This is HND Tourist Destinations Assignment is part of HND travel and tourism course, given Icon College of Technology & Management.
Introduction
Over the past few decades, travel and tourism have experienced sustained growth and continuous diversification to turn into one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. Tourism has become a flourishing global industry for the developing countries and is now the fourth largest industry in the world economy. Some time back they assumed importance only for smaller countries, which were short of industries and resources to support them. However with the passage of time, even the developed world has realized the importance of tourism as a sector which can support economy in a very significant way (Hassan, 2000). it is also good sign for the travel and tourism entrepreneur , to start up their ventures. In various developing countries, tourism has become one of the major sectors of the economy, contributing to a large proportion to the gross domestic product (GDP). It is becoming the fastest growing service industry in various countries with great potential for its further expansion and diversification. However, there are some areas which must be addressed by each nation before they can fully utilize the full potential of tourism.
LO1
A. Analysis of other Tourist Destinations
Let us consider two other tourist destinations in addition to Whitechapel within The United Kingdom are the city of Cambridge and the town of Windsor. Cambridge is a very important city in the UK. It is famous as being the university town, administrative town and business centre. It assumes significant importance in the current era because of its qualities as a city. It is located just around 50 minutes away from London.
Windsor is a very small town in Berkshire, England. It is just 21 miles away from London and is widely known for Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family. It is an unparished area with the village of Old Windsor being 2 miles away from the main town.
Now as per the basic nature of the two tourist destinations, most of the visitors to the city of Cambridge are for business, study or those visiting friends and families. While the visitors to the town of Windsor, are mostly tourists or people on vacation.
Considering that all three tourist destinations are in UK and are geographically close, the inbound travellers to UK will definitely consider them for their plans since London is in proximity.
Let us analyse two charts which represent the number of visitors and the average spending for each market.
We can draw the following conclusions from the above charts:
- USA is the largest market not only in terms of spending (almost equal to France and Germany combined) but in term of visits as well.
- The neighbours France and Germany are the other major markets in terms of value as well as number of visits.
- Except USA and Australia, most of the other major markets are European.
Click to know the type and UML Diagram Assignment Help
B. Tourism destination trends
Now we have three tourist destinations, Whitechapel, Cambridge and Windsor. All of them are in proximity to London; hence any of the London airports will be used in transit for the international tourists. Now let us analyse the tourism destination trends for all of them.
Whitechapel: It is the most easily accessible tourist destination amongst the three under consideration. It lies in East of London and is very close to both the airports in London. It is very close to UK’s financial triangle (Canary Wharf, London Bridge and Liverpool Street). For a very long time it has been a neighbourhood for the working class in the city of London. Thus the people visiting this place will predominantly be Business visitors, people visiting friends and family and some people in transit.
Cambridge: It is amongst the most famous city of UK. It is famous for its academic institutes and business houses. It houses the administrative block for the county as well and hence is very important. Thus the people visiting this city will predominantly be coming for education or studies, Business visitors and little number of tourists on vacation (Maitland, 2006).
Windsor: It is predominantly famous for the Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family. Thus the people visiting this city are mostly people on vacation enjoying their holidays.
Let us analyse two charts considering the purpose of journey and the average amount spent as per their journey purpose.
We can draw the following conclusions from the above charts:
- Business, Holiday and VFR are the three most frequent journey purposes.
- Holiday followed by Business and VFR are the three most spending categories of people visiting the country.
- Number of visitors holidaying in the country has increased substantially over the past decade.
- Number of people coming for studies has remained almost constant in terms of number and their average over the past two decades.
Now considering that London is one of the major Economics centres of not just UK but is globally known, the importance of business visitors is very significant. Also being the major point of transit for coming in and out of the country only adds to its attractiveness as not just a tourist destination but catering to people with varied purposes of travel. Considering that global economy is in a recovery mode there will be a surge in number of people travelling for business and vacation and London will be a very significant beneficiary of the same.
Get the HND Business Assignment Help |
LO2
A. Analysis of cultural, social & physical features
Whitechapel is being promoted as a new tourist destination in close proximity of London. Let us analyse it for cultural, social and physical features.
- Cultural features: This as its name suggests refers to basic culture prevailing in an area or locality. Whitechapel as already discussed is a home predominantly to people of working class and hence has a very diverse culture.
- Some four decades back, art came into existence and since then it figures prominently in the art scene of London. A lot of art galleries are now an inherent part of this place which gave it not just national but international prominence. This is of very significant importance for tourists.
- In term of music, Whitechapel has been featuring significantly in London’s rock scene. This is important for a particular class of tourists.
- It has been one of most significant proponents of anti-war. Political activism in the area is very significant.
- Social features: This is as its name suggests refers to basic social fabric of an area.
- Whitechapel has been a neighborhood for the working class and hence its social features reflect the same. It has a significant number of migrant workers and hence the number of tourists visiting friends and family is significant.
- The population of the area is very diverse, multicultural and tolerant.
- Owing to its distinct features, the basic social fabric of this place is very different from other places in London. Religious freedom is inherent in the area.
- Physical features: This relates to the physicality of the place or the basic physical structure of the same.
- The place derives its name from a church and hence a significant presence of churches is evident.
- It has ruins of both the World wars, which have been developed as public places now. This is of very significant importance to the tourists.
- A number of art galleries which have come up in the area have reshaped the physical features of this place. This is also very important to tourists.
A. Comparison of features
We have discussed the cultural, social and physical features of Whitechapel in the previous section. Let us compare all these features with the features of other two destinations i.e. Windsor and Cambridge.
- Cultural features: Whitechapel has a culture for art and rock music which are pretty evident. It has very little sporting culture. However other tourist destination i.e. Cambridge has a very strong sporting culture owing primarily because of the educational institutions being present in the city. Also Cambridge being a larger area from both Whitechapel and Windsor, has varied tastes. Theatre, literature, Folk music and art are ingrained in the city which is absent in Windsor and hardly any presence in Whitechapel.
- Social features: The basic social fabric of Whitechapel is very diverse. It has people from varied cultures living in harmony and minority groups are in significant numbers here. On the other hand, Cambridge confirms to basic British social fabric. The mix of people is varied and has people from all across the world owing to its educational institutions. However, Windsor being and administrative town with very little population, is not as diverse as other two.
- Physical features: Physical features of Whitechapel comprise of ruins of both the world wars and predominantly art galleries. However, Windsor has a castle which is of extreme importance for tourists visiting the area. Cambridge on the other hand has educational institutions, theatres and art galleries shaping its physical features.
Need help?
Get Complete Solution From Best BTEC HND & HNC Assignment Experts.Email : support@locusassignments.com
LO 3
A. Comparison
London is one of the major cities of the world and is one of the most sought after tourist destination across the globe. It is a global city being of significant importance in various fields like commerce, business, art, literature, sports, education, fashion, finance, healthcare to name a few. It is one of the oldest modern cities of the world and has a number of tourist destinations. It has a number of tourist destinations catering to all types of tourists. London Eye, Madam Tussauds, Tate Modern, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Big Ben, London Bridge etc. all cater to a tourists of varied tastes. Its culture is very diverse owing to colonial past of the British Kingdom and people of all ethnicities live in peace and harmony.
Whitechapel is geographically very close to heart of London. However it is not as big as London in terms of its appeal. London is a mammoth and can be compared with David and Goliath. Whitechapel however has its distinct nature. Its cultural, social and physical features have evolved over time and form the basic fabric of the town. It appeals primarily to art lovers and people interested in history.
B. Appeal of Whitechapel
It is not fair to compare London with Whitechapel purely because of the difference in size of the two. Whitechapel has been a home for working class and hence its social fabric has evolved with time as per the prevailing norms. Art is very big in Whitechapel and so is literature. The majority of people are immigrants which bring along their sensibilities and way of living and mix that with the existing social norm. Purely because of this reason; Whitechapel has a very diverse, tolerant and multicultural society. It has a culture for rock music and has a significant number of ruins from both the world wars. Hence the appeal of Whitechapel is limited to a specific category of people and it caters extraordinarily well to people of those classes and tastes.
LO 4
Issues affecting the popularity
Tourist destinations need to be popular in order to earn revenues for the hosts. People should be aware and the facilities in place should make sure that the visitors have a great experience (Shepherd, 2002). However there are a number of destinations which have a significant tourism potential but they do not attract a significant number of tourists owing to lack of its popularity.
Let us consider the issues affecting the popularity of the two tourist destinations.
- Cambridge: As already discussed, Cambridge is a town predominantly known for its academic institutions. The University of Cambridge is so popular around the world, that people are generally not aware bout the other places of importance in the city. Even other areas like sports, art and literature is dominated by the University of Cambridge. The historic importance of city is immense but is hardly known and promoted as a place of historical importance to the tourists.
- Windsor: It is a very small town very close to London. It is predominantly famous for The Windsor Castle, of the official residences of the British Royal Family. There are hardly any other tourist destinations in the vicinity. This is the major factor that Windsor is not such a popular destination for tourists (Murphy, 1981).
Thus we can say that both Cambridge and Windsor are one dimensional in nature. They are known across the world because of only one factor present in each of them. It made people aware about the place but in order to be a world class tourist destination, they need to add a lot more attractions and promote the same.
B. Potential of responsible tourism
The term responsible tourism is assuming significance in the modern world. More and more people, cities and countries are realizing the importance of tourism. The concept of responsible tourism, as its name suggests deals with the trade-off amongst economic responsibility, social responsibility and environment responsibility. It covers various forms of tourism and the purpose of it is to minimize the negative economic, social and environmental impacts (Goodwin & Francis, 2003). The basic purpose of this type of tourism is to promote the wellbeing of the locals.
Get the HND Economics Assignment Help
Let us consider the potential of two tourist destination for responsible tourism:
- Cambridge: The city is predominantly famous for its educational institutions. It has very rich history which can be seen in physical features of the city. It has also developed a significant business area which is inherently linked to the university which exists in the city. Be it the sports culture, arts culture or literary culture, everything is inherently linked with educational institutions. Thus the city must leverage this fact and promote itself in a way which results in gain for the local community as well as other stake holders involved.
- Windsor: Most people visit Windsor for the castle. There are hardly any other attractions in the town which makes it all the more difficult to promote it as a complete tourist destination. Lush field and being close to nature are other two factors which can bring a tourist to this place.
Since people are coming into these places, they can take following steps to reduce their impact on the environment of the destination:
- They should be aware and sensitive about the culture and basic acceptable norms of the place they are going to visit.
- Respect for the local culture and way of living.
- Understanding cultural trade-offs.
- Supporting local culture by preferring business conserving the local culture and its heritage.
- Conserving the local resources and making sure the use of the same is within the replenishable limits.
References
Goodwin, H., & Francis, J., 2003. Ethical and responsible tourism: Consumer trends in the UK. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 9(3), pp271-284. Hassan, A., 2013. Perspective analysis and implications of visitor management–experiences from the Whitechapel Gallery, London. Anatolia, (ahead-of-print), pp1-17. Hassan, S. S., 2000. Determinants of market competitiveness in an environmentally sustainable tourism industry. Journal of travel research, 38(3), pp239-245. Maitland, R., 2006. How can we manage the tourist-historic city? Tourism strategy in Cambridge, UK, 1978–2003. Tourism Management, 27(6), pp1262-1273. Murphy, P. E., 1981. Community attitudes to tourism: A comparative analysis.International Journal of Tourism Management, 2(3), pp189-195. Shepherd, R., 2002. Commodification, culture and tourism. Tourist Studies,2(2), pp183-201.If you need help in HND Tourist Destinations Assignment click on order now.
