Tourism and Leisure Management - Essay Example

Tourism and Leisure Management Part A Tourism and Leisure Management studies is a challenging but interesting programme, which introduces students to an every expanding environment of leisure and tourism. In adopting a multi-disciplinary view, this course examines the development patterns, growth, and impacts of leisure and tourism activity, while also considering related management and planning methods and strategies (ljmu.ac.uk, 2015: p1). The course builds from a foundation of social sciences; including history, psychology, economics, and geography into an analysis of impacts on the socio-cultural, economic, and ecological environments. The tourism and leisure sector has hugely varied career opportunities, ranging from management of hotels or sports centres, to managing logistics for exhibitions and organising holiday adventures. University courses in Tourism and Leisure Management are diverse, which allows the student to learn and master different professional skills required for future success in tourism and leisure careers (ljmu.ac.uk, 2015: p1). Moreover, the course helps the student gain relevant, specialised practical experience and knowledge. One aspect that is common for all tourism and leisure careers is the focus on people, customer service, and hospitality (ljmu.ac.uk, 2015: p1). This means that there is a need for successful students to effectively communicate with diverse individuals, while also handling different challenges and tasks and deriving pleasure from ensuring others have a good experience. These are some of the main reasons why I want to study Tourism and Leisure Management. Tourism is one of the business world’s fastest growing sectors and I believe that taking this course will provide a solid grounding in practice and theory of tourism management, while also preparing me for a successful career in the leisure and tourism industry. In addition, this course, with its industry-specific modules (ljmu.ac.uk, 2015: p1), should aid me in developing an array of business skills that can be applied to the broader commercial market. Part B The Tourism and Leisure Management course at Liverpool John Moores University was recently ranked in the national top 10% for universities offering the same course (ljmu.ac.uk, 2015: p1). Moreover, its linkages local museums, the Mersey Partnership, tourism and leisure facilities, and transport companies provides a good environment for practical learning. The Liverpool Hope University has similar benefits, although its linkages are not as appropriate or broad as those at Liverpool John Moores University. Whereas the course at Liverpool John Moores University takes 4 years and provides a sandwich mode of study including industrial placement, it takes 3 years at Liverpool Hope University and is available full time without industrial placement. Both universities have similar entry requirements with UCAS Tariff of 260, while also accepting GCE A-level qualifications (hope.ac.uk, 2015: p1). However, Liverpool John Moores University also accepts SQA Higher and SQA Advanced Higher qualifications. Finally, their fees structures are comparable at £9,000 per academic year for UK students. Dr. Steve Burns is one of the lecturers at Liverpool John Moores University’s Faculty of Education, Communication, and Leisure, which offers the Tourism and Leisure Management course. As a Principal lecturer in Tourism Management, Dr. Burns acts as the leisure studies programme leader in such subject areas as Food, Events, and Tourism studies. In addition, Dr. Burns also possesses considerable experience in the scholarly and academic environment, which can be inferred from his leadership in the development and delivery of post-graduate and under-graduate programmes. He has also gained significant experience in periodic programme appraisal, curriculum development, and the assessment of academic programmes. With close to twenty years experience in hotels, cruise ships, and local government management, Dr. Burns has a significant background in the hospitality and tourism industry. Finally, he has also authored numerous professional reports, while also making presentations at tourism conferences and seminars. Part C Tourism has several definitions with the dictionary meaning identifying it as business of service provision for individuals travelling on holiday, while another definition holds that it is travel for leisure, recreational, or business purposes. Page and Connell (2010: p11) notes that tourism comprises of activities of individuals travelling to places away from their normal environment and staying there for not more than twelve consecutive months for business, leisure, and other reasons that are not related to doing activities remunerated from the visited place. Tourism has experienced continuous expansion, diversification, and growth over the decades to become one of the world’s fastest growing industries, becoming the fourth largest global economic sector. Indeed, tourism has gradually evolved into a thriving international sector that has power to negatively or positively shape the host countries. Tourism can be outbound, inbound, or domestic, in which outbound tourism involves the travel of tourists from their usual locations to other countries or territories (Page & Connell, 2010: p17). Inbound terrorism, on the other hand, involves the travel of tourists from their usual locations to a specific host country or territory. Finally, domestic tourism involves the travel of tourists within their countries or territories. The last few decades have witnessed an up-trend in tourism numbers, especially in Europe where it is common for individuals to travel during short breaks. These tourists normally have a wide range of tastes and budgets, which has seen the rise of an array of hotels and tourists to cater for these different tastes and budgets (Pearce & Butler, 2014: p33). Developments and advances in transport infrastructure like low-cost airlines, jumbo-jets, and more accessible airports, along with new information technologies, have enhanced the affordability of many forms of tourism. It is estimated that by 2013, there were almost 500 thousand people travelling on an aircraft at a given moment. Moreover, lifestyle changes have improved the number of tourists, for example the increasing trend of retirement-age tourists sustaining tourism around the year. Internet sales have especially facilitated tourist services internationally with some sites providing dynamic packaging, where the package is inclusive of prices quoted for customised, impulse package requests. The tourism industry, however, has faced several challenges in its development over the past few decades, including terrorist threats aimed at specific tourist destinations and the 9/11 attacks (Pearce & Butler, 2014: p34). Moreover, natural disasters in tourist destinations have hampered tourism in these locations for a while. One major development in tourism in recent times has been the concept of sustainable tourism, which is defined as the management of tourist resources in a manner that aesthetic, social, and economic needs can be attained while also maintaining biological diversity, essential ecological processes, and cultural integrity (Pearce & Butler, 2014: p42). This concept implies that tourism should meet the needs of present generations without compromising future generations and their ability to also attain their needs. Another major development is eco-tourism, which is defined as responsible travel to pristine, fragile, and protected areas on a small scale and striving for low-impact. Eco-tourism has become popular because it educates travellers, benefits political empowerment and economic development, provides conservation funds, and fosters respect for human rights and different cultures. Over time, tourist destinations have begun shifting to low emissions of carbon in their operations, particularly in reaction to increased focus by visitors on environmental responsibility through the adoption of sustainable behaviours (Pearce & Butler, 2014: p43). Finally, sports tourism is another major development in the recent past. Sports tourism has become popular since the early 90s with events like the World Cup, Asian Games, Commonwealth games, Olympics, and 7s rugby. While tourism may wield positive outcomes, especially economically through the creation of employment, its complexity as an industry with various stakeholders holding opposing interests may lead to several negative impacts. If tourism and leisure activities are managed well, they can play a critical role in the political, economic, socio-cultural, and environmental development of destination countries (Mathieson & Wall, 2012: p31). On the other hand, unchecked development and management of tourism may result in damaging impacts. Environmental quality, both man-made and natural, is important for tourism since there are several activities that can portend adverse impacts on the environment. Some of these negative impacts are linked to constructing infrastructure like airports and roads, as well as tourism facilities like golf courses, shops, restaurants, hotels, and resorts. However, tourism may also have positive impacts on the environment, such as through contributing to environmental conservation and protection. Tourism also has socio-cultural impacts on host communities through their interactions with tourists, which brings changes to behaviour and value systems and threatening indigenous identity (Mathieson & Wall, 2012: p32). Positive socio-cultural impacts of tourism include fostering of cultural pride in host communities, along with creation of jobs in rural areas that reduces urban migration. References hope.ac.uk. (2015). Tourism Management. Retrieved May 5, 2015, from Liverpool Hope University: http://www.hope.ac.uk/undergraduate/undergraduatecourses/tourismmanagement/ ljmu.ac.uk. (2015). BA (Hons) Tourism and Leisure Management. Retrieved May 5, 2015, from Liverpool John Moores University: https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/study/courses/undergraduates/2015/tourism-and-leisure-management Mathieson, A., & Wall, G. (2012). Tourism: Economic, physical, and social impacts. London: Longman. Page, S., & Connell, J. (2010). Tourism. Los Angeles: SAGE. Pearce, D., & Butler, R., (2014). Contemporary issues in tourism development. London: Routledge. Read More