Tourism Lessons

The two tourism destinations taken in this report in comparison to White chapel are London, UK and Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland as both these places have a great tourist flow throughout the year and are famous all over the world (Lickorish, 2012). There are many places in Edinburgh, Scotland which people visit regularly every year such as Isle of Skye, Edinburgh Dungeon, Linlithgow Place, Museum of Edinburgh, and many more. Same is the case with London, UK as it is very famous all over the world and there is tourists’ movement all round the year to see the places like British Museum, National Gallery, London Eye, Science Museum, Buckingham Palace, Madame Tussauds, Victoria and Albert, etc which is comparatively much higher than that of Edinburgh (Travis, 2011).

Many people who find great interest in natural beauty and history do find this one stop destination of Edinburgh especially Isle of Skye and Edinburgh Dungeon and every year Isle of Skye expects 400,000 visitors and Edinburgh Dungeon sees 300, 000 tourists (Butler, 2006). These places has great tourism five star attraction features, generates highest number of tourists and the government in these states provides good infrastructural facilities to the visitors by opening many public and private outbreaks and hotel as these tourists destinations generate £300 million annually, which is accounts for almost 20% of the tourism spend and also the reason it being the world’s most famous tourism destination after London, UK (Edinburgh Convention Bureau, 2013) which is still far different from the statistics derived out by London.

According to the recent statistics, London has supported its country’s economy by generating £114 billion in the year 2012 and generated about 2.65 million jobs which again is a great achievement by one the leading destinations. With this turnover, it is seen that Buckingham Palace has become has become the far most popular destinations in London. Victoria and Albert Museum, famous landmarks in British Museums, Madame Tussauds are few of the names where tourism is active all round the year (Richards, 2011).

Regarding the tourist trends in the city of London, UK, the statistics suggest that there has been a significant increase in the number of tourist into the city. A record number of tourists have reported to visit London in the first half of 2013. An approximate number of 3.4 million of tourists visit London in the first three months of 2013 which is a 4.2% boom as compared to the same period last year (Betts and Bly, 2004). Along with this, the expenditure over the same period has been about £2.1billon which is a significant 11.5% increase as compared to the last year. In addition to this, there has been a recorded increase of 13.8% increase in the attendance of visitors at tourist destinations in the period of March to May 2013 (Mayor welcomes record tourism figures for London, 2013).From the statistics it can be analyzed that London has experienced an increase in expenditure from the visitors overseas. It can also be said that the London Olympic and Paralympics Games in 2012 have been the biggest contributor in making the preferred tourist destination from international countries. If such a trend continues then London will soon become one of the most aspired and favorite tourist attractions and will be able to have a large share in world tourism (Gnoth, Andreu and Kozak, 2009).

The figures of Edinburgh, Scotland are also quite interesting and they show that the region has witnessed around 3.2 million staying visits in 2010. The domestic UK visits make 60% of visits to Edinburgh and from the international market it is 40% of all visits. The present trend states that there has been a growth in international visits to Edinburgh since 2010 and it has been considered as one of the favorable destinations for people (Watson and Drummond, 2002). In future also, there are increased chances that the region will have more and more of international tourists.

The cultural, social and physical features of the place are the major factors at which a tourist looks and gets attracted by the way they are being displayed by the public and private ownership companies (Ward, 2001). Below mentioned is the description of these features according to their appeal to tourists:

Edinburgh, Scotland and London, UK

Cultural features: Museum of Edinburgh is a series of 16th and 18th century which has certain Latin inscription on the building. Stirling Castle is a symbol of Scottish independence and gives insight into country famous historical culture (Law, 2002). London has places like British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, which possesses all the historical and cultural artifacts preserved over there to let people know about the wide and renowned historical background of the country (Demb, 2008). So the place should possess great cultural background which will force people to visit the same.

Social features: Royal Yacht Britannia has appeared as upcoming and most favorite destinations for honeymooners which provide this place with increased flow of leisure and royal travelers (Alegre, 2012). Princess Street is the main shopping street close to private and public transporter giving a place to people to hangout. In London, Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussauds are the most socially visited places where people can look into the royal life styles of queen and prince whereas in Tussauds, they can have a glimpse of few of the famous personalities in the world (Chapman, 2005).

Physical feature: Edinburgh has places like Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Arthur’s Seat which are top mountain peaks for the nature lovers worth visiting and seeing, whereas in London, Big Ben, London Eye, London Bridge are some manmade physical features which also attract large number of tourists (Meler, 2003).

White chapel is a new destination which has all the capabilities of coming up as a major attraction for people who are really interested in having an entire new experience with regards to geographical features, physical and demographical potential. London’s major attraction is its strong historical background and in comparison to London, White chapel also has diverse historical locations and contemporary signs which may attract many art and history lovers (Watson and Drummond, 2002). The population here in White chapel is also vibrant and tolerant and people over here are multi-cultured like what is seen in Edinburgh, Scotland. This is the key feature which makes tourists feel home away from home (Gnoth, Andreu and Kozak, 2009). This multicultural feature demonstration brings in equality and cohabitation pertains in the town.

White chapel from London which is one of the world’s most popular and favorite tourism spot will help in bringing more opportunity to visitors to just go and experience something new which is within their range (Klemm, 2000). London expects millions of tourists every year so it has well structured facilities for all the visitors of different purposes whether it is for leisure, business, history or anything. So when compared to London, White chapel has also been supported with many facilities of international level which will provide great comfort to tourists (Perry, 2010). It has been backed up by two international airports, various different rating of hotel and restaurants and financial institutions which provides comfort all through the stay at a new place to visitors.

Edinburgh is a famous place majorly because of its picturesque natural beauty; Loch, hills, Isles, etc thus White chapel can also get inspired by the same as it also has superb natural beauty which may act as a strong marketing tool for the town and can expect more tourists (Kastenholz, 2008).

Tourism has put a great impact on the society and in London it has been proved to be the most positive one. This has been witnessed with regards to employment; as it has created more employment opportunities by increasing the number of hotels, restaurants, cottages, tour operations and travel agencies and many more, which has provided job to domestic crowd (Franch, 2008). As White chapel is also emerging out as a developing tourist destination, in this stage, there is a great possibility of increasing tourism activity because gradually the people who know about this place will increase leading to increase in job opportunities (Richards, 2011).

In London, tourism has pushed a lot the revitalization of poor or non industrialized regions and increased the demand for local art and crafts leading to motivation of social and cultural activities (Edinburgh 2020, 2013). White chapel, Because of the fact it is developing, government sees a great potential at this place as it is not a big town or a city rather is more localized and social place, so it has more local artisans and craftsmen preserving the culture of Britain in its natural form which is worth watching for the tourists (Mayor welcomes record tourism figures for London, 2013). Government also can make efforts in promotion of the needs to conserve those areas in White chapel with aesthetic beauty and cultural values.

Unlike London, White chapel also has numerous physical strengths related to its demographic set up, old buildings and monuments, libraries, museums, industries, etc which encourages greater social and cultural mobility by making this place from traditional agriculture to service based industrial place. As White chapel has good connectivity with air, road and railway transportation, many people can easily visit the place (Edinburgh Convention Bureau, 2013). And the presence of many economic and multi star hotels and restaurants, will increase the job prospectus of the people and will provide higher wage opportunities to the local crowd.

From the above discussed potentials of the place which is a developing tourism destination, natural environment, manmade environment, etc have been proved as major attraction for the people visiting White chapel. These identified characteristics of the place; greatly affected its appeal as it has helped in pushing the development of the place with regards to make it more service based industrial town rather than just ignoring its potentials. According to the recent report, infrastructure contributes to around £27bliion which is equivalent to 9% of UK’s GDP and also helps in bringing large support to employments and revenue turnover in the country (Rodgers, 2001). The tourism destinations have become more sustainable in White chapel as many community figures are also showing their interest in the place as it will increase the economic character of the place as more and more people will come and will bring in more revenues so that the town can be much more developed and preserved in its natural form (Demb, 2008).

The fact that tourism impacts on the society are multi-faceted, which lead to increase in the difficulties of being able to properly plan and manage different activities and communities in the place. Looking at the diverse capabilities of White chapel, there are different groups which seems interested in putting their hands into the industry and ultimately also possesses a great importance in planning and management activities (Butler, 2006). The key players are government representatives, tourists, industrial members, media, and community figures who are involved in day-to-day issues of tourism destination. So these are the individuals and groups who tend to make or manipulate the appeal of the place and affects development in White chapel (Betts, 2004).

Every popular tourism destination faces some or the other challenge which directly affects the tourist’s flow in the country. The leading tourism destinations taken over here are London, UK and Edinburgh, Scotland (Law, 2002) and they both also faces major issues from which White chapel can learn and make effort to minimize their impacts:

London, UK

Terrorism- UK in recent years, have been greatly impacted by terrorists’ movements which has restricted people from visiting the country as they all fear any uncertainty or mis-happening (Ward, 2001). London has witnessed many events of international importance, such as queen’s silver jubilee, Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding, baby shower, Olympics and Paralympics events but the fear of terrorism has put a great restriction in country’s economic growth (Demb, 2008).

Regulatory Bodies- In order to visit London, people have to undergo many tough and time taking regulatory formalities which again diverts people to visit some other destination with minimal legal formalities (Shipley and Kovacs, 2008).

Global economic crisis- International economy is overall facing quite a lot of challenge which has restricted people from spending much on travel and leisure and London is not safe from this economic effect (Alegre, 2012).

Edinburgh, Scotland

Local infrastructure- Edinburgh’s infrastructure requires quite a large amount of focus from its legal authorities as it is not sufficient to meet the safety and security needs of the tourists (Watson and Drummond, 2002).

Availability of public sector funding- Issues such as littering and parking becomes a major constraint as the flow of tourists increases in the town which impacts the visitor’s experience and image which they would have carried about the place before visiting (Meler and Cerovic, 2003).

Hotel accommodation issues at the time of key tourism festival and activities- During the peak times, the management in the town gets much disturbed as the number of hotels and accommodation places are too less at the place which again creates trouble for the visitors to stay there for a long duration (Trunfio, 2006).

Edinburgh is surrounded by numerous scenic features and natural beauties and there are many anti social people who give harm to these places, so they have to understand their responsibility as a tourists and must preserve these natural affairs in their original form.

People visiting these two countries- London and Edinburgh specially demand and expects easy access to all the facilities which should be of high standards to relatively meet the demands for all class of tourists visiting the town (Macchiavelli, 2001). Sanitation and other washing facilities should be hygienically and importantly made available to the travelers as this is the major requirement of every person coming to see these places. Although the major parts of both these town might be highly maintained but the special care is needed in the areas in old city structure where there are thin lanes, old traditional and cultural house, etc (Klemm, 2000).

Edinburgh majorly has geographical attractions, so proper sign boards, direction boards, and good maps should be well maintained significantly with the view of maintaining them for 10-15 years. This becomes the responsibility of local government bodies to increase facilities for international visitors to improve the image which the tourists take with them when they leave the place. In London, visitors’ management should be used by agencies which are active in binging tourism in the town (Shipley and Kovacs, 2008). They must plan all the movements of people along with their stay, travel, food, etc. one of the initiative taken by UK ministry towards the same is that it has prepared a focused report which emphasized on maintaining relationship between environment and visitors and suggested different ways of controlling tourism activities to preserve natural environment (Kastenholz, 2008).

Conclusion

Thus White chapel can seek lessons from these two world’s leading tourism destinations on the ways they manage tourism activities during the year and the way they manage their behavior at the time of unfavorable situations. Government will help majorly in enhancing tourism movement by providing sufficient funding and resources for the development of town (Franch, 2008). So VisitWhitechapel.org will also find out the ways to attract more number of people and will create a benchmark to promote the town and generate greater revenues for the overall development of the people as well. Being close to London, UK, White chapel has great potentials in diverting most of the tourist crowd towards its scenic and natural beauty (Richards, 2011).

References

• Franch, M., et.al., 2008. 4L tourism (landscape, leisure, learning and limit): responding to new motivations and expectations of tourists to improve the competitiveness of Alpine destinations in a sustainable way. Tourism Review.
• Kastenholz, E. and Almeida, L. A., 2008. Seasonality in rural tourism – the case of North Portugal. Tourism Review.
• Watson, S. and Drummond, D., 2002. A strategic perspective to human resource development in Scottish tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
• Macchiavelli, A., 2001. Tourist destinations as integrated systems. Tourism Review.
• Trunfio, M., Petruzzellis, L. and Nigro, C., 2006. Tour operators and alternative tourism in Italy: Exploiting niche markets to increase international competitiveness. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

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