Unit 6 Contemporary Issues Impact on TT Sector Assignment

Introduction

Travel and tourism sector is fast growing sector and make effective level of contribution in the nation’s economy. For some nations it is major source of income. There are some factors or contemporary issues that affect the growth of this sector. These factors become barriers in the growth or development of the tourism industry. Unit 6 contemporary issues impact on TT sector assignment report makes inclusion of such issues which are considered as the major barriers in the growth of  travel and tourism  sector. Different strategies also get discussed in order to resolve these problems and solve the issues in effective manner.

Task 1

1.1 Analyse issues currently driving change in the travel and tourism sector for a selected tourist destination. You have to include at least three issues and give detailed explanation of the issue and its impact on the travel and tourism sector.

UK is selected in order to make discussion over the current issues related to the tourist destinations. UK is one of the most preferred destinations among the tourists and every year number of tourists visit UK. The unique features of UK that attract high number of tourists include rich heritage and cultural factors. The remuneration gathered from the tourist sector contributes major part in their nation’s economy. There are various tourist destinations in the major cities of UK such as London, Manchester, Liverpool and many more. Tourism sector become key source of income for UK and due to this effect their government put adequate emphasis over it in order to promote their tourism in the global market and make others also aware about their tourist destinations. There are lot many issues that drive the change in the travel and tourism sector of the UK (Evans, et. al., 2012). These issues get discussed as follows such as: -

Economic factors: With the effect of the economy UK’s tourism sector get affected badly.UK economy is facing issues related to the high unemployment rate.

As per the above figure it is clearly observed that there is fall in the growth rate. This fall shows that they are facing issues related to the recession and they are losing their market growth. Due to recession the goods and services become little bit expensive which reduces the tourism business and may lead to increase in unemployment ratio (McWha, et. al., 2016).

Terrorism: This issue affects the global tourism sector as terrorism activities are happening in every country at any time. With the increase in the terrorism activities there is effective fall is noted down in the tourism sector. There are various recent attacks in the European countries such as France on 13^th November 2015 terrorist’s attack was made at restaurant. In this attack 140 get killed and 89 people’s get injured. These kinds of activities lead to decrease in the number of tourists visit the nation for tourism purpose. Due to these terrorists attacks European countries are not considered as safe anymore and it directly hampers their tourism business law. Local riots were also observed in the year 2011 which affects their domestic as well as inbound tourism. Tourists can’t visit such destinations that risk their life and with this effect the tourism sector of UK and other European countries get affected badly (McWha, et. al., 2016).

Health related issues: Health factors are effective factors that restrict the tourists visiting such destinations. Tourists didn’t visit such places that are suffering from diseases or health issues and once they find it out they cancel their trips. Government also restrict the tourist activities at such places where there are effective chances of spreading diseases. Tourists doesn’t want to visit such places that are affected from the diseases or any other problem and to safeguard themselves from their impact they cancel their trip and remain at home or visit some other place which is not having such issues. Health issues put adverse impact over the tourism sector (Wachowiak, 2016).

1.2 You should analyse at least two different current issues using appropriate methods and resources in depth focusing mainly on the impact of political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, terrorism and counter-terrorism measures, severe weather, local and international laws.

The tourism sector gets affected with the effect of available issues. These available issues make inclusion of activities related to terrorism, severe weather conditions and many more. Some of these get discussed below such as:

Terrorism activities: The terrorism activities are performed by few groups of peoples in order to create fear among people. Terrorism activities make inclusion of killing people through blasting, bombing, firing and others. The main motive of these activities is to develop fear among the individuals. Due to these activities there is adequate level of impact is put over the tourists as majority of tourists wants to visit safe and secure places. Recently there is few terrorism attack held in European countries that affect their tourism business. Safety and security are the prime concerns of the tourists before visiting tourist destinations. With the effect of these attacks there is effective fall is noted down in the European tourism sector (Medlik, 2012).

There are various examples available in context to the terrorist attacks and fall in the tourism business. In the year 2011 Syria civil war adversely impact their tourism sector. Earlier to this attack there is effective rise in their tourism but after this civil war there is effective fall is noted down as 95% occupancy of hotels immediately fall down to the 12% occupancy. With the effect of this huge fall many of the hotels get closed. In the same manner Turkey is also impacted badly impacted with the terrorist attacks as it is not termed as safe and secure tourism place for tourists (Stonehouse, et. al., 2012).

Tourists always prefer safest place for their tourism purpose. The safest places for tourism in world are as follows such as:

Political unrest in Middle East and North Africa: In order to improve the tourism in Egypt and Tunisian their government put adequate efforts into it. They try their level best in order to increase the number of their tourists in their country. But after all efforts the number of tourists keeps on declining and for this event the main reason is their unrest political parties. On the other hand Libya and Algeria having infrastructure development problem as they are facing economic stability issues. There is effective increase is noted down in the oil prices that increase the fair rate of Air travel which directly affects the tourism sector as number of tourists visiting these countries get declining. The factors such as high prices of air ticket fair and unrest political environment didn’t attract tourists for these countries and these tourists move towards such countries that have cheap prices, stable political parties and safe environment (Hall, 2011).

Task 2

2.1 You should evaluate current trends influencing change in the UK travel and tourism sector.  Your information pack should include latest available statistics regarding the number of tourists and main tourism markets in UK. You need to make use chart, data and text tables.

There are various growing trends such as Globalisation, sports tourism; inbound and outbound tourism and these trends put adequate level of impact over the travel and tourism sector of UK. These trends get discussed below such as:

• Globalisation: It means different countries integrate and exchange their views, products, services and opinions with each other and these activities lead to make adequate changes in the lifestyle of native population. With the effect of the globalisation there are effective changes observed in the tourism sector. Tourism sector get developed with the help of various factors such as increase in communication, transportation and adequate development in infrastructure. UK government make use of technology effectively in order to promote their tourism and after that they get supported from the globalisation. ICT is the best example in context to the development of the UK tourism (Shepherd, 2016). In the below figure effect of globalisation over UK tourism such as: -

• Sports tourism: With the increase in the sports activities and increase in interest lead to increase in the sports events. Due to the London Olympic Games in London effectively increases the total number of tourists in UK. In the other destination of UK the football lovers (tourists) get increased in effective manner. Below image explain the factors in adequate manner related to the sports tourism such as: -

• Inbound tourism: It means when tourists from different countries visit the UK then in this case for UK it is termed as inbound tourism. UK is attaining various effective features such as pleasant weather conditions, favourable seasons, effective transport facilities, attractive and romantic tourist places and many more helps in growing tourism sector in the market. There was 8% growth noted down in the inbound tourism in the last quarter of 2015.

• Domestic tourism: In this residents of UK are visiting different cities in order to spend their vacations or weekends. With the increase in the interest level in sports and commonly in football domestic tourism get effectively increased as football lovers travels from one city to another in order to watch football match of their favourite team (Papatheodorou, et. al., 2016).

2.2 Your company wants to expand into the niche tourist market. You should analyse a current trend using appropriate techniques and resources and produce a fact sheet to be included in your information pack. You need to analyse one niche tourism market and provide detailed description about it, including reasons for its increasing popularity, and most recent travel statistics.  You should include data and text tables, and charts in the fact sheet.

Saga holidays effectively want to make expansion of their niche tourist market for the purpose of increasing their customer base. For this purpose they enter into new market. As per the recent trends it is noted down that there is effective boost in the UK tourism sector as there are lots of football lovers visit different cities of UK in order to watch football matches. Football leagues attract more tourists towards them and increase their domestic as well as inbound tourism in effective manner. There are various other sports activities also taken place such as Wimbledon (Lawn tennis tournament), Cricket series at Lord’s (Mostly Ashes), and many more major international tournaments related to the different sports. Most of the tourists visit due to the football tournaments (Grimshaw, 2014).

In the below table number of visitors from different countries is shown such as: -

It is also forecasted that there will be effective increase in the tourist numbers due to the upcoming events including ICC World Cup (2019), World Athletic Championship (2017) and many more (Nair & Hussain, 2013).

Future trends that also helps in developing sports tourism in UK such as:

• Enhancing tourist’s experience: They need to focus over enhancing quality of services rendered as tourists might face problems due to lots of tourists due to sports events. If they enhance their experience they successfully increase the ratio of sports tourism in UK.
• Culture: Saga holidays need to take advantage of the rich and  heritage cultural  of UK in order to make effective packages including different heritage places along with their planned sports events. This effectively helps in satisfying the customers (Nair & Hussain, 2013).

In order to promote sports tourism in UK below factors need to be considered effectively such as: -

• Technology: This is the effective factor that helps in increasing the sports in the whole world. By making use of technology transportation facility also get improved that also helps in promoting sports tourism in UK. Technology helps in improving the services rendered by the different service providers such as hotels, restaurants, airplanes and many more in order to facilitate their tourists and it helps in increasing their tourism.
• Media: This is the effective factor that helps in making effective promotion of the sports event and the crowd in front of global market. They share effective information with the use of media in order to make others aware about their products and make them motivated in order to make participation in it. (Nair & Hussain, 2013)

Task 3

3.1 Analyse how International Airlines Group businesses could respond to change.

International Airlines Groups is considered among one of the largest airline because it attains 533 airplanes and these airplanes covers 250 destinations. In Europe it holds the third position and in the all over world it holds 6^th position as per the revenue earned. International Airlines Groups is the parental company of different companies including British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingu and Vueling. In order to make analysis of the responses made to the changes SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) analysis (Jovanovic, 2015). Below is the SWOT analysis of the IAG such as: -

Analysis is also made with the help of using PESTLE in order to analyse the macro environment for IAG group such as: -

3.2- Develop strategies on how International Airlines Group businesses such as British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus could respond to change. You need to select and develop strategies for at least two businesses. Provide detailed explanation of your strategies.

There are various strategies get developed by the IAG to provide responses for the changes happened in the market. There are two companies considered in order to know the development of the strategies and it include British Airways and Iberia Airways and both are the subsidiary airline company IBA group. In the below table strategies are selected and developed such as:

Below two different strategies are followed from which one can be followed in effective manner such as: -

• Product development: As per this strategy companies put their emphasis over developing into the existing product in order to fulfil the need and want of the customers. British airways select this technique in order to enhance their customer base by developing their products as per the need and want of the customers.
• Market development: As per this strategy companies enter into new market with the use of their existing product in order to expand their market share. Iberia airlines select this technique in order to increase their market share in comparison to their competitors (Peeters & Dubois, 2010).

3.3 Justify strategies for how selected International Airlines businesses could respond to change. Your strategies in 3.2 needs to be clearly justified with supporting arguments

In the above section both companies’ select their strategies in order to make response to the changes in the market. British airways develop their existing products as per the needs and wants of their customers and for this purpose they follow product development strategy. For this purpose  marketing mix  is utilised such as they attain variety of products in order to satisfy the need and want of different variety of customers. For this purpose they set effective prices in order to attract variety of customers. To satisfy the need and wants of different customers they provide variety of products. In order to promote their products they effectively make use of merchandise such as mugs, apparels and many more. To facilitate their customers and promote their products they also launch mobile application. It makes the booking process easier and effective that helps in satisfying customers need. British airways also run their operation at various airports and it helps in making physical appearance in front of customers that helps a lot (Cohen & Cohen, 2012).

On the other hand Iberia makes use of market development strategy in which they get into new market with the use of their existing products. There is no change is made among their products and in order to promote their products in new market they make use of online portal and social media where they get effective response from their existing customers in the form of reviews. These reviews help them in making sales among new market (Stolley & Watson, 2012).

Task 4

4.1 Discuss the likely consequences of businesses failing to respond to market change with reference to Myla Travel, Thomas Cook and The Travel Network Group.

Business sector is exceptionally focused and the clients are more requesting than any time in recent memory which constrains the associations to give better quality administrations and to this they have to embrace the adjustments in the business sectors which can be in political, prudent, social or innovative shape however in the event that the associations neglect to react to these adjustments in the business sector, it has a few results:

• Low piece of the pie: the disappointment in adjusting to the business sector changes lead to the low piece of the pie of the organization. It would not have the capacity to satisfy the changing requests and desires of the clients; it won't have the capacity to make due in the business sector for long (Weaver, 2011).
• Low income: Low piece of the pie will prompt low income in light of the fact that the no of clients will be less who might add to the income of the firm. The expenses will be same yet the income will be less a result of which the organization won't have the capacity to meet its expenses.
• Reduction in brand esteem: when Myla travel won't have the capacity to react to the progressions, it will gradually lose its image picture which will demonstrate an impact on the income and benefits of the firm, misfortune in the client trust and consumer loyalty which will at last hamper the matter of the organization.
• Loss of Travel reputation: The sudden miss happenings and the events of failures make the sites untrustworthy and hence the massive tourist potential shifts themselves in different corners of the world. The leads of the tourists are achieved in the first five minute of their package booking else it takes huge time to covert a lead (Inkson & Minnaert, 2012).

In this way, plainly when the organizations are not ready to react to the adjustments in the business sector, they generally lose their piece of the overall industry, clients and business in the business sector. Hence the likely consequences of the travel and tourism sector affect the sites directly and potentially they diverted the tourists coming to these sites. Hence the authorities should make the proper arrangements in order to make the sites attractive and impressive. Although to make a site comfortable for tourists there are lots of efforts related with the tourists themselves like they need to take care the proper arrangements of the place as well as the cleanliness of the place to make them more beautiful (Inkson & Minnaert, 2012).

Conclusion

It can be reasoned that because of globalization, Travel and Tourism industry has seen a noteworthy change and has seen a massive development. There are some present issues which influence the tourism in different nations like political agitation or terrorism exercises which have brought about the decrease of visitors. Distinctive business methodologies have additionally been examined for British aviation routes and Iberia carriers. These above talked about contemporary issues assumes a critical part in the travel and tourism industry and these can be mulled over for future achievement and development of the travel business.

References

Cohen, E. & Cohen, S.A. 2012, "Current sociological theories and issues in tourism", Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 2177-2202.
Evans, N., Stonehouse, G. & Campbell, D. 2012;2003;2002;, Strategic Management for Travel and Tourism, Taylor and Francis, Jordan Hill.
Grimshaw, M. 2008;2014;2012;, Bibles and Baedekers: Tourism, Travel, Exile and God, Routledge Ltd, Hoboken.
Hall, D.R. 2011, "Tourism development in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe: Challenges for the industry and key issues for researchers", HUMAN GEOGRAPHIES – Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 5-12.
Inkson, C. & Minnaert, L. 2012, Tourism management: an introduction, SAGE, Los Angeles.
Jovanovic, S.S. 2015, "SMALL FORM TOURISM - CONTEMPORARY TREND AND DURABLE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY: Case Study of Surcin Tourist Destination", Quaestus, , no. 6, pp. 214
Law, R., Leung, R., Lo, A., Leung, D. & Fong, L.H.N. 2015, "Distribution channel in hospitality and tourism: Revisiting disintermediation from the perspectives of hotels and travel agencies", International Journal of Contemporary  Hospitality Management , vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 431-452.
McWha, M.R., Frost, W., Laing, J. & Best, G. 2016;2015;, "Writing for the anti-tourist? Imagining the contemporary travel magazine reader as an authentic experience seeker",Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 85-15.
Medlik, S. 2012;2003;, Dictionary of Travel, Tourism and Hospitality, 3rd;3; edn, Taylor and Francis, Jordan Hill.
Nair, V. & Hussain, K. 2013, "Conclusions: contemporary responsible rural tourism innovations: What are the emerging contemporary rural tourism innovations and how are they enhancing responsible tourism practices in Malaysia?", Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes,vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 412-416.