This is a solution of HNC TT Tourist Destinations Assignment given in UK College of Business and Computing. It analyses main tourist destinations in terms of number of visitors and income generation. It involves analyzing current trends in tourism and predicting future trends.
Introduction
In United Kingdom Travel and Tourism industry is growing at a much faster rate. Going to new places has become the part of everyone’s life. Today people are very busy in their work and work has made their lives very stressing. So, touring to different places makes the life happier. Tourism can be defined as going to some new environment, exploring the new regions or places etc. Tourism also includes staying at a location for less than one year. The major contributors in the tourism industry are day visitors. Statisticians maintain separate data for day and night visits of tourists in the United Kingdom. Tourists who come in the day time are the major contributors in the economy of UK as they spend more as compared to the Users who come at night. Day visit surveys are done in UK to analyse the data and behaviour of visitors (Botterill, 2002). Night visits last for very few hours and we don’t have regular visitors during the night time in UK. According to the data of 2003 day visitors spent around £30 billion.
Task 1
P1.1 Analyse main tourist destinations and generators of the world in terms of visitor numbers and income generation
Travel and tourism sector is one of the fastest growing sectors and contributing a lot in the economy of all the countries and in entire world. This sector has provided lots of jobs to the local citizens and it has also increased the incoming foreign exchange. It has also encouraged the retail sector to grow and which has also created jobs. For developing countries like India this sector needs to be encouraged to strengthen the economy.
Below picture gives the data of top 10 tourist destinations in the world.
According to the stats given in the above picture UK is at 8th rank and France is leading all the countries. If we talk of revenue generation UK comes at 9th place and USA is at the top with 139.6K USD in 2013.
Tourists are of various types (Qin, 2004). Some of them are as follows:
- Leisure tourists
- Domestic Tourists
- Business Tourists
- Package holiday tourists
- Inbound and outgoing tourists
- Adventure tourists
- Independent tourists
UK is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the entire world. National tourist board does an analysis on all the major tourist destinations in United Kingdom. It tries to find out the popularity of these destinations and also analyse the revenue generated from all the regions. All the four major countries of UK i.e. England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales have their own national tourist boards. Nature is one of the major attractions in UK. The man made attractions are also encouraging and increasing the number of tourists in the country. National parks, historic sites, waterfalls, lakes, mountains etc. are some of the major natural attractions. The manmade attractions are museums, temples, other religious places, art related sites, galleries etc. Some of the famous attractions of UK are as follows:
- Tate and the Tate Modern
- London Eye
- Tower of London
- The Victoria and the Albert Museum
Above destinations are from London. Thorpe Park is one of the best theme parks in UK. Some of the other attractions of UK are British Airway London Eye, London’s Tower, Eden Project, Windermere lake cruises, Legoland Windsor, New MetroLand, Chester Zoo, Kew gardens, Flamingo land theme park and zoo, Canterbury Cathedral, etc. Above are paid destinations and there are some free destinations also in UK which are Black pool Pleasure Beach, National history Museum, Science Museum, Victoria and museum of Abert, Pleasure Theme Park, Eastbourne Pier, Pleasure Beach, British Museum etc. (Yale, 1991).
P1.2 Analyse statistics to determine tourism destination trends and predict future trends
Now I will discuss the trends in the industry with the help of some examples. I will first take the inbound tourists in the country and will prepare a graph showing the number of visitors in the country in last some months. Graph will also show the purpose of visit such as business trips, holiday with family or friends, VFR, or any other reason etc. Britain will be considered first and will be analysed.
The above chart shows the number of visitors coming in Britain every year. Graph is clearly showing that the number of visitors have increased drastically after 2010. With the help of this graph we can also predict the future of tourism. It will increase and will help a lot in the economic growth of the country (Song, 2000). Tourism sector is increasing because of increase in globalization. Travel has also become easier. Improvement in the technology has also helped a lot in the growth of travel and tourism industry in UK.
Following graph shows the amount spent by the inbound visitors in the country from 2008 to 2012.
We can see in the above graph that spending has been increasing continuously after 2010 and this is because of increase in the disposable income of the tourists. It can be predicted that it will increase in the next coming years also.
All the above charts have shown clearly that the numbers of tourists are increasing at a much faster rate in Britain. Value and spending from these inbound tourists is also increasing. Sentiments in the market are also positive and supportive towards the growth of this sector. All the above analysis helps the country a lot in finding out the areas where they need to focus to increase the industry and for the growth of economy. They can also found out the new segments to be focused.
Below picture gives the number of visitors in UK from 2012 to 2013:
Figure 1: 2003-13 Statistics of UK inbound tourism
Data Interpretation
Above data explains the tourism sector is growing continuously but in 2008-2010 it got decreased and the major reason behind this was recession and economic crisis.
Task 2
P2.1 Analyse the cultural, social and physical features of the worldwide tourist Destination selected by you explaining their appeal to tourists
Tourist destinations are beneficial and good for not only the visitors but it is also a boon to the citizens living near the tourist destinations. Tourist destinations are also beneficial for the entire country as it helps in the growth of the economy. More the number of tourists more in the incoming money and more will be the GDP of the country. Other aspects related to the tourism sector are Cultural, Social, Economic and Physical which are described as follows:
Social Features of tourist destinations:
Tourism also helps in making some good social changes. Visitors from all the nations help in improving the society during their tour to the host country. Societal thoughts of the local people can be expanded and the country can emerge as a better society. This can be explained with the help of an example of Scotland. During the World War II it was one of the most disputed countries. In the past economy of the country was also not that good. But because of tourism sector growth it has become one of the most talked tourist destinations. Because of the increase in foreign tourists society started developing and it helped a lot in the economy of the country. We can see that today the strongest economy of UK is the capital of Scotland which is Edinburg. It is one of the best societies in the world. It was not just the tourism which helped the Scotland but we can say that without tourism economic growth would not have been possible.
Economic features of tourist destinations:
Economy of any country depends a lot on the travel and tourism sector of the country. France is the first largest economy in the world and in Europe it is the second largest economy. We have seen countries which are totally dependent on the tourism sector. Tourists when go any country or destination they spend money for their basic needs like food and shelter. It helps in the growth of the hospitality industry. Retail industry has also seen growth because of tourism. Tourists get emotionally attached to the location and they buy special things from that place. Disney land is majorly the destination for the families with kids. Kids love to visit and enjoy in Disney lands. Al these facilities are not free and parents have to spend money for the happiness of their children. It contributes in the Gross Domestic product and economy of the country. Even people are sometimes getting emotionally attached to the location and they contribute financially for the growth and development of the location.
Physical features of tourist destinations:
The physical aspect of tourism industry has also two faces. Physical features include rivers, Mountains, Islands etc. Seine, Loire and Garonne are famous rivers of France and Mont Blanc is one of the highest mountains present in France which attracts lots of visitors in the country. It has positives and negatives attached to it. The positive is that the government of the country always tries to improve the infrastructure of the tourist destinations as compared to all the other location in the country. There are negatives also i.e. because of huge incoming of people in these regions disturbs the physical balance of these places. Nature also gets adversely affected by the over population. Sometimes it leads to the decrease in the value of the tourist destination because of the uninvited human interference. London is very famous among all the tourist destinations in United Kingdom. It is the commercial capital of the country. It has resulted in getting priority as compared to other locations. Government always tries to keep this location up to the date and always maintains the physical infrastructure of the place.
P2.2 Compare features of a tourist destination in a developing country and leading tourist Destinations
Development and making of any tourist destination depends a lot on the economy of the country. Tourist destinations of any developing country like India are different from the destination in developed country like France in many aspects. France can spend a lot in the development of the tourist destinations. They maintain their destinations very well and keep them attractive. They can even make new artificial locations. France will be able to spend a part of its GDP it has less other issues as compared to India. In India there are other problems like unemployment, poverty, overpopulation etc. which needs to be taken care of. India cannot spend much on these tourist destinations. It has also been seen that the number of visitors in a developed country are more as compared to the visitors in developing countries. The visitors can look for other opportunities also in developed countries. Visiting a developed country also adds value to their experience. Society also plays a role in this case a society in any developed country is more developed as compared to any developing country. People in the developed countries are more mature and welcoming. If we think in terms of culture we will find opposite case as culture in the developing country is stronger as compared to the developed countries. Culture in the developing countries changes over time which attracts tourists because they want to learn new culture and want to know how the change in culture happened over time. Developing countries will always try to attract more visitors as they want to grow. Hence developed country is more preferred if we analyse in terms of social, economic and physical aspects of the country. But in terms of cultural aspects developing countries are preferred.
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Task 3
P3.1 Compare the appeal of current leading tourist destinations with that of currently developing tourist destinations
Tourism and travel industry depends a lot on the characteristics on the tourist destinations. Some of the characteristics which affect the industry are as follows:
- Economical Characteristics
- Social Characteristics
- Physical Characteristics
- Political Characteristics
Number of tourists coming in the country and type of the visitors also depend upon the characteristics of the destination. All the characteristics are not positive but there are some negative factors also which discourages the tourism. Characteristics related to physical and cultural aspects are attracting both local and foreign tourists.
We will try to compare leading tourist destinations in developed and developing economies with the help of example. Paris is the tourist destination from developed country and Mauritius is the destination from developing country.
Society in Paris has emerged properly and it is very strong and beautiful. Tourism in Paris is always supported by the social values and norms in Paris. Society of the Paris is also developed by the tourists coming there every year (Siegel, 1999). If we take Mauritius its society is not that much developed as compared to that of Paris. Standard of living of the people living there is not good and there are many people who are still living below the poverty line. People there do not have permanent jobs and they still work on daily wages. If we compare the culture of both the countries Paris’ culture was more art, music and theatre related but it has totally changed and it has adopted western culture. Fashion and media are the things which are dominating Paris’ culture. Read about
Paris is preferred by most of the tourists and there are many reasons for that. It has become one stop shop for visitors. They can get each and everything there. It is a tourist place for people of all the age groups from children to old people. Children love to go in Disney lands and love birds prefer to go to Eiffel tower. Mauritius is also known as a very famous tourist destination but it is not that much developed in terms of infrastructure and most of the tourist destinations are related to natural beauty. Hence it is not a tourist destination for all the age groups and it is generally preferred by the newly married couples.
Economy of the country also matters a lot in determining the number of tourist coming in a country. Economy of the Paris has been growing continuously from last some years and it is one of the biggest economies in the entire Europe. People are willing to invest in this country because of its growth potential. On the opposite side economy of Mauritius is not that fast growing and developed. It is considered as a developing nation. This is the reason for lesser number of tourists in the country as compared to Paris.
One of the most important factors which affect the tourism sector is the political stability in the country. Tourists will always prefer the nation or state where they find political stability and where they feel safe. There are countries like Iran which are always under the threat of terrorism and because of which tourism is less as compared to other countries. Nature in the country has huge potential to attract the visitors but because of terrorism risks people do not want to visit there.
Physical aspect also plays a very important role in attracting the visitors. People always prefer the location where they can found very well developed infrastructure and they can get all the facilities. Weather conditions are also very important. People like to go to location where they can find pleasant weather and avoid going to the hot places.
Task4
P4.1 Analyse issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations
Some of the factors which affect the tourism industry of any country are as follows:
Weather Conditions: Climatic and weather conditions are always the major determinants of number of tourists coming in a country. Tourists like the places where weather is cold and snow is falling. Cold places are always considered as best honeymoon locations (Scott, 2005). Any climatic disaster affects the entire tourism business. For e.g. tsunami which happened in South East Asia affected the entire economy of the country badly and especially the tourism sector. Many people died in the incident and it created a very negative impact in the minds of the visitors. They started thinking it as an unsafe location to visit. Even the people living in those locations are having difficulties in their survival and this is because of the damage in infrastructure.
Fluctuation or changes in currency: Money always plays a very important role in taking any decision. We need to analyse our financial condition before buying any product or service. We know that export always help in the growth of economy of any nation and tourism is similar to selling products or services to other nations. People coming here and spending is same as people from other countries buying our products and services? This increases the incoming of money in UK. When people from UK go out of the country it is like import of goods and services and money from UK goes out. This is never preferred by any nation. So UK government always tries to promote domestic tourism and wants its citizen to spend in their country instead of going out of the nation.
Exchange rates are very much responsible for increase and decrease in the amount of tourism in any country. Tourists’ cost can be increased or decreased depending upon the type of currency fluctuation happening. Tourists prefer to come to UK when the pound is weak against other countries because when they will come they need to pay fewer amounts to get the same amount of week. And when the pound is stronger the inflow of visitors reduced in UK because they need to pay more of their currency to get the same amount of pound. The cost of the tourism operations also gets affected because of the currency fluctuations. Tourism companies enter into agreements with other partners like hotels, travel companies etc. and they need to pay the amount which was decided in the contract irrespective of the strengthening or weakening of the currency.
Economy of the nation: As we have already discussed also that economy of the country is very much responsible in deciding the inflow of tourists. Infrastructure of the tourist destinations will be better in all the countries having stronger economies. UK and USA are the major economies in the world and they are considered as one of the best countries in terms of tourist destinations. Investment in tourism sector is always more in any developed country (Williams, 1991). Developed countries or countries with stronger economies are able to spend more in promotional campaigns. These promotional campaigns help a lot in attracting more visitors in the country.
Fear of terrorism: Terrorism is increasing these days and because of which people feel unsafe in visiting these types of states or countries. I can explain this with the help of an example of India. In India these is a very beautiful state named Jammu and Kashmir. It has beautiful natural sceneries and can be one of the best tourist spots in the entire world but the state is affected by the terrorism which stops the tourists from going there. Attack happened in USA i.e. 9/11 terrorist attach has disturbed the entire nation. It has affected the economy of the country and especially the tourism industry. It was not just USA which got affected by this attack but nations in UK also came under its influence (Richter, 1986). There are also cases when terrorists try to hijack the airplanes and this has also created fear in the minds of the travellers. One more example is the terrorist attack happened in Bali at a resort. It happened in 2002. Tourism industry was totally ruined by this incident and it took the country around two years to get back into shape. In fact all the countries are affected by this dangerous poison. Sri Lanka cricket team was attacked in Pakistan and this has stopped cricket in Pakistan from that period and games are one of the major attracters of tourism (Hall, 2012).
Government laws and legislations: These are several government rules and regulations that have directly impacted tourism. Some of them are as follows:
- Tourism act 1969: Under this law all the major tourism organizations have come together to form a single organization. This organization helps in solving any issues in the tourism industry. British Tourist Authority and English Tourist Council have merged to form new entity named Visit Britain. This organization also helps in promoting the tourism in the country.
- Package Travel, Holiday and Tours Regulations 1992: All the tour operators come under this regulation. Tourism operators have to comply with all the guidelines set up by the Package Travel, Holiday and Tours Regulations 1992. All these regulations are to satisfy the customers. It has regulations like no smoking in the tourism places, rates cannot be charged more than certain limit etc. It some operator does not follow these regulations customer cab file a case against the tourism company.
P4.2 Discuss the potential for responsible tourism to enhance the host community at the worldwide tourist destination selected by you
Responsible tourism is defined as the act of tourists and local people towards each other for the welfare of both the parties. Local people should try to attract more and more visitors and tourists should be friendly and cordial to the local people. There are various key aspects of responsible tourism. It says that employees of tourism sector should be treated equally and they should be given proper salaries. Tourist visiting countries should know the people and culture and should not carry do anything which can offend the local people. Local people are benefitted by getting proper jobs like operators, drivers, guides, etc. so that adequate job opportunities can be created through tourism. Tourism should be eco-friendly and it should take care of weather and environment around the tourist places.
We have seen that these days the term "responsible" has been used a lot in the international tourism industry. The reason for this is that the problems in the tourism industry are increasing too much. Local population is not satisfied with the tourism and they are feeling discomfort. Local community and the environment are also affected by the tourism (Gössling, 2000). There are some processes which cannot be controlled. There are cases when the income from the tourism sector is not being used to enhance and develop the tourist destinations. This needs to be discussed and solved as it is one of the biggest threats to the local economy of the country. There are some other problems associated with the tourism industry like increase in the cost of living in the communities which are tourist destinations. Crime also increases in these types of locations and tourism industry has to be more responsible and sustainable to solve these issues. Tourism which is associated with ethical values is called responsible tourism. Or we can also say that the sustainable tourism is also called as responsible tourism.
Tourism sector has affected the biological diversity and culture in a very negative way. It is also affecting the natural resources of any country such as water, fuel etc. Tourism industry and the government have to come together to fight against all these problems and to develop the host community. Britain and Scotland has developed some strategies for sustainable tourism. Some of the strategies and initiatives are as follows:
Social equality: Tourism sector has the responsibility of improving the social lives of the citizens in the host country. Local citizens should be given some benefits from the tourism and they should be made socially equal to others.
Protection of environment and culture: Culture and environment of the host country needs to be protected. Government and tourism industry has tried to develop the infrastructure of the tourist destinations and it can be done by using the money which is coming from the tourism industry. It is their responsibility to maintain and enhance the natural beauty of the place. Culture of the host country helps a lot in attracting visitors. So culture should also be protected by the tourism industry.
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Conclusion
Tourism industry is one of the biggest industries and it has helped a lot in the growth of UK's economy (Williams, 1991). We did a complete analysis on the number of visitors in UK from last 4-5 years and we have seen with the graph that the number is increasing continuously and it has huge potential to increase further. Income of the visitors also a major factor in encouraging the tourism in UK. We also did a statistical analysis on various types of visitors in the country. There are many factors which are responsible for the increase and decrease in the number of visitors in any country. Some of the factors are economy, society, culture, physical attributes etc. Tourism sector has seen more growth in developed countries as compared to the developing nations and the major reason is that all the factors we discussed above are contributing in developing tourism sector in developed nations. Developed nations have more money to develop infrastructure and economy of their country. Developing countries are preferred because of their culture. There are many issues which we discussed in the report and which are affecting the tourism growth in any country. Exchange rates, climate and terrorism are some of the important factors affecting the tourism. Government and the tourism industry have to come together to fight against the problems in the tourism industry and to help in making tourism industry sustainable in the long run.
References
- Ashworth, G., Pompl, W., & Lavery, P. 1993. Culture and tourism: conflict or symbiosis in Europe? Tourism in Europe: structures and developments. 13-35.
- Botterill, D. 2002. Tourism studies and research quality assessment in UK universities. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 1(2), 72-75.
- Gössling, S., & Peeters, P. 2007. ‘It does not harm the environment! ‘An analysis of industry discourses on tourism, air travel and the environment. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 15(4), 402-417.
- Qin, S. U. 2004. A Study on the Types of Tourists and Their Experience Quality——A Case Study of Zhouzhang . Scientia Geographica Sinica, 4, 020.
- Richter, L. K., & Waugh, W. L. 1986. Terrorism and tourism as logical companions. Tourism Management, 7(4), 230-238.
- Scott, D., Wall, G., & McBoyle, G. 2005. The evolution of the climate change issue in the tourism sector. Tourism, recreation and climate change, 44-60.
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