Cambridge as an International Tourist Attraction Centre - Case Study Example

Cambridge Tourism Introduction Cambridge has grown to become an international tourist attraction centre over the past years and currently is host over four million tourists who visit the place each year. Cambridge University is historic learning centre and tourism has added a cosmopolitan feel to the site and this has affected the economy in a positive way. The city council of Cambridge city has set up plans to ensure that challenges such as serving the visitors well are observed and attended to while at the same time conserving the environment of the region. This is basically the strategy of the city and forms the basis of decision making, work programmes and policy implementation. Characteristic Changes of Visiting Tourists According to the United kingdoms economic development strategy, tourism is a very critical factor in the initiative to improve economy. Currently, tourism sector in the UK provide employment to about 7% of the working population. In the year 1999, the UK government received over 25.4 million tourists from overseas and consequently earned about 123 million trips in England (Beech & Chadwick 2006). Research has indicated that in 1999, east England received over14.8 million trips of over night stay and 7% of these stayed in Cambridgeshire while 27% were overseas tourists. The number of visitors from the Cambridge city has been increasing over time as indicated that in the 1999 findings. That same year, about 4.1 million visitors were from Cambridge a number that was higher that anticipated or even compared to previous years (Davidson 1998). The increase was attributed to the changes made to the day's visits by the culture department to include the visitors from outside the local area but who were regular visitors coming to shop of for leisure trips. The number of people staying for over night visits has also been increasing drastically. Half of the visitors usually stay over night because they are mostly from the overseas. Local visitors are increasingly visiting Cambridge (Holloway & Taylor 2006). Out of the 4.1million visitors in 1999, 3.2 million were from the south Cambridgeshire while 10 percent of them were those staying overnight. It can be concluded that over the past years, the total number of visitors coming to Cambridge has increased by more than 200% since the 1970s through 1980s. The growth levelled in 1990s but during the beginning of the new millennium, a 10 percent drop was observed. This cannot be explained easily though the economic crunch that the world was facing could be the greatest contributor to this drop. It's estimated that in the year 2000, only less than half of the visitors came from the United Kingdom and those from overseas were largely from North America (Holloway & Taylor 2006). Most of the visitors come on holiday tours and sight seeing while few of them come on business trips. Most of the people who have visited Cambridge admitted that they felt welcome and only 2 percent did not feel welcomed. About seventy four percent of the visitors were able to recommend places they had received better services. Over the pas years, Cambridge City council strategy has had a policy of managing and not promotion of tourism activities. With the increasing number of tourist in the region, Cambridge City council cam up with a policy in 1996 to help the industry to cope up with the increased customer base and the resulting possible pollution to the environment (Page & Connell 2006). Resources There are several aspects that are being addressed by the Cambridge city council to improve the service of tourism and hospitality in the city areas so as to meet the ever changing client's demands and requirements. The city through its tourism strategy will be abele to allocate resources properly and manage customers. The provision of the resources will be based on the tourism vision of the Cambridge city while integrating and incorporating objectives and the policies of the region to be able to deliver quality tourism services (Davidson 1998). The Cambridge city plan for improving tourism is aimed at enhancing the quality of services, readily accessible and sustainable as well. Cambridge city provision of quality services has continually been improving. This is to ensure that the visitors stay comfortably and would like to return again. The quality is to meet the clients' expectations and not necessarily luxury as many people believe. Over 2001, the Cambridge city council has been looking for partners and working in collaboration with them in developing strategies that are consistent with the vision of the city and leaving clients satisfied (Page & Connell 2006). The most notable is the so called community strategy which has long term objectives to be accomplished. The attraction facilities, good public relations/ customer relation and the value for money form the quality tourism services. Good quality is being awarded to everybody in terms of good accommodation, increased range of attraction facilities, and language schools. Marketing the city attractive sites throughout the year is very expensive and very demanding. The historic city has intrinsic attractions which visitors come to see. Marketing policy has been established by definition of the city and not entirely dependent on advertisement. The defined customer facilities have enabled Cambridge to be marketed as the place to stay throughout the year. This is generally aimed at encouraging longer stays (Page & Connell 2006). The city has been promoted abroad as a historic city; a range of information have described through multilingual advertising, city centre management and county council. Sustainability aims at making sure that Cambridge maintainability is possible especially the environmental protection, minimising the threats and maximise problems. It's been established that sustainability cannot just be achieved but requires that marketing be done the way its being done in the most effective way and thorough partnering. Transport has been a critical issue in tourism; Cambridge city council ahs sought to have a sustainable use of existing facilities and reducing traffic. Several modes of transport have already been established and are already in operation, there is park and ride for carrying tourist from one place to another. Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2004). The purpose of this is to reach a balance between the competing requirements of the surroundings, the society at large, visitors and business. Cambridge is developing diversified packaging, support for local economies and use of resource sustainability. Visitors are encouraged to visit attraction sites that are further away from congested areas as much as possible. The relevant authorities will ensure development of heritage trails and walking and cycling are greatly encouraged. A coach park is very essential to an economy of any tourist as people will be dropped at admission schemes. Businesses in the tourism sector have been encouraged to use products that are environmentally friendly, reduce wastes, enhance energy effectiveness and increased rates of recycling. This strategy helps to tap both environmental and economic benefits as well. The process is both cost effective and keeps the image of the city clean. The government is also operating a national accreditation program that will see the development of tourism to a high level. Accommodation could be a problem through the number of visitors who will be willing to stay over night. For these reasons there is an urgent need to develop more world class accommodation facilities in the city boundary. The south Cambridgeshire has well developed facilities to take care of these needs and can be relied upon, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2004). There are different reasons as to why people go for tourism activities, in some cases it's very difficult for a certain facility or organization to meet all the needs of the clients and as such, partnering becomes critical for provision of all the facilities ranging fro transport to accommodation. The city council of Cambridge is working on strategies to reduce the barriers and to increase the access to tourism for every client. This phenomenon is identified as accessibility where the Cambridge city can be accessed from every where for instance, getting to the city, moving within the city and collecting useful information. The following aspects are thus taken care of including difficulty in mobility, hearing and visual impairment, children and elderly. Everybody is equal in all aspects and the tourism sector should address this by allowing easy accessibility and providing proper facilities. Safe walking routes are essential. Everybody has a right and require that he/she gets information in time and conveniently. Information should readily be accessed by everybody, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2004). Governments Support for Tourism The government of the United Kingdom supports the tourism sector in Cambridge since its one of the largest contributors to the economy. A lot of people visit Cambridge every year to have a look at the historic university, the infrastructure, beautiful back and other features. The city also comprises other colleges about 30 of them (Beech & Chadwick 2006). The contribution of the government to the economy of the Cambridge city is difficult to determine as there are literatures on the topic and little research has been carried out to evaluate this. However the UK government has always supported technology development. The government is pursuing the development of hi tech clusters and knowledge economy (Maitland 2006). Three out of the five clusters are located in Cambridge and this is going to help boost the status of the university as these are national and global significant aspects. There are several activities that are being carried out in Cambridge just to boost the reputation of the university and attract even more clients (tourists). The major player in the promotion of tourist activities is the local government. The economic department takes care of these promotions since Cambridge tourism is very profitable to the city. The visiting tourists are not treated as separate entities from the real economy itself. Initially the government was unable to classify tourism but recently it's under economic development and tourism taking into account employment in this industry, manpower and training, retail services, city centre management and other support businesses like hospitality industry (Beech & Chadwick 2006). The government is working to improve skills in the tourism sector by offering training facilities, the government also helps groups of people to start up small businesses to support existing ones while offering development support to those already established. The management of the environment is also a serious issue here (Maitland 2006). Conclusion Tourism is very important in economies of many nations especially in the Eurasia regions and its one of notable foreign exchange earner to the government. Since the world has become dynamic, people needs and requirement in leisure of tourism spending always brings problems. There are constant changes in the internet and other services provided in the entertainment sector. Cambridge City tourism has not been left behind and this is a very important activity in the European Nation. The university has turned out to be a very serious economic mover in the region providing employment opportunities to the youth, business opportunities, areas to invest, and a place for visitors to have leisure moments and work at the same time. Despite the economic crunch, the tourism sector keeps up with the pace and is continually growing. The Cambridge University has other mutual benefits it could offer to the affected people. The objective under which this city tourism operates is aimed at enhancing enterprise, business support, development problem and inward investment. Local government has over year struggled for power between the leaders of opposition and categorization of the tourism. People have proposed that tourism is an independent sector with departments. Cambridge is not just another phenomenon that can be ignored as it earns the government a lot of money. Tourism in Cambridge city alone employed over 10% of all the employees and contributing over 334 million pounds to the economy hence it indicates that it's vital, according to 2002 results. Generally tourism is a booming business in Cambridge since its one of the most attractive scenarios in the United Kingdom. The city is located to the east of England amid Cambridgeshire countryside. Cambridge University is very beautiful and is uniquely situated on the banks of river cam. Its history dates back to the first century before Christ (BC). Since then, the university has witnessed a lot of changes until the introduction of subjects like natural sciences, biology and physics in the 19th century. It's the rich history and attractiveness that sales for this business. References Beech, J & Chadwick, S. (2006). The Business of Tourism Management, Prentice Hall, Harlow Cambridge City Council (2009) Travel and Tourism retrieved from http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/policy-and-projects/tourism-policy.en;jsessionid=F43B7F315BB11158C24FDD4C5963D703 Cambridge for the Tourist retrieved from http://www.colc.co.uk/cambridge/cambridge/tourist.htm Cambridge Tourism strategy Action Plan 2001-2002 retrieved from www.cambridge.gov.uk/planning/planhome.htm. Cambridge Tourism strategy (2006) retrieved from http://www.iankitching.me.uk/history/cam/tourists.html Davidson R. (1998) Travel and Tourism in Europe, (2nd Ed). Longman. Harlow. Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2004), Tomorrows Tourism Today, London Holloway C & Taylor N. (2006). The Business of Tourism, 7th Ed., Prentice Hall, Harlow. Maitland R. (2006). How can we manage the tourist-historic city Tourism strategy in Cambridge. UK. Tourism Management Page S.J. & Connell J. (2006) Tourism. A Modern Synthesis (2nd Ed) Thomson, London. 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