristics of demand of the tourists. Edinburgh is the UK’s
second city for international tourism. Business Tourism demand is definitely investing across
Edinburgh’s. All tourists are responsible for generating tourism demand in a particular manner
known as “Tourism Destination”. Some reason which affects the demand of tourist industry can
include seasons or weather and time like what is the most favorable time of tourists to come
(Moutinho, L. and Vargas-Sanchez, A. eds. 2018).
Some other factors which encourages the tourists to travel and create a demand for
tourism industry in Edinburgh can include different factors such as enjoying the leisure time with
family, celebrating holidays, business trips and professional engagements, religious pilgrimages
or other personal motives. Some other issues like decrease in income can drop the demand of
tourism in Edinburgh. Depending upon the economic, psychological, geographic and political
factors tourism demand in Edinburgh can be defined in various ways. It can be divided into
various parts like Effective Demand or Actual Demand which can be defined as a strong desire
or need of the tourists and Suppressed demand are those which includes tourists who are unable
to travel because of their circumstances (Unit 1 The Travel and Tourism Sector Sample
Assignment. 2018)
3.2 Supply demand to meet the effects of demand for tourism related products and services in
Edinburgh:
Supply demand are those factors which consists of tourism facilities like number of
accommodation rooms available to the tourists, tourist spots, events’ to cater to customized
demands, travel facilities to hotels and destinations, and the ease of obtaining all government
permissions to travel the country. A wide range of suppliers providing services to the tourism
sector are very important in supply chain (Pappas, N. and Apostolakis, A. 2016). Supply
components consists of different elements in it which is, natural or environment resources, man-
made resources, and transportation which is an essential factor of tourism industry, because
without proper transportation they can not travel to any destination in that country. Some other
factors which also affect the supply demand for tourism industry can be explained as,
 Demographics position of the country,

 Economical factors,
 Technological changes,
 Influence of foreign currency exchange,
 Season or peak time, and
 Sustainability.
TASK 4
4.1 Positive and Negative effect of Economic, Environmental and Social factors on tourism of
Edinburgh:
Tourism industries helps to bring out many social and economic benefits and profits, but
with them there are some negative effects also which is associated with tourism sector. The
different positive and negative impacts of economy, society and environment are discussed
below:
 Economic impact : Economy plays an important role in the growth of the tourism
industry in Edinburgh. Some positive and negative impacts of economic effects are as
follows,
Positive effect : Direct and indirect employment within the tourism industry are jobs
which is being created by the tourism sector. There are many small scale industries in the
country which can take advantage from the tourism industry generate extra revenue from
them. These revenues can be generated through various forms such as airport taxes and
hotel taxes.
Negative effects : Jobs created by the tourism sectors are seasonal and can not local
people to get permanent job. Success of tourism depends upon country's infrastructure
and the cost to build these infrastructures usually very difficult for the government, so
they make these expenses from the tax revenues taken from the tourists only. Local
community is not getting their benefits from the tourists coming in the Edinburgh as
multinational companies has taken over the market. Tourists are attracted more towards
them (Standing, C., Tang-Taye, J.P. and Boyer, M. 2014).
 Social impact : Social impacts are those which effect an organization's actions and on the
well being of the community. Some positive and negative effects of social impact are as
follows :

Positive effects : There are some traditional culture, handicrafts and festivals of
Edinburgh which has to be encouraged and preserved by the government in tourism to
creates a pride for the local community which helps them to make money for there well
being.
Negative effects : Tourists behavior towards local people of Edinburgh can give a
negative effect on the community. Locals are forced to leave their land to make buildings
for new hotels or for new tourist destination.
 Environmental impact : These are those which are related with the environmental factors
of Edinburgh. Some positive and negative effects of environmental impacts are as
follows :
Positive effects : Edinburgh is coming up with new and innovative ideas such as Eco
tourism which helps to promote wildlife and natural resources conservation. Revenues
made from the tourism is used to maintain the environmental factors (Vanhove, N.
2017).
Negative effects : In many tourist places in Edinburgh, environment is greatly harmed by
tourism which generate threat to natural and cultural resources. One of the important
issue which arises from the tourists' industry is the pollution created in Edinburgh which
is a major problem there.
4.2 Strategies to minimize the negative and maximizing the positive tourism impacts on
Edinburgh:
Maximizing positive impacts in Edinburgh's tourism can be achieved by making an
outline of process which helps to allow people to engage and enhance each otter's businesses. It
is very important to minimize the negative impacts in order to successfully establish the tourism
sector in Edinburgh. Spreading awareness among local people about the importance of the
country and its environment before tourists’ entry can make them alert of their behavior. To
minimize the impact of tourism, sustainable development of tourism is required by the
government. Encouraging tourists by providing an option to them to stay with the locals instead
of staying in resorts and hotels which will help to understand the functions and culture of the city
(Veal, A.J. 2017). There are strict laws which should be enforced by the government so that
tourists can help to maintain the beauty of Edinburgh. Some positive factors can include
improved management and planning skills.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be summarize that tourism sector in Scotland and Edinburgh
plays a crucial role in upbringing the overall growth of the country and of the people living there.
The effect of supply and demand on tourism in Edinburgh has a great impact on the well-being
of the local people as it gives them opportunity to work and earn for their family. This report also
gives suitable measures to overcome different situation which arise in the tourism sector. Some
positive and negative impacts of tourism on Edinburgh and different strategies applied to
minimize these negative impacts is also studied in this report.