Types of International Tourism System - Essay Example

? International Tourism Management Introduction: With the development of science and technology, tourism is prospering over time. There are lots of difficulties in defining the term tourism. The concept of tourism and tourism management underwent evolution. There are two broad types of definition associated with the term tourism. Two broad types of definition associated with the term tourism, one is technical concept and other one is the conceptual definition. Conceptual definition demonstrates what tourism is, with the help of theoretical approach. In this concept, the definition of tourism helps to identify all the basic elements associated with the term tourism. The conceptual definition of tourism demonstrates the multi-faceted as well as the multi disciplinary characteristics of tourism. The technical definition of tourism clearly represents what one can understand from the word tourist and what is tourism industry. Technical definition helps to specify the different factors which help to recognize a set of people as traveler, as well as grouping different organization as a part of tourism sector. (Inkson and Minnaert, 2012, p.15). 2. Definition of Tourism: According to Inkson and Minnaert (2012), the movement of the people to different places outside their normal place of work or residence, various kinds of activities which they perform while staying on those places and different facilities developed by several organization as well as the concerned governing authority of that particular place is known as tourism. (Inkson and Minnaert, 2012, p.16). There are three basic elements associated with the tourism. These are dynamic element, destination element and consequential element. Dynamic Element: It is associated with the demand for and different types of tourism. According to their views, these forms are subject to change. Destination Element: It is associated with the tourist as well as the characteristics of them. Destination element also associated with the characteristics features of any particular tourist place, static capacity as well as the environmental and social threshold of the place. Consequential Element: It represents the end result of interaction between both the dynamic as well as destination element. This parameter represents the economical, social as well as environmental impact on the tourism industry. (Inkson and Minnaert, 2012, p. 17). 3. Types of Tourism System: There are different kinds of tourism industry present in the tourism system. These are aviation industry, railways industry, tour and travel operators, hotel industry etc. In the tourism system, all these industries are interrelated with one another. With the development of science and technology, as the time moves on the tourism system also started to develop as well. The main focus of this paper is to discuss about different factors associated with the tourism industry, the growth in this industry in last 10 years with the continuous development in the technology and communication sector. Apart from that, a detail discussion will be done with the focus on aviation industry, its growth , development that happen to this sector due to technological and communication improvement and role played by the aviation sector in the overall growth of the tourism industry. 4. Aviation and Tourism: Transport is an indispensable part of tourism, providing the very important link between the tourist generating areas and destinations. Good convenience, which is determined by the transport services provided, is a basic condition for the expansion of any tourist destination. Moreover, the transport industry can be a main beneficiary of tourism because of the extra passenger demand that may be generated. Aviation is a progressively more important mode of transportation for tourism markets. At the same time geography has meant that, in modern times, air travel has always been the central mode for long distance travel and as much global tourism moves towards deregulation, and more specifically with the emergence of the low cost carrier sector, have also increased aviation's consequence for short and medium distance tourism trips. According to Papatheodorou (2013), developments in aviation can have very major implications for many leisure and business tourism markets. However, the characteristics and requirements of leisure travelers are mostly very different from business travelers that this necessitates a separate consideration of these markets if an all-inclusive understanding of the relationship between tourism and aviation is to be gained. (Papatheodorou, 2013) 5. Importance of Airline in the Tourism Industry: Each country has a point of prestige its national carrier. To name a few, they are: Air India Of India, Lufthansa Of West Germany, British Airways Of Britain, Air France Of France, Pan Am Of USA, Saudi of Saudi Arabia, etc. All these national carriers can fly to or over other countries to reach different destinations. Government of each country negotiates with one another to grant certain kind of freedom to the aviation sector of different countries across the globe. All these are mainly to generate the revenue for the aviation sector by means of tours and travels. According to the review of Khan, there are six different freedoms of the air. These are as follows: 1. The right to over fly. 2. The right to make technical landing. 3. The right to carry from one’s own territory to another. 4. The right to carry from another territory to one’s own. 5. The right to carry between two territories, and 6. The right to carry between two territories over one’s own. (Khan, 2010). Profitability in the airline business had to be sustained and augmented. This was done through growth in allied businesses that contributed to the fabric of tourism. According to his analysis, in the early sixties many airlines have asked themselves a question “what business are they really in? He also discussed about the potential answer, according to him aviation sector is totally a service industry, for the growth of this sector, and the opportunity lies in providing a total package of service. From this point, it was a short step to the next move- getting into tourism in a big way by entering into hotel business and tour operating. Examples of airline hotels are the Meridian Chain of Air France, Intercontinental Chain of Pan Am, Centaur of air India, etc. Although hotels operate as independent profit centers, they are viewed essentially as the airlines total activity and as a means of stimulating passenger movement. According to Khan, the reasons behind different airline operating agency entering into the hotel business are: 1. A shortage of hotel beds in selected destinations. 2. Creating demand for destinations by assuring hotel accommodation. 3. Building convention/conference centers. 4. High return on investment. (Khan, 2010) According to his review there are several small steps that took airlines companies across the globe into the business of tour operations and packaging. The infrastructure to support the tourism business was available for the aviation companies with the development of technology, price decentralization of oil, low cost airlines, and combined package of both travel and accommodation provided by aviation companies these factors helped the global tourism industry to grow rapidly in last 10 years. Market research to determine airline business was already available to ascertain what the consumer wanted. Packaging tours was thus easy. Various types of packaged tour offered by the airline agencies are as follows: 1. Declinational- where the ultimate destination is the unique selling point. 2. Stopover packages- where any passenger has the advantage of stopping at other destinations en-route the ultimate destination. 3. Special interest packages- sport, historical, etc. 4. Brand name packages to destinations of known tourist attractions, e.g. Jet Tours, etc (Khan, 2010). 6. Role of Airlines in the Tourism Industry: Airline all across the world plays a major role in the tourism industry. According to Khan (nd), the main objective of the airline sector in the tourism industry is to offer improved and fast communication in a safe, standardized and economical condition. According to his analysis the association of airline industry to the tourism industry is better understood by breaking down the entire activity of tourism into its component parts. These are: purpose of travel, transportation, accommodation, travel agents, communications, and other services. Purpose of travel  With the availability of quick and efficient transportation, people are spurred to travel for various reasons as destinations have become more accessible. Some of these reasons to travel are: 1. Sightseeing- historical, cultural, social and technological sights. 2. Relaxation- beach and mountain resorts. 3. Sports- mountain climbing, skiing, surfing, scuba diving etc. 4. Special interest- Study tours on art, history, religion, culture and science. 5. Shopping- personal and professional. The travel industry requires an efficient infrastructure. The tourism industry is the second largest industry in the world. There are several component associated with the tourism industry. These are: Transportation: To reach different parts of the globe there are several options such as Airlines (domestic and international); surface transportation such as shipping, rail, tour busses, rented cars, taxis, caravans, river transportation, etc.   Accommodation: Hotels of various categories ranging from five stars to modest unclassified hotels are now present to meet all pockets of tourism.  Travel Agents: Travel agents are associated with the tourism industry directly. At present with the continuous development of the technology and communication, travel agents are more equipped to serve their clients better. With this kind of developments, they are able to have better access to the aviation sector in order to book tickets be it for a group or for few individuals. They put all the elements of technological and communicational developments, especially in the aviation sector together into one package to serve the common people better. (Khan, 2010) 7. Present Facts associated with the Aviation Industry: According to the report published in the Economic Growth (2012), tourism plays a major role in the development of the global economy. From the facts and figures of this article it is very clear that tourism sector directly contribute $1.8 trillion to world GDP in 2011 and also played a key role in creating 99 million direct jobs globally which was 3.4% of total employment. In this report, it is projected that by 2021, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) expects direct employment in the tourism industry to be more than 120 million people globally. Among different modes of communication, aviation sector plays a vital role in supporting tourism. Almost 51% of international tourists now travel by air. Tourism as a sector is important in many developing countries, where it is a major part of economic development strategies. For example, in Africa, for the jobs of an estimated 2.5 million people directly employed in tourism are supported by overseas visitors arriving by air, representing 34% of all tourism jobs in Africa. According to the report published in the economic growth following are the contribution of air transport to tourism employment and GDP mentioned in the report published by the economic growth. Direct Impact: 14.4 million direct jobs in tourism globally are estimated to be supported by the spending of foreign visitors arriving by air. This includes jobs in industries such as hotels, restaurants, visitor attractions, local transport and car rental, but it does not include air transport industry jobs. Indirect Impact: A further 13.2 million indirect jobs in industries supplying the tourism industry are supported by visitors arriving by air. Induced: There are several direct and indirect tourism jobs developed due to development in the aviation tourism industry. Air transport supports 34.5 million jobs within tourism, contributing around $762 billion a year to world GDP. (Economic Growth, 2010). According to the report of World Tourism Organization, UNWTO (2012), International tourist arrivals in different countries grew by 4% in the year 2012, and the number was 1.03 billion in 2012. They also mentioned that from the international tourist different countries earned US $ 1.3 trillion as export earnings, and they also expected a growth of 3% to 4% in the year 2013 in international tourist number and simultaneously a growth in the export earning as well. (UNWTO, 2012) 8. Technological Development and Aviation Industry: With the help of modern technology and innovation, people used to get the benefit of aviation more regularly. With online ticket booking, development of online reservation and availability of the flight ticket from any where any time make the traveling via plane more feasible. Graham, Papatheodorou, and Forsyth (2010) observe the need of the customer is not static, as it is generally change along with the time. The market of the leisure air travel was very small as the different airline companies used to face lots of difficulties to promote their services. At that time, different travel agencies used to focus on the packaged tour as the opportunity of allied services like booking air tickets, availability of low cost airlines was very less. (Graham, Papatheodorou, and Forsyth, 2010, pp. 35-36). There are several factors associated with the growth in the air travel market. These are regularity liberalization, reduced political instability and lesser terrorism threat, economical factors, development of technology, environmental factors etc. (Graham, Papatheodorou, and Forsyth, 2010, pp.36-38). While discussing about the technological factors they have pointed out the single window distribution strategy associated with the distribution of flight ticket till 90s. According to their review, during that time, the so called off line travel agents were the main source behind organizing the packaged tour. In all the countries different airline organizations also used to sold their tickets wit the help of these agents, but the distribution cost was very high and in today’s perspective was unacceptable also. They also pointed out the facts that the commission that the airlines organizations have to pay to those agents was also very high and also a major part of their operating cost. Application of GDS technology (Global distribution system) helped those agents to book the tickets but the airline companies have to bear the cost of GDS system. But at present with the continuous development of the technology and information system and communication, the booking of flight ticket becomes easier. At present people can book the ticket directly from the webpage’s of the airline companies. They also mentioned that, different low cost airlines not even make any payment to the agents or the GDS service providers as they have the power of their own websites for bookings. As a result commission cost has down drastically. So the airlines also able to reduce the fare over the year and as a result percentage of people using the aviation route while traveling also increased. (Graham, Papatheodorou, and Forsyth, 2010, p. 40). 9. The Low Cost Revolution: In last few years there is a continuous development in the low cost airlines across the globe. In Europe itself the market shares of the low cost airlines growing rapidly. In 2001, the low cost airlines were accounted for 5% of total passengers, but in 2011, the percentage was as high as 26%. With the continuous technological development as well as introduction of low cost airlines, industrial development-now different small cities also have the airport. One of the key features of this change is the way that low cost operations have opened up regional markets for air travel. At present travelers across the globe do not have to presume that, they will first have to travel to the nearest major airport in order to get the flights for their final destination. With the development of the aviation industry they can use local airports to travel from and maybe even arrive at regional airport at their destination too, saving time and inconvenience (UNWTO, 2012, pp.31-32). According to the report of the UNWTO (2012), before the economic crisis hit the Europe in 2009, cities like Madrid recording steady growth in the number of tourist. As the report mentioned “The region of Murcia on the Mediterranean coast saw tourist numbers rise by 62% in the ten year period from 2001 to 2011 as low cost carriers added flights and second home ownership in the region grew. Asturias, on Spain’s northern coast saw little more than 125,000 tourist arrivals in 2001 but this grew by 57% over the same 10 year period as low cost carriers saw an opportunity to provide easier access to this less developed, coastal region.”(UNWTO, 2012, p. 32). There report also pointed out the fact that in the year 2000, 56% of UK residents flying out of Gatwick Airport for leisure purposes used to book their tour as a package, but by 2010 that number went down to 40%. According to them this fall was mainly due to the availability of the low cost airlines, as people now used to book their flight ticket directly with the help of internet and rest other booking have been done separately. This not only reduces their cost but also helped the aviation industry to reach directly to the people with different offers regarding to and fro flight. According to this report “The aim of deregulation in European air travel was always to reduce fares, provide more choice for consumers and encourage growth but it is clear that much of the success of deregulation has been delivered by low cost carriers.” (UNWTO, 2012, p.35) 10. Effects of Technology on Global Tourism: With the continuously developing technology global tourism also developed drastically over the year. According to Sakulsureeyadj (2011), technological developments make the tourist all over the globe more tech savvy more than ever before. As the use of internet increased drastically connection between people across the globe increased considerably. According to his point of view, people now before taking any decision regarding the travel and tourism are able to contact one another, get more information about the particular tourist spot through internet and able to choose various packages. In his point view, development of technology not only change the way people use to choose travel spot but also change the way of reaching those spots, getting most out of every tour package. He also pointed out the fact that it has become important for the tourism industry to familiarize itself and strengthen its practices and develop skills of the workforce within to meet changing customer behavior. (Sakulsureeyadj, 2011, p.9). According to his point of view, there are two key areas which the aviation industry and the tourism industry need to focus on to grow in short and long term. The first one is related to tourism, by marketing the tourism spot, product and services more aggressively among the tourist through internet. In his word Selling tourism products and services online has changed from being just “price-conscious” to being “an inspiration” to the viewer to travel. As the online user absorbs information from a variety of sources, it is usually the site or information source that can best stimulate the viewer to travel that will be remembered by the user”(Sakulsureeyadj, 2011, p.9). He mentioned that there are several new ways to reach out to the potential travelers in the age of tourism management; these are different digital marketing, search engine marketing, mobile based as well as location based marketing, He also mentioned that to ensure proper tourism management, effective pricing, launching various marketing campaign, promotional strategies all these are very much important in modern age of tourism management. The second factor according to him is the structure and development of the tourism organization to meet the customers’ demands effectively. He in his writing mentioned that “more travelers are expect personalized products and services to meet their demands, it is important for tourism businesses to have tools that can store and monitor information in order to meet the individual’s need. (Sakulsureeyadj, 2011, p.9) 11. Tourism Industry: what Lies Ahead: With the development of science and technology in the last ten years the tourism industry has undergone a high degree of transformation. High use of technology and high access to the technological development from the majority group of population has introduced a high degree of change in the tourist patterns. After the world has come out from the recent economical crisis, at present the tourism industry is the second highest revenue generating sector in the world. In several countries, the economy I entirely based on tourism, and those countries able to use the maximum benefit of the technological development in order to promote their tourism across the globe. According to Lopez de Avila (2011), in the age of modern technology where we people live, the international tourism industry is adopting 3 T’s of tourism industry: these are travel tourism and technology. In his word “This is rapidly becoming an era in which technology will serve the needs of travelers, companies and destinations. Thus, we must continue to work on incorporating new technologies in our day management of tourism businesses and destinations” (Lopez de Avila, 2011, p.10). 12. Conclusion: From the above discussion it is very clear that along with the revolution of the technology, introduction of low cost airlines, more special package from the airline authority increased the number of people traveling via airlines. With the growth of the travel and tourism industry all across the globe, the role played by the different government to decentralized aviation industry helped the people to travel more via airline, to save time and also popularized the world tourism sector. The high degree of growth in international and domestic tourist arrivals in different part of the globe would not have been possible without the innovation and development of the air transport industry. The airline industry today accounts for more than half of cross-border tourist arrivals worldwide. Along with the flexible government policies, giving encouragement to the low cost airlines, effective destination marketing is also important in order to make he tourism sector more powerful one in the coming future. REFERENCES Aviation Global Economic Profile in 2010, (2012), Economic Growth, retrieved on 12.12.13 from http://aviationbenefitsbeyondborders.org/economic-growth/overview Avila de Lopez, A. 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