Visitor Attraction Management: UK Tourism Sector Report Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive overview of visitor attraction management within the UK's tourism sector. It begins by categorizing visitor attractions, distinguishing between heritage, purpose-built, natural, and event-based attractions. The report then analyzes the necessity and impact of these attractions, highlighting their contribution to the UK's GDP and employment rates. It explores the motivations of different visitor types, using examples like the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral. The report also examines the positive and negative impacts of tourism on visitor attractions, including issues like overcrowding and the uneven distribution of economic benefits. Finally, it discusses visitor management strategies and techniques related to sustainability, providing a holistic view of the challenges and opportunities in the field. The report incorporates illustrations and references to support its findings.

Visitor attraction
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Overlap of visitor attractions in relation to particular types of attraction........................1
1.2 Analysing the necessity of various visitor attractions......................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 The necessity and motivation of various visitor kind.......................................................5
2.2 Impacts of tourism on visitor attractions in UK...............................................................6
2.3 The effect of different theories of tourist motivation on the management of visitor
attractions...............................................................................................................................7
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................8
3.1 The processes and the potential issues involved in the development of visitor attractions.. 8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Mention different visitor management strategies.............................................................8
4.2 Management techniques in relation to sustainability. .....................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCE ................................................................................................................................11

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Visitor attraction places.............................................................................................2
Illustration 2: Ariel view of Tower of London................................................................................4
Illustration 3: London Eye...............................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is the new industry which has developed and emerged at the faster rate in market
and has contributed in growth of many other sectors. In UK, tourism has significant potential as
it consists of various heritage and cultural rich places. Further, there is vast variety of natural
beauty, ecology and terrains across many cities (Leask, 2016). Till 2025, UK will have more
than £257 b business which will contribute to 10% of country's GDP and will provide 3.8M jobs.
However, to manage all the visitors there is requirement of visitor attraction management. It has
played crucial role in the alteration and success of the tourism industry. It can be defined as the
management which supports in organizing and managing the activities as provided by the client
or market. It may include the scenery, historical places, culture, physical structure, natural
attraction and many more. This report will provide the broad knowledge about the development,
management and nature of tourist attractions. Moreover, it will consist of various scope and
importance of visitor attraction within the tourism industry. Further, various theories are
explained which help to understand the type, impact and motivation on this sector. Along with
this, it consists of potential issues related to this industry and at last, management strategies,
techniques and their impact on sustainability development are explained (Leask, Fyall and
Barron, 2014).
TASK 1
1.1 Overlap of visitor attractions in relation to particular types of attraction.
There are many changes seen in the UK's tourism sector. In 2015, UNTWO international
tourist have ranked the country at 8th position. Global arrivals which accounted for more than
2.9% in the same year. There is wide range of tourism potential in UK. There are more than
6,400 visitor attractions places in the country (Page, 2014). They are mostly built or naturally
exist. The most visited place is Blackpool Pleasure Beach which was built for the purpose of
visitor's attraction.
1

Heritage Attraction: UK is full of the heritage places such as Stonehenge, Gaint's Causeway, the
tower of London and many more sites which are having the historical significance. Stonehenge
which developed of its own by earth moment. Built with more than 83 stones, it has many
historical aspects. Another such place is Tower of London. It has been the crucial region for the
British royal history. Both the places are recognized by world heritage Site. People can visit
those places at very affordable places (Wang, and et.al., 2016.)
Purpose-Built Attraction: Such places are built for the visitors’ attraction such as British
Airways, London Eye, Thorpe Park and Eden project. There services are provided as per the
visitor desire. It may include the entertainment venues, amusement park and events. They were
2
Illustration 1: Visitor attraction places
Sources: (Attractions for tourists, 2017)

built for another purpose but now serving as different. Such places have become popular
attraction places. For example, castle, gardens, museums and theme parks which are also known
as heritage attraction. The most popular paid visitors’ attraction place is London Eye. It is giant
Ferris wheel which is highest in the UK. Also, popularly known as the Coca-Cola London eye.
Natural Attraction: Those places also known as countryside's which naturally exist such as
natural park and beauty, heritage coast and lake such as Pembrokeshire Coast, Lake Windermere.
Millions of people visit such major attraction places for fresh air, coast, valleys and lakes. Lake
Windermere has many scope as it consists of various adventures such as wild swimming,
boating, lakes walk, bike riding. It is also known as Lake poets. There are more than 1M people
who visit the place very year. It is the major place where domestic and external both visitors
come to visit the place.
Event and festival attraction: It is the worldwide attraction as many people across the world
visit such things. Major examples of it are Glastonbury and Olympic Games. It can be at large
level such as Olympic Games to something small, street festivals. Some are for the local people
while other involves people from all over world. Such places are more affordable to the people
who cannot visit the destination or natural places (Connell, Page and Meyer, 2015). Olympics
are the biggest events which are held in London. There are more than 2M people who visited he
London Olympics 2012.
Major London attraction St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower of London and Tower Bridge.
Similarities between them:
 More than million people visit those places every year and they are major source of
visitor attraction.
 There is an entry fees for them which is mostly between £15- £22 per day.
 They all were built for the different purpose but now serving as different. For example,
the Tower of London was built for the royal purpose. It was place where torture and
punishment of death was given to criminals. However, now it is among the highest
visited paid visitor attraction.
3

1.2 Analysing the necessity of various visitor attractions.
Having various visitor attraction places helps to develop the country. In UK, the revenue
collection of this sector is £121.1B which is estimated to be 7.1% of the country total GDP.
There is various role played by the visitor attraction in development of other sectors. For
example, London Eye is owned by the Merlin Entertainment but also associated with other
sectors. There are various other sectors which are linked with the same but are promoting their
business. Accommodation, foods and beverage, travelling industry, and many other sectors
which linked and are earning through such attraction places. In UK, there are more than 265000
tourism business and is among the best employment providing sector. Combing all the other
sector, they are contributing more than £150B over this industry. It has provided many jobs,
promoted business. Further, visitors also receive what they want and it promotes the domestic
tourism. In terms of the employment, there are more than 2 million people engaged in this
business. It has reduced the level of unemployment in UK (Albrecht, 2014). There are many
transportation businesses involved in this business which are getting more developed as the
attraction places are increasing. Tour operation, there are many tour operators which are
providing better opportunity means affordable price and visit to multi-purpose places. Further,
this has enhanced the level of attraction of people towards the local heritage and culture. Tar
barrels is one of the example which shows the cultural exchange. Every year people are coming
from different areas to visit it. The major purpose of very business is to earn profit. However,
4
Illustration 2: Ariel view of Tower of London
Sources: Ariel view of Tower of London, 2016

there are other things which are performed through it. Such as conservation and preservation of
those attraction places has made them better for the tourist visiting there. RAMM museum where
multi-million pounds of refurbishment has been made to put new things in museum.
Importance of 3 London attraction:
 London Eye: It is famous and is among most-loved icons. It is most visited place by the
visitors. It is major source of income for many people and a place to increase domestic
tourism.
 Tower of London: Various people from different countries visit this place to overview the
British royal Palace. As there is an entry fees so revenue collection and job opportunity to
many people are there.
 ZSL London Zoo: Many people spend their vacation visiting this place. There are more
than 16000 animals living their having more than 750 incredible species. Through the
price collected from the tickets, endangered species are protected and their conservation
5
Illustration 3: London Eye
Sources: London attractions, 2017

program is established. Moreover, they provide various facility which helps visitors to
spends more of their time there.
TASK 2
2.1 The necessity and motivation of various visitor kind.
Visitors types are based on the areas of attraction and the ability to reach that place. They
can be transients, locals or international. Further, it is based on the market segmentation which
includes the demographic, geographic and psychographic (Beritelli, Bieger, and Laesser, 2014).
Such factors include the population of that particular areas, physical features, people living there,
their attitude, interest, lifestyle and many more. For example, in UK, Tower of London is the
main attraction place where more than 3M people visit there. It is among the world most famous
fortresses. It consists of rich heritage, royal palaces, prison, zoo having royal beasts, treasury, the
white tower, the royal mint, crown jewels and the six ravens. Further, the culture and areas are
very beautiful and contains vast history. Other than this there are many famous restaurants,
hotels and other places to visit. This has increased the number of visitors in the city. Moreover,
people can perform many other activities like meeting and other site seeing which enhance their
visit to that place.
Motivation enhance the importance of those attraction places for visitors. There are
various factors which provide the motivation to the people such as education value, family
togetherness, novelty, prestige, rest and relaxation, regression and socialization. The main
motivation is adventure, experience, thrill, pleasure, visit new places and to evacuate the
boredom in life. Further, some people like to interact with new people and groups. It also
enhances the knowledge, family relationship and experience to new horizons. Some people get
motivated to perform the new things to avoid their normal routine and get intellectually and
physically away from stresses. For example, many people visit the Blackpool to get fun and
relieve from their daily routine. More than 13M people visit that place as there are many other
things to do. Such things promote other people to visit those places (Timothy and Boyd, 2014).
The needs and motivations of different visitor types with 2 UK attractions
1. Tower of London: The need to visit the Tower of London is to watch the real historical
re-enactment, ceremony and traditional experience and the royal beast. Visitors from
6

different places comes to visit all this things. It is famous, people can spend time there,
has long history and is royal palace. There are so many things to visit there which
motivates people to visit there.
2. St. Paul’s Cathedral: It is place having the religions aspects. The need people used to visit
that place is for prayers and visitors visit to see the structure and historical features of that
place. People get peace, values and relaxation there. Such things motivates them to visit
there regularly.
2.2 Impacts of tourism on visitor attractions in UK
Though tourism has provided great number of employment, increase in the GDP value
and growth of many sectors but it has also impacted on the visitors’ attraction places in UK.
There are some positive impacts and some are negative. The positive impact on the visitor
attraction are they are conserved and preserved. However, there are various negative impact.
Successful tourism requires basic infrastructure which ultimately cost the government. During
the particular period of time people visit those places which makes overcrowding. Further, due to
this there are many seasonal and poorly paid jobs. Along with this, the money generated during
the time of tourism is less beneficial for the local community major profit is earned by the
international and national companies. Moreover, terrorism, recession and natural disasters affects
such activities. In terms of the social impact, over-population, pollution, increased in drugs
consumption and crime rates have increased. Besides this, the culture of UK has been now
multilingual where many people have established their culture. This has affected the culture and
values of the country. It has also affected the environment by creating threats to many natural
and cultural resources. For example, there has been damage to the local beach and coral reefs.
Impacts of tourism on visitor attractions in London:
1. Tower of London: Visitor attraction has impacted in three ways at Tower of London they
are GDP, employment and Investment. There is rise in the GDP collection as it is among
the major paid attraction places. Further, more contribution is gain through the direct and
indirect taxes. It has been the source of income for many places. Some of them do part
time and full time jobs there. Besides this, the money collected is used for the renovation
and maintenance of the place.
7

2. St. Paul’s Cathedral: It is one of the famous church of London and is among one of the
heritage sites. As it was built in the medieval period so there are many wear and tears so
the repairs is necessary. Further, due to popularity it has visible process of deterioration.
2.3 The effect of different theories of tourist motivation on the management of visitor attractions.
There are many theories which helps to reduce the impact on the economic,
environmental and social ways. For the following case, there are two major theories discussed.
The theories are given by Goodwin (1998) and Voase (2002) These are responsible and smart
consumer tourism is evaluated. Responsible tourism is also known as the sustainable or green
tourism. It means the development with low impact and eco-environmentally-friendly which
focus on the improvement in this sector. This helps to focus more on conserving, reducing waste,
price and fulfil the customer demands (Lawton and Weaver, 2015). Further, it must make
improvement in the image, experience and service provided to the customers. Along with this, it
should be in welfare for local community, economy and natural environment. For example, in
UK, their largest national park, The Cairngorms National park has been among the one where
special care and safety precautions are taken. Further, it has the wide variety of community,
villagers and tradition. Such theories motivate the tourist to visit those places. Besides this the
local community and villagers also promote to manage those visitors’ attraction places. Such
practices help to reduce the pollution and over-crowding at the particular areas. It also helps to
enhance the customer expectation to protect the environment.
The other theory is smart consumers which includes their role in doing the voluntary
engage in the tourist motivation. It is the new approach which is long term, holistic, sustainable
development. Here development, marketing operation and planning are included. Through this
new technology can be implemented to promote the business. The theory focuses on the
improvement in the destination areas and services provided to the customer. The most important
is the price, location and facility available there. For example, Blackpool pleasure beach is more
considered by the people as there is no entry fees. So, promoting such places using the consumer
experience and enhancing facility there by using the technology to promote the tourism. Such
things help to motivate the tourist to visit those places.
The other theory is smart consumers which includes their role in doing the voluntary
engage in the tourist motivation. It is the new approach which is long-term, holistic, sustainable
development. Here development, marketing operation and planning are included. Through this
8

new technology can be implemented to promote the business. The theory focus on the
improvement in the destination areas and services provided to the customer. The most important
is the price, location and facility available there. For example, Blackpool pleasure beach is more
considered by the people as there is no entry fees. So promoting such places using the consumer
experience and enhancing facility there by using the technology to promote the tourism. Such
things help to motivate the tourist to visit those places.
TASK 3
3.1 The processes and the potential issues involved in the development of visitor attractions.
Covered in ppt
TASK 4
4.1 Mention different visitor management strategies.
Management strategies assists to attract various people at workplace through providing
them memorable trip. They are as follows:
Festival tourism: This type of strategy determine creative festival environment for
development of the nation. In UK, there are different types of festival tourism can be develops in
which different things can be offers such as music festivals, food festival and many other things.
This strategy assists to enhance customer base of business with increasing good experience in the
country (Hartmann, 2014).
Creating personal connection: This is another important strategy in UK which create
maximum satisfaction through receive positive results. There is effective program has been made
that assist to formulate planning to visit right and effective destination at workplace. Personal
connection in customers create effective performances at workplace (Vinogradova and et.al.,
2016).
Technological advancement: This strategy maximise customer attraction with the help of
implementing advance technology. Tourism business can understand their customer requirement
and provides them different things as per their requirement. As results, it will assist to maintain
effective environment that manage activities in various parts of world. This strategy assists to
business to determines effective results through carrying different aspect at workplace.
9