The development of travel and tourism industry - Dissertation Example

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRAVEL AND TOURISM INDUSTRY Overview Travel & Tourism is the world’s biggest industry, accounting for nearly 200 million jobs, and over 10 per cent of world GDP. Man has always travelled from bygone days and his curiosity of the unknown was the basis of the enormous travel industry today. “A tourist is someone who travels at least eighty kilometres (fifty miles) from home for the purpose of recreation” as defined by the World Tourism Organization. It also forecasts that international tourism will continue growing at the average annual rate of 4 percent with Europe remaining the primary destination. Tourism can be for a lot of reasons, for recreation, for history and culture, for sports and hobbies, for seasonal and adventure activities, for the sake of health and relaxation: there is no end to why tourism is undertaken. Tourism exploded on the scene and gained a lot of popularity by the nineteenth century. The evolution of organised travel culminating in modern tourism, as we know it today has been due to a number of reasons: The availability of time, money for travel, the infrastructure available to travel and above all the appeal of travel during the leisure time. According to VisitBritain.com, Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK, accounting for 3.4% of the UK economy and worth approximately £74.2 billion in 2003. The 27.8 million overseas visitors who came in 2004 spent £13 billion in the UK. Total visits for 2004 are 27.8 million, a 12% increase compared with 2003, and an increase of 10% in spending to £13 billion. In 2004 the UK ranked sixth in the international tourism earnings league behind the USA, Spain, France, Italy and Germany. KEY HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS: The development of travel and tourism may be broadly attributed to the following factors: Improvement in transportation The railway in the UK, started in 1825, was a pioneer service and now features 2,400 stations serviced by 15,000 daily departures. The city transportation network is widely developed and you can go almost anywhere by train. The fast inter-city trains have standard or first class seats, the range offered starts from standard to the most luxurious air conditioned cars and sumptuous meals. Travelling by train in the UK is often the most comfortable and speedy way of getting around. The Channel Tunnel is the UKs rail link with mainland Europe. It carries high-speed Euro star passenger trains to London from France and Belgium. The UK has air links with every country in the world. It has a booming aviation industry and is home to a lot of airports. Some 60 million passengers each year travel to or via London Heathrow alone. But there are nearly 20 other international airports in the UK, offering easy access to every region. Ferries are part of the history of the U.K. they are available to transport to peaceful quaint locations and sometimes car ferries transport the car as well. Taxis are plentiful and getting wherever you want to go has made travelling in the U.K easy for the tourist. Development of mass tourism/all-inclusive package holidays Mass tourism has gained ground due to readily available mode of transportation, namely the car, has given people so much freedom to move around. The traditional holidays have become less popular with the advent of transport that has made people mobile. The availability of ”all inclusive package holidays“ where the transportation, accommodation and leisure activities are planned and built into a package by the travel agent has people opting for it. This appeal is not just because of the perception of value the people receive but also because it saves them the trouble of putting together the holiday itinerary. Also the U.K has always had lesser number of holidays than the other countries. The Banking and Financial Dealings Act of 1871 allowed more holidays to the people. This was revised to current needs again in 1971 adding more holidays thus enabling travel. The UK has a great assortment of tourist attractions from national parks and museums to seaside resorts and amusement parks and tourists are now trying to pack their holidays with as much activities as they can and so the packages appeal to them. Decline of seaside resorts In the nineteenth century, a ship was the most accepted means of transport and taking an excursion to a seaside resort by the British working class was an expected occurrence. As the nineteenth century progressed, they started migrating towards destinations where the railroads put in place took them. However with the advent of air travel and opening up of the Channel, domestic tourism and International tourism took off since now less known places became more accessible. With greater accessibility of foreign holiday destinations, package tours flourished and seaside resorts lost the competition as being “drab” or “fit for the retirees”, and a classical example was the seaside resort of Blackpool which lost out to modernisation. Socio-economic changes Social and economical changes have made life more fun especially in terms of travel. Increased affluence and modernisation has led to having more disposable incomes that have put money in the hands of consumers towards non-essential spending. People have greater leisure time on their hands thanks to technology invading our homes. Consumer products such as washing machines, driers and dishwashers have become more affordable and get the work done at our own pace and much faster thereby making life more flexible. Technology has also brought tempting pictures of holiday destinations right in our living rooms through televisions, print and computers with so much clarity that we are spoiled for choice and cant wait to get away. Governments have enacted legislation to ensure that workers are able to take holidays and have incorporated paid vacations and long weekends boosting the incentive to travel. Technological developments Since communication plays a vital part in travel and tourism industry, modern communications systems, with special reference to computer technology, have changed the concept of travel and tourism marketing. The advents of travel agencies and streamlined retail marketing and sales networks have played their part in empowering this massive industry to move forward. Household appliances and gadgets have offered great amounts of leisure. All these have impacted tourism by enabling people to travel more. CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS Low cost airlines “Evidence in the Europe and the U.S. indicates that the leading LFAs [low-fare airlines] fared significantly better than their full-fare rivals in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the U.S.,” wrote Thomas Lawton, author of Cleared for Take-Off: Structure and Strategy in the Low-Fare Airline Business, in the November 2003 Irish Journal of Management. “While established rivals cut staff, grounded aircraft and even collapsed into bankruptcy, the LFAs continue to open new routes and order new aircraft. LFAs are more resilient than traditional airlines to market downturns.” Europe deregulated its skies in 1997 and there has been no looking back as far as the travel and tourism boom is concerned. The low cost airline like Ryan Air, Excel Jet and Budget Air have offered the passengers no frill airlines and this has fuelled a lot of travel. This has exceedingly lowered the prices making holiday travels very affordable. For this reason these airlines have steadily gained market share. Super Cruise Lines An old adage about cruises painted the typical passenger as "newlywed, overfed or nearly dead," but demographics for cruises are changing. A million children took cruises in 2002, double the number from 1998, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represents 21 cruise lines. A five-day, $500 (or less) trip to a warm place (meals included), available in many markets; prices being affordable even for middle-class families. The old cruise model -- eat a big meal, then sit in a deck chair until you dock somewhere interesting -- has been replaced by parties for teenagers, games for kids, play spaces for toddlers, and spas, gyms and seminars for adults. Larger vessels provide the space for this ever-growing choice of activities. Some offer teenage rock star bands, golf putting rinks, an ice rink and rock-climbing walls even. It is no wonder that these cruises entice people to travel and travel more. Families saving up for years to take a cruise have become very common. Internet sales and custom travel packages With the advent of the Internet revolution, making your travel plans or choosing your preferred travel packages has become ever so easy. State-of-the-art online reservations facilities now offer an incredible selection of vacation packages, holiday destinations, and flight options in one place. Orbitz.com and Expedia.com in the U.S.A and Ebooker.com and Lastminute.com in the U.K. are doing booming business. Booking flight tickets, rooms, car rentals, tourist attraction tickets with easy to navigate online reservations make life easy. If the ready made packages do not make sense then custom built deals seem to offer more value for money and suit the traveller’s aptitude to a T. With so much information at their fingertips, the inclination to travel has reached a feverish pitch. The grey market According to the website, EyeforTravel.com, the grey market which hosts the age group 55 and above, 33% were for travelling and surprisingly about 15% chose package holidays and business travel was 10% in third place. According to Visit Britain’s domestic tourism research on 22 March 2005, 21% of the UK adult population are planning a trip over the next two weeks that includes the Easter period. More than twice as many (61%) are planning an overnight trip in England compared to going abroad (29%). The increased affluence of the older generation and they generally being less tied down and the urge to relax and see the world has made the grey market a lucrative segment that travels. Airport/ runway expansion Mark Mann, of the British Airports Authority on 10th June 2005, is to have said to the BBC News, “The government is driving the expansion of airports. They, along with other groups, have made all of the arguments for increased revenue and have pointed out that more air passengers is good for the economy and generates revenue for businesses through tourism.” If things go as planned, the Stansted airport will get a new runway by 2013. However a group called, “The Friends of the Earth” are strongly opposed to it because they think that it will cause a fall in domestic tourism because more people will fly out of the U.K. Terrorist activity and security issues Terrorism and war are not good for the international travel industry in general. As already seen the aftermath of WTC attack on 11th September2001 was that the aviation and tourist industry experienced a great slump. This is largely because, the faith of the common man gets shaken during these tragedies, and it takes time to heal and get back on his feet. As guest editor of In Focus magazine in the Spring Issue, in a press release on rethinking tourism, Abby Aron argues, “It is largely host countries and communities and not potential tourists who become the victims when terrorism strikes or threatens. Tourists can go elsewhere but those with businesses and livelihoods reliant on visitors suffer the decline”. So undoubtedly, security is an issue for the traveller and except for some rare events, U.K is largely peaceful and secure and people feel comfortable touring it. Conclusion The sky is the limit for tourism. Literally. “Space tourism” is just waiting to take off by the beginning of the 21st century. Dubai boasts trying to build an underwater hotel in 2006. In Singapore, where it is hot throughout the year, the inauguration of a hotel with freezing temperatures is making waves. As more ideas are churned out to meet the ever-changing recreation needs, and technology continues to grow in leaps and bounds, tourism will continue to thrive because of its allure. Sure, there will be downslides during occasional setbacks but man is resilient and will be back on his feet in due time and will continue on his journeys. Sources Definition of “United Kingdom”, Retrieved September 30, 2005 http://wikitravel.org/en/United_Kingdom The World Travel and Tourism council web site, Accessed September 30, 2005 http://www.wttc.org/ Definition of “Tourism”, Retrieved September 30, 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism Travel & Tourism - UK Residents: Visits to and from the UK continue to rise, Retrieved September 30, 2005 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=352 Historical Development of Travel and Tourism – Activity, Retrieved September 30, 2005 http://www.bized.ac.uk/educators/16-19/tourism/industry/activity/history.htm Big ships, theme trips among cruise trends, Retrieved September 30, 2005 http://www.cnn.com/2003/TRAVEL/12/10/holtr.cruise.trends.ap/ Key Tourism Facts 2003, Retrieved September 30, 2005 http://www.visitbritain.com/corporate/factsfigures/index.aspx Read More