The UK Tourism Industry - Case Study Example

Name: xxxxxxxx Tutor: xxxxxxxx Title: Tourism Industry Institution: xxxxxxxx Date: xxxxxxxx Introduction Tourism is amongst the largest and rapid growing worldwide industries. Tourism is taking a trip for fun, vacation or business reasons. Globally, tourism has turned out to be a trendy leisure activity. There were more than 940 million international visitor arrivals globally in 2010, illustrating an increase of 6.6% when a comparison is made to 2009 (Page & Connell, 2006). Tourism is essential and in some circumstances vital for several countries, like the United States, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. However, there are some challenges that the industry faces. This context therefore illustrates some concepts relevant to tourism industry. Visitor attraction is a region of interest where visitors visit, characteristically for its natural or displayed cultural value, historical importance, inherent or built attractiveness, or pleasant opportunities. There are various examples of visitor attractions. This include; historical areas, shrines, zoos, existing chronological museums, galleries of art, botanical gardens, aquaria, national park and jungles, cultural enclave communities and ethnic events (Page & Connell, 2006). All these are what catch the attention of the tourists. A number of visitor attractions are also landmarks. The visitor attractions are very important in the tourism industry. Most of the tourists want to take a vacation to places that excite them and make them relax in order to remove the monotony of daily activities like work and schooling. For this reason, they choose places which are very exciting. Due to visitor attractions, the government obtains a specific amount of taxes from tourism which assists improve the economy. Because of attracting visitors, the UK gets a diverse mix of civilized people with initiatives and they as well spend to commerce which enhances industry and local business markets. The attractions are a lively constituent in the UK tourism business. They offer employment to more than 100,000 people, and 6.5 million tourists visit them. The significance of visitor attractions to the industry of tourism has been reconfirmed in the time post 11 September 2001 and the after effects of the foot and mouth infection disaster in the UK and other regions of northern Europe (Swarbrooke, 1999). The low cost airlines have affected the business of leisure travel in many ways. Air travel is fundamentally related to tourism principally in terms of worldwide flows but also for internal movements in superior countries. In Europe, contract carriers were the main air service giver of leisure travel until the beginning of 1990s. The regular and irregular nature of such flights blended well with the model of leisure travelers. These airlines served as the original low rate ones by stressing reduction of cost: solid seat pattern and intense passenger load factors permitted economies of solidity and low unit rates; uneven and sometimes untimely schedules and the choice of rather minor airports reduced airport rates; essential in-flight servicing reduced operation costs; and the clear connection with the distribution of travel system in the framework of an incorporated tourist package resulted to very low advertising and allocation outlays. Because of these low expenses, contract carriers were able to provide low costs and please the conscious vacation travelers (Starkie, 2002). Low rate airlines have been recognized to pinch a penny or two, but this model of business has proven victorious to strengthen the economy when going through a recession (Starkie, 2002). Recession has a great impact on the travel sector as noted in the past few years. When people generate less money, they are swift to reduce vacations, and instead go for staycations. Low cost airlines perceive this as a chance to explore fresh routes into local airports, and service the retreat and commerce with low fee tickets, as the travel industry slows. These fresh routes generate millions of dollars to the financial system via leisure travel and commercial markets. Low cost transporters are usually the first ones to try fresh routes after, or in the course of a recession, frequently times with the assistance of regional subsidies. As the market starts to rebound back, legacy carriers will consider the achievement of low cost airlines fresh routes and plan consequently (Starkie, 2002). Travel and tourism is amongst the world’s biggest industry. For this matter, tour operators play a very vital role in the growth of tourism industry. Because of the growth in the tourism industry, there is an increase in the unconstructive environmental and communal effects of tourism, from resource utilization, pollution and the production of wastes. Activities of tourism can also disturb or wipe out local cultures and bring in ineffective activities like prostitution and drugs. Because of their important market share, tour operators are in part liable for the negative effects of tourism, since they decide where several tourists go and which amenities they use. They as well act in some ways as a catalyst uniting other sectors of tourism (Swarbrooke, 1999). Tour operators have a fundamental role in the industry of tourism. As intermediaries between visitors and tourism service givers, tour operators may control the choices of customers, the practices of providers and the growth models of destinations. This illustrates that tour operators are able to make a significant contribution to advancing the objectives of sustainable tourism growth and shielding the ecological and cultural resources on which the industry of tourism relies for its endurance (Tour Operator, 2003). Different from the travel organizations who sell holiday and a variety of different products of travel, tour operators essentially bring together the constituent parts of a holiday; this include the way of travel, accommodation, amenities, transport, tour and other services. Tour operators can be categorized into four types. The first type of tour operators is the mass market operators. These tour workers include a number of the famous names in the industry. These names include Thomson, Airtours and First Choice. They arrange air comprehensive tours frequently known as a package holiday. In the UK, Thomson is the leader in the market. The kind of people that go on vacation with the mass-market tour workers are majorly of the UK national. The motives beefing is that it is cheap, therefore it is affordable for everyone, and another chief motive is that they getaway to the destinations that are sunny, they explore fresh cultures and customs (Tour Operator, 2003). The second category of tour operators is called specialist tour operators. Even though they are less famous than the mass market, there are plainly a higher number of specialist operators in the industry of travel. Specialist travel operators are for individuals with a particular interest, which may be activities, exploration holidays, and winter sports. The main dissimilarity between the mass-market and the specialist travel operators is that the professional holiday is custom-made and the mass-market one is for everybody. The professionals are typically more costly than the mass-market ones the basis being they give a diverse service and because they are generated for individual consumers. The professional tour operators provide individual needs (Tour Operator, 2003). The third category of tour operators is domestic operators. Since people are afraid to travel overseas because of the terrorism assail in 11th September 2001, they are taking internal holidays (Tour Operator, 2003). The services that the internal tour operators give are cultural coach tours, anonymous murder holidays, historical vacations, adventure vacations and walking holidays. The internal tour operators will enhance the number of their sales because of the war in Iraq. The fourth type of tour operators is the incoming tour operators. Incoming, or inbound, tourism in UK is interested with fulfilling the needs of the enhancing numbers of visitors from abroad who opt to visit Britain. On the other hand, outbound tourism manages the UK residents who want to take their vacations overseas. The fundamental roles played by the tour operators in the tourism industry are changing with the use of e-commerce. The role of e-commerce has simplified the role of tour operators because they can easily market their services globally via the internet. The function of the internet has affected reputable tour operators. Electronic business is where trade transactions occur through telecommunication networks, particularly the internet. This process illustrates the process of trade or exchanging of goods, services, and data through computer systems (People’s Daily, 2003). This business is also illustrated in the sector of tourism whereby internet based commerce network is done by electronics. Usually, customers use the Web sites of tourism industry to get road maps, accommodation, and programming of events, air costs, restaurants and entertainment. Because tour operators would advertise the tourism sector previously, the innovation of e-commerce has fastened the method of acquiring information regarding tourism industry through the internet The world has been taken by storm in latest years by e-commerce by introducing fresh opportunities to worldwide industry of travel and tourism. With the increasing boom of internet, the sector of tourism would not be left behind by any means. Institutions related to tourism and internet organizations are joining hands to tap this prospective market. Investigations show that going electronic is quite expensive, although it is an essential investment. For this factor, tour operators can utilize the internet to obtain a worldwide audience. With a world populace of a number of six billion, this is a very glowing vision (People’s Daily, 2003). People opt to use e-commerce to acquire information from the internet because of its convenience and easy access. Tour operators are also advantaged from this innovation because they can easily market their services online despite the high costs. Since the world is advancing in technology, it is important to know that people prefer using electronic sources to get information. Conclusion In conclusion, it is worth noting that the tourism industry has the potential to develop considerably. However it experiences a series of challenges which include augmented global competition and the worldwide economic recession. Other areas where communal sector strategy may be impairing the industry include investment of transport infrastructure, the increased cost of taxes and visas. Inadequate information about what is on offer for tourists, shortages of skills and difficulties in transport potentially harm the industry. Bibliography Page, S & Connell, J. 2006, Tourism: A Modern Synthesis, London: Cengage Learning EMEA. People’s Daily 2003, ‘E-commerce Brings Tourism with New Opportunities’, 3 May, p. 1, viewed 5 December 2011, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/english/200005/03/eng20000503_40162.html Starkie, D 2002, ‘Airport Regulation and Competition’, Journal of Air Transport Management, vol.8, no.6, pp. 63-72. Swarbrooke, J. 1999, Sustainable Tourism Management, London: CABI. ‘Tour Operator’ 2003, The Role of Tour Operator, viewed 5 December 2011, www.marketresearch.com/Mintel-International-Group-Ltd-v614/Visitor-Attractions-UK-761699/. Read More