Unit 6 Contemporary issues in travel Tourism Sample Assignment

Unit 6 Contemporary issues in travel Tourism Sample Assignment

Introduction

The program is being executed over the topic “Contemporary issues in Travel & Tourism” with a motive to analyse the different issues the travel and tourism industry is facing due to the various aspects or elements of the environment. Travel and tourism industry is an important industry for every economy as it contributes towards the economic growth of the economy as well as enhances the employment opportunities and also provides various other benefits. United Kingdom is a developed economy and there are various tourist destinations in UK which are attracting the visitors towards it. There are various issues which are being faced by the travel and tourism industry which affects the industry at large. With the change in the time there has been a rise in the travel and tourism industry and the issues related to the environmental conditions have affected the travel and tourism industry in a positive as well as negative manner. This program will discuss the issues affecting the travel and tourism industry, current trend which is affecting the change in UK, the manner in which the travel and tourism business can respond to changes, development of strategies for  Travel and tourism  business for responding to the changes, justification of the strategies, impacts of the issues on the sector and the likely consequences if business fails to implement change in travel and tourism industry.

For the execution of this program the most popular tourist destinations of United Kingdom will be selected including London, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Oxford, Bristol and Blackpool. A tour operator or agent of United Kingdom has also been selected and the name of the travel agent is “Hays Travel Ltd”. Hays Travel Ltd was founded by John Hays in the year 1980. Its headquarter is located in Sunderland, England and is having around 130 retail travel branches in UK. It is having effective and efficient human resource which is offering high quality services to the customers.It is offering tour operators and airlines services and wide range of deals such as family holidays, cruise holidays, short breaks and long haul holidays to its customers at affordable and reasonable price(Hays Travel UK).

Task 1

1.1- Analyse issues currently driving change in the travel and tourism sector for a selected tourist destination

United Kingdom which is one of the most popular tourist destinations of the world and travel and tourism industry is an important aspect which contributing towards the economy of UK at large. There is an increasing trend in the number of visitors visiting United Kingdom. According to the data of the 2015 it has been analysed that the travel and tourism industry of United Kingdomhas contributed around £22bn to the economy of United Kingdom. Due to the changing environmental conditions travel and tourism industry of UK has also got affected. Due to these changes the travel and tourism industry has faced few issues or challenges. These issues are related to the changing conditions of the economy, shift in the travelling patterns or change in the demographics. There are various issues which are related with the health and safety of the tourists which affects the travel and tourism industry at large. There are various destinations in United Kingdom which are attracting the tourists and these include Scotland, London and Wales. These tourist destinations provide comfort to the tourists (Michailidou, et. al., 2016). The elements which are acting as issues or promoters for the travel and tourism industry of United Kingdom include the disposable income, technological development, trend in the tourism industry and assistance from the other industries. Travel and tourism industry is dependent on the other industries so as to provide safe and healthy services to the tourists. The support of other industries can affect the travel and tourism industry and act as an issue which drive change in the travel and tourism industry of UK. The issues which drive the change are as follows:

• Technological changes or advancements has also affected the travel and tourism industry as the improvement in the communication channels, transportation or hospitality services in UK will results in increase in the level of satisfaction of the tourists. Hays Travel Ltd is offering travelling services to the tourists and is making changes in the manner in which it is operating as per the change in the technology and has adopted a flexible behaviour towards the changes in the environment (Dickinson, et. al., 2013).
• Human resource is an important aspect which supports the activities of the travel and tourism and results in enhancement in the quality of the services offered to the tourists. Travel and tourism industry requires effective human resource for the execution of the operations. Hays Travel Ltd is having effective workforce so as to ensure the quality of the services offered to the tourists for improving their experience (Dickinson, et. al., 2013).
• With the rise in the cost of fuels there is a decrease in the tourists as the cost of the trip or the tour increases due to which the spendingof the tourists over the trip also increases. Increase in the prices of fuel affects the travelling cost as the basic service in the travel and tourism industry is travelling modes.
• The tax rates imposed over the travel and tourism industry is high due to which the travel and tourism industry gets affected. The rates of tax increases the cost of the services offered to the tourists (Michailidou, et. al., 2016).
• The services or the products offered at the tourist destinations are becoming common due to which the level of satisfaction of the visitors gets affected.
• Access to the facilities such as infrastructure facilities, communication facilities or transportation facilities also act as an advantage or as an issue for the tourist destinations.

1.2- Analyse different current issues using appropriate methods and resources for a selected tourist destination

For the analysis of the various current issues secondary sources can be used as the information can be gathered from the different sources such as internet, websites, journals, articles and books. From the reports available over internet related to the travel and tourism industry of United Kingdom it has been analysed that UK is one of the most safe tourist destinations which ensures the safety and wellbeing of the tourists. The prices of the services offered at the tourist destinations of UK are affordable and reasonable which ensures that the quality services are being offered at affordable prices so as to make the experience of the tourists memorable. The hotel services and restaurants services are reasonably priced. The political aspect also needs to be considered as in United Kingdom there is still rule of the queen and king who control the government and takes decisions (Arturas, et. al.2015). The culture and trend of UK is different from the culture and trend of the other places due to which the tourism of the destination gets affected. These aspects of the tourist destinations can have positive as well as negative impact over the trend of the travel and tourism as well as over the tourists. The differences in the culture and the social aspects of the destinations affect the tourist. From the collection of the secondary sources it has been evaluated that the positive as well as negative impacts have been analysed which enhances the performance of the travel and tourism industry in UK as well as affects the performance in adverse manner. Tourism affects the social life of the people of the tourist destinations as well as affects the environment of the destinations. As per the reports of United Nation, United Kingdom is one of the safest places for the tourists. The most important issue of an economy is the employment rates due to which the economy of the country gets affected and the tourism in UK has resulted into rise the GDP of the economy at large and is contributing towards the economy as well as supporting in increasing the employment opportunities and reducing poverty. Hays Travel Ltd is operating in the travel and tourism industry of United Kingdom is constantly evaluating the environment in which it is operating (Imani Khoshkhoo & Nadalipour, 2016).

                         Graph showing the visits to UK and visits from UK

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Task 2

2.1- Evaluate current trends influencing change in the UK travel and tourism sector

Travel and tourism industry can be explained as the sum total of the services offered to the tourists travelling from one place to another for different purposes such as business, holiday. In the travel and tourism industry of United Kingdom various trends are taking place due to which the travel and tourism industry of United Kingdom is getting affected. The trends in the travel and tourism industry are shifting to the different forms of tourism as the interest of the tourists is getting shifted (Mayer & Priszinger, 2010). These current trends and activities which are influencing change in the Tourism industry of UK are as follows:

• Food tourism: In this form of tourism, tourists prefer to visit the places for the purpose of tasting the food of the different places. This form of tourism is gaining importance and focus of the tourists.
• Agro-rural tourism: In this form of tourism, tourists prefer to visit the farm lands and spend the holidays at the farm lands and it provides luxury experience of the rural tourism to the tourists.
• Ecotourism: in this form of tourism the base is the experience of nature which plays important role in the enhancement of the economy and social welfare for providing strong base to the communities (McCartney & Pinto, 2014).
• Sustainable tourism: It is gaining importance as it helps in keeping a balance between the local communities and the environment.

• Inbound tourism: in inbound tourism the people use to travel within the boundary of the country. In UK the inbound tourism has increased which is shown with the help of the graph attached below. The graph shows that there is an increasing trend in the inbound tourism in UK and it is expected to rise in 2017 also.

• Sports tourism: In this form of tourism tourists visits a place for the purpose of sports activities. For example: people are visiting different places due to the Olympics.
• Festive tourism: In these tourists visits a destination for attending the festivals of the destination. For example: a festival is organised in Spain and the name of the festival is La To matina in which people throw tomatoes on each other (Mayer & Priszinger, 2010).
• Outbound tourism: in this form of tourism the travelling is done outside the boundaries of the countries.

• Adventure tourism: in this form of tourism the tourists are in search of the places or the tourist destinations which are adventurous and unexplored. This form of tourism is gaining importance as the youth is showing their interest in this form of travelling (Mayer & Priszinger, 2010). Adventurous activities include zorbing, fly boarding, diff jump, skydive, bungee jumping, trekking trips, hot air balloons, river rafting, waterfall rappelling and many more.
• Medical or health tourism: in this form of tourism tourists visits a destination for some treatment or for medical or health reasons (McCartney & Pinto, 2014).

This table shows that UK stands at fourth position in the list of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and the ranking has been done on the basis of the contribution of the travel and tourism industry to the economy of the destinations

2.2- Analyse a current trend using appropriate techniques and resources for a tourist destination or country of your choice.

A niche market can be explained as a concept in which the focus is placed over the diversity, making differences and over the differentiation. The concept of niche market is getting popular in the travel and tourism industry.Different types of niche tourism market are getting popular and these are agro-rural tourism, adventure tourism, sports tourism, gastro tourism, dark tourism, medical and health tourism, green tourism and faith or religious tourism. There are various advantages of niche tourism market and these include attracting the high spending tourists, provide direct incentives for the local communities of UK, reduce the negative impact over the environment and are regular activities. There are few disadvantages of niche tourism market and these are there is a proper of measuring, generation of income at low level, requires high marketing efforts and requires trained  human resource  (Valeri, 2015). For the purpose of this program dark tourism has been selected. It is one of the most popular type or form of tourism as the youth is showing interest in this form of tourism. In this form of tourism tourists prefers to visit places which are related with the death, tragedy or mystery. The historical value or the stories these destinations hold are capable of attracting the attentions of the tourists. The parts of dark tourism include disaster tourism, doomsday tourism, suicide tourism, poverty tourism and grief tourism. The data for the dark tourism has been collected from the market research and from the use of the secondary resource. In London there are various destinations which belongs to dark tourism and are attracting the visitors and these destinations are The Tower of London which was used as a prison and menagerie for keeping animals like lions and tigers, Jack the ripper tours, Bart’s Pathology Museum, Jeremy Bentham’s Auto-Icon, Cross Bones Graveyard, Southwark, Highgate Cemetery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields Crypt Café, London Hospital Museum, The site of the Tyburn Tree and The Monument to the Great Fire of London (URSACHE, 2015).

                  Graph showing Dark tourism in London

Task 3

3.1 Analyse how travel and tourism businesses could respond to change

Hays Travel Ltd is a travel agent which is offering travel services to the tourists so as to ensure that the experience of the tourists is enhanced. The focus of Hays Travel Ltd is over the quality of the services offered by it so as to make sure that the expectations of the tourists are met (Law, et. al., 2015). For the analysis of the manner in which Hays Travel Ltd will respond to the changes taking place in the  business environment , SWOT and PESTLE analysis will be done which is as follows:

SWOT analysis: in this analysis focus will be over the strengths and weaknesses of Hays Travel Ltd and the opportunities and threats available in the travel and tourism industry of London, UK to Hays Travel Ltd.

PESTLE analysis: in this analysis various aspects or elements of environment of travel and tourism industry of UK are considered and these are as follows:

3.2- Develop strategies on how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to change

Hays Travel Ltd can adopt different strategies which will help in the responding to the changes taking place in the travel and tourism industry in UK. The most suitable technique or strategy which Hays Travel Ltd can adopt is the implementation of technological advancements in the operations of the business and use of marketing mix. Technology is an important aspect which affects the performance at large. Travel and tourism industry is dependent on technology as the services offered in the industry are based on the use of technology and the different forms of technology.  Marketing mix  include 7 P’s which helps in the promotion of the services offered by the business and for the purpose of responding to the changes taking place in the travel and tourism industry Hays Travel Ltd need to use technology so as to provide services in a better and innovative manner and use of the marketing mix will ensure that the Hays Travel Ltd is capable of reaching its customers. The focus of the tourists is shifting from the explored destinations to the destinations which are still unexplored. The current trends in the travel and tourism industry include the introduction of the various activities. There are various forms of tourism which are trending which are getting attention of the tourists. Hays Travel Ltd needs to explore these forms of tourism for better functioning. It is also adopting a strategy of personalisation in which the travel and tourism services will be offered as per the requirement of the tourists (Li, 2014).

3.3- Justify strategies for how selected travel and tourism businesses could respond to change

Hays Travel Ltd is an independent travel agent which is offering quality services to its customers and focusing over enhancing the experience of its customers. Hays Travel Ltd will use a strategy in which it will be using technological advancements for the purpose of improving the quality of the services offered to the tourists and the use of marketing mix elements for making the tourists aware of the services offered by it. With the change in the environment the focus of the tourists is getting shifted to the different forms of the tourism and Hays Travel Ltd is focusing over offering travel services to the tourists for the different types of tourism. There are various trends which are prevailing in the travel and tourism industry of UK and these are exploring new locations or destinations, adventurous trips for unique experiences, reduction in the barriers to travelling, developing the regional airports for better connectivity or infrastructure facilities and offering the services at affordable prices. These trends have shown new path to Hays Travel Ltd which can be used by Hays Travel Ltd for enhancing its performance and expanding the area of operation by enlarging the customer base. Personalisation strategy will helps in attracting the tourists and promoting tourism (Imani Khoshkhoo & Nadalipour, 2016).

Task 4

4.1 Analyse the impacts of issues and trends that drive change in the travel and tourism sector

The issues of the travel and tourism industry and the trend which are responsible for the change in the travel and tourism industry have resulted into various impacts over the industry and over the economy. These impacts can be positive as well as negative and these are as follows:

• Increase in the revenue: the changing trends in the travel and tourism industry results into increase in the number of tourists visiting UK due to which the revenue will be generated at large level and will contributes towards the GDP of UK and effectiveness in the operations of the United Kingdom (Lemesios, et. al., 2016).
• Increase in the employment opportunities: the increase in the travel and tourism sector will result in the increase in the employment opportunities which helps in reducing the unemployment rates in UK. A Graph has been attached below which shows the trend of the employment rates in UK and from the analysis of the graph it has been analysed that the rate of unemployment in UK is decreasing and travel and tourism industry is contributing towards it.
• Promoting better relationship between the countries: the changing trends in travel and tourism industry are effective in maintaining healthy relationships with the other countries.
• Increase in the prices of resources: increase in the prices affects the travel and tourism in a negative manner as the increase in the prices of resources such as human resource and fuel will increase the cost of the travel services. And this will result in decrease in the travel and tourism industry (Zeppel & Beaumont, 2012).
• Change in the technology on frequent basis: change in the technology increases the cost to the operators or the travel agents as they need to invest in the installation of the technology.

Graph showing the decrease in the unemployment rates in UK as well as future predictions for the employment rates in UK till 2020.

4.2 Discuss the likely consequences of businesses failing to respond to market change

In case the business fails to respond to the changes taking place in the business environment then the business will adversely get affected. Hays Travel Ltd needs to comply with the changes and respond to them for avoiding the adverse impacts. If Hays Travel Ltd fails to adopt the changes and respond to them then in that case the results can be:

• Depleting performance: Hays Travel Ltd need to comply with the changes if it is not capable of responding to the changes in an effective manner then the performance of the Hays Travel Ltd will get affected and it will lose the market share and the position it holds in the market.
• Reduction in the revenue: due to the change in the market conditions and incapability of Hays Travel Ltd in responding to the changes the revenue of the company will get reduced due to which the image or the reputation of the business in the market will get affected (Carte, et. al., 2010).
• Loss of the customers: the customers of Hays Travel Ltd will start shifting to other travel agents as the quality of the service of Hays Travel Ltd will get affected. It needs to ensure that it is responding to the changes in an effective manner so as to enhance its customer and to gain a competitive advantage over the competitors.
• Huge losses: the performance of the business will get affected due to which the revenues will fall and the company will start incurring losses and losing the resources of the business. It is vital for every business to respond to changes of the market in a proper manner for the effective execution of the operations of business(Lu& Gursoy, 2015).

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Conclusion

The program is based over the contemporary issues faced by the travel and tourism industry due to the various aspects of the environment. This program has discussed the analysis of these issues and the change which need to be adopted for coping with the issues in a better manner. UK is one of the most famous tourist destinations which is having various tourist destinations and all these destinations are a source of generation of income for UK. Analysis has been done of the trend in the industry with the help of the graphs and data. Analysis has been done by using SWOT and PESTEL analysis so as to analyse the Aspects of environment such as internal and external elements or factors. Strategies have been discussed which can be used for dealing with the issues and enhancing travel and tourism in UK.

References

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