Program |
Diploma in Travel and Tourism |
Unit Number and Title |
Unit 6 Contemporary issues in travel Tourism |
QFC Level |
Level 5 |
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).
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:
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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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:
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
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
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.
Strengths |
Weaknesses |
It is having effective workforce which helps in offering quality services for travelling in London Hays Travel Ltd is having knowledge of the market condition and having the resources available with it.
|
It is making less use of the advanced technology. The services offered by it are quite expensive which affects the behaviour of the tourists(Turner, 2012). |
Opportunities |
Threats |
The reduction in the tax rates can act as an opportunity. Reduction in the cost of the fuel which will results in reduction in the prices of the services |
Increase in the prices of the fuel and other resources. Change in the economic factors. Change in the technology |
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:
Factors or elements |
Impacts and response to the change |
Political factor |
In UK there is still the rule of the kings and queen who are responsible for taking the decisions and holds the control over the government due to which travel and tourism industry can get affected(Turner, 2012). |
Economic factor |
The economic factors include the rates of inflation, interest rates and exchange rates due to which the functioning of the travel and tourism industry of UK can get affected in positive as well as in negative manner. |
Social factor |
Social factors include the trends, culture and belief adopted by the people of the destinations(Law, et. al., 2015). These attract the visitors towards it. Hays Travel Ltd needs to offer the services in such a manner so that they do not affect the society and culture. The culture and trend of the destinations helps in attracting the tourists towards the destinations. |
Technological factor |
The change in the technology helps in offering the services to the tourists in a better manner. UK is a developed economy and the technological changes are adopted in UK so as to ensure the effectiveness in the different industries of UK(Law, et. al., 2015). |
Legal factor |
The rules and regulations are framed so as to ensure that the activities of travel and tourism industry are under the legal framework of UK. Hays Travel Ltd needs to ensure that it is operating within the legal framework. |
Environmental factor |
The climatic and whether conditions of UK are warm in summers and cool in winters. Hays Travel Ltd is offering the packages to the tourists on the basis of the climatic conditions of UK. |
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).
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).
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:
Graph showing the decrease in the unemployment rates in UK as well as future predictions for the employment rates in UK till 2020.
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:
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.
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