Travel and tourism sector

Number of services has been involved in this sector regarding efficient services to the customers. It has been observed that people of UK wish to travel different places and this thereby increases the demand for tourism. And as a result, this develops the opportunities for the visitors to get the knowledge regarding the heritage and cultural aspects of different countries. The present research report is made with a view to comprehend the history and structure of travel and tourism and influence of local, national government and international agencies on travel and tourism sector. Factors that affect the functionality of business and tourist destinations have also been included. With the help of current report, impacts of tourism on different sectors can be comprehended (Witt and Song, 2012).

Understand The History And Structure Of The Travel And Tourism Sector

Examine the historic developments in the field of travel and tourism with reference to the contribution of technological and economic developments, including the industrial revolution over the last two hundred years.

The importance of travel and tourism has been increasing because most of the people desire to spend money on them and this leads the tourist destination to put more efforts in providing knowledge regarding cultural and beauty of their nation. The particular industry contributes a lot in improving the economic condition of the nation (Bernick and Boo, 2013). After conducting several researches, it can be concluded that people of China invests huge amount in travel and tourism. With the help of technological innovations, the opportunities of success and growth can be increased and this leads the sector to grow at market place. Change management also develops the opportunities for success as this facilitates improvements in current strategies. With the usage of technological advancements, people are highly dependent on internet facilities as this is the most convenient method to get the services without spending expenses on transportation.

With the busy schedule of people, much more efforts have been paid on time saving and for such purpose; people are moving towards the extreme usage of internet facilities. Technology facilitates people to save time and the same concept has been applied in travel and tourism sector as most of people uses internet for the purpose of booking tickets and hotels and this thereby reduces the need of travel agents. Information related to current market can be attained through internet. This also facilitates people to book different packages as per the interest. Changes and technological advancements create high demand for transportation as this is essential so as to move from one place to another in context to travel and tourism (Widd and Diggines, 2010).

In UK, it has been found out that for the purpose of increasing global economy, the developing counties are taking active participation through international tourism. In order to render good quality services to the customers, it is quite essential for travel and tourism industry to engage different people and as a result it also generates employment opportunities. For the purpose of reducing the line of poverty, tourism industry is engaging different people in this sector as this will also help in improving the economic condition of a nation. Considering the importance of travel and tourism can help the government to maintain relationships with other clients of different countries. Whereas the travel and tourism sector of US is also getting benefits with regards to historical developments in travel and tourism (Amelung and et.al., 2007). The country is also developed and because of the attractive tourist destinations, the economic condition has been increasing. (Comparison of two countries)

History of Tourism

In UK, tourism has been contributing in economic development of the country since the country is famous for huge travel and tourism. Moreover, UK is the only country that serves range of people all over the year and which in turn increases the amount of tourism (Bernick and Boo, 2013). British tourism almost certainly with the medieval pilgrimage although it were undertaken for religious; however the pilgrimage reflects the experience as a soothing holiday which people can derive by getting away from their normal lives. There are various places in UK that are famous and prominent and that promotes the level of tourism which further increases the economic prosperity. Looking towards the graphs, the trends for increase in tourism is clear. During the eighteenth century tourism for health became extremely important in the Britain with many Spas offering supposedly health-giving mineral waters. Huge percentage of income of travel and tourism has been spending on economic development of the nation which clearly shows the percentage of tourism development. About this time travel became a lot easier and a lot more affordable after the country (Britain) became more industrialized (Zhang, Chong and Jenkins, 2002). Range of people have identified that contributes huge resources in getting luxury travel and tourism services.

British tourism is almost certainly started with the medieval pilgrimage and although on the surfaces, pilgrimages were undertaken for religious purposes which clearly state that the history specifies lot many hidden aspects. Pilgrims were responsible for the idea of souvenirs, bringing back relics and reminders of their trips to shrines. They were the first one that probably analysed benefits of obtaining credit with different foreign banks in exchange of commercial ships. However for the present era, religious pilgrimages are still important to tourism. In early 16th century, England became fashionable to undertake grand tour and similarly it promoted tourism from different perspectives. Europe was the first destination that lies under the situation which even promotes cultural aspects of the country. UK is also famous due to several cultural and heritage properties which promotes people about different values and cultural aspects of the past and ancient history. The below table has been representing all such events which has been occurred in ancient history of UK and which promoted its tourism as well.

Explain the various components of the travel and tourism sector businesses and discuss the industry structure in which the travel and tourism businesses operate

Both the travel and tourism industry incorporates various activities for the purpose of providing leisure services. Travel and tourism both the concepts are somehow different to each other as both are indulged in varied services but the purpose is same. The main aim is also same as both are responsible to provide leisure time and effective services so as to retain the customers for long term. The above is the structure of the travelling industry:

Distributor: These are those mediators that render goods and services to the customers. Distributors are required to consider the interest of consumers so as to bring out services as per their needs. While traveling, customers can take all kind of services whenever required. Numbers of people have been involved in travel and tourism such as travel agents, travel suppliers, sellers and firms and all uses internet for the purpose of delivering services (Batta, 2000).

Public sector organization: Different organizations are also there in travel and tourism sector and all are responsible to deliver effective services to the customers. Different types of services should be there such as transport, culture, media, sports and about common wealth (Uzama, 2009).

Regulatory bodies: Operating the business from any other country is termed as regulatory body. Some of the regulatory bodies are Association of British travel agents and statutory bodies such as Civil Aviation Authority. They are directly responsible to provide precise information regarding travel, tourism and company to their customers.

Transport: Transportation facilities plays a crucial role in travel and tourism as this helps the customers to move from one place to another. With the help of technological advancements, immense growth has been seen in this area (Bernick and Boo, 2013).

Other industry players: Other players in the industry also plays a significant role as they are engaged in providing different services such as hiring cars and other vehicles so that customers can easily travel to different places.

On the other side, tourism industry also follows the same structure as mentioned above. It also has different functions and departments that are involved in different services. Various tour operators, tour agencies, exhibition organizers are also involved in this industry. The industry majorly focuses on providing best accommodation services to the customers.

Understand The Influence Of Local And National Government And International Agencies On The Travel And Tourism Sector

Discuss the role of national and local authority governments in the development of tourism and analyze the functions of the government sponsored bodies and international agencies in the development and promotion of travel and tourism.

The operations under travel and tourism industry can be improved with the help of government of UK. In order to attract large number of customers, governmental bodies are giving assistance to all organizations involved in this sector related to financial as well as non financial aspects. The role of local as well as international government is as follows:

Direct involvement: It is the role of government to protect the cultural and heritage property of a nation so as to increase customer base. Historical places are required to manage as this attracts range of customers towards tourism (Buckley, 2012).

Proper safety to the tourists: Arrangements should be there regarding the safety of tourist so that to protect the image of the nation. Here, the role of government is to protect the customers from hazardous activities.

Limited tourism: It is the concept in which the government has to put some restrictions regarding visiting on perilous and dangerous places. Government should inform the customers about the rules and regulations and that should be kept in mind while visiting.

Tax relief: The demand for tourism can only be increased when government provides tax relief benefits to the customers. In order to make them feel secure, it is essential to motivate the customers towards tourism (Cherian, Dasgupta and Doreswamy, 2007). It has been seen that after the Olympics games 2010, the country has reduced the rate of taxes and subsidies so that to increase the degree of tourism.

Higher subsidies: Rate of subsidies should be minimized by the government at the season so that to persuade large number of customers towards tourism. At this time, higher amount of subsidies should be provided to the private hotels and restaurants.

Encourage private sector: As apparent there are various industries under private sector that are indulged in providing services related to tourism and government of UK is providing aid to such sector (Dale and Oliver, 2005).

World tourism organization has been supporting the travel and tourism organizations in UK and as per the requirements, they even provide financial support to the industry. Moreover, World tourism organization has also set up some reforms in which the travel agents have to protect the interest of clients by providing valuable and ethical practices.

Explain the link between national economic policy & development and the travel & tourism sector development. Examine how political changes in different countries affect the travel and tourism sector.

The uncertain and unusual flow of money in the economy changes the economic sustainability of the nation. Economic condition of the country is the main factor that affects the demand for tourism as when purchasing power of the people get reduced, demand for tourism also gets reduced. The development facets of travel and tourism can be increased only when serving lots of customers at a particular time period. The economic instability of the nation reduces the demand for tourism as recession affects the purchasing power of the customers.

Effects of political changes in travel industry

The affects of political parties on tourism industry is innumerable whereas there are some other factors that highly affects the practices under tourism industry and some are mentioned as under:

• Changes in the political situations in a country might affects the travel and tourism sector for example: if a party promotes this sector and if other ruling party does not support this sector then the industry may face downturns.
• Some of the political parties do not aid tourism industry, as they feel that the industry would not help in generating revenues (Gardner, 2012)
• Changes in the amendments affect the tourism and travel industry, as this leads to reengineer the current process.
• If the subsidies are higher then it will be fruitful for the private sector as this increases the cost of services
• Different practices under travel and tourism gets affected by the government bodies and their restrictions (Komppula, 2009).

Understand The Effects Of Supply And Demand On The Travel And Tourism Sector

Explain tourism demand and critically examine the factors that influence demand for travel and tourism products and services.

Demand for tourism gets affected by the number of factors. Tourism demand can be referred as the number of visitors a country has at a particular time. The concept of tourist demand includes all those factors that increase the ratio for tourism. The main factor is the environmental factors that influence the customers while planning to travel. Political and cultural factors both have negative as well as positive effects on tourism and this thereby directly influences demand for tourism. The demand for tourism in UK is increasing after the London Olympics 2012. There are various destinations of UK that needs to manage demand for travel and tourism because London Olympics 2012 event have significantly increased the demand for different places. Especially demand for cultural tourism has been increased after the event as people are so much attracted towards the science and Albert and Victoria museum of London (Swarbrooke and Horner, 2012).

Factors that influence demand for travel and tourism

Income level: One of the major factors that highly affects demand for tourism is the income level of the customers. In the past so many years, it has been seen that flow of money is well and effective but on the other side during the period of recession, travel industry was one of the most affecting one (Spilsbury, 2011).

Mobility: The demand for tourism has been reduced somehow by technological advancements as people uses different modes for transportation. In UK, there are very less number of people that uses travelling companies for visiting and ultimately it reduces the demand for travel companies.

Development in government security programs: Development in government security programs and employee benefits provided by the employers influences the demand of tourism products and services.

Leisure time: One of the most significant services that travel industry provides is the leisure time but looking at the busy schedule, people are no longer attracted towards tourism because of heavy work pressure (Sisay, 2009).

Discuss how the suppliers of tourism product and services respond to the changing demand in travel and tourism

As apparent the concept of supply and demand are interrelated to each other and so the same can be applied in travel and tourism. The products and services of tourism highly affect the travel industry as when the demand changes, supply ultimately get affected. The mindset of the suppliers gets affected by the numerous factors and this thereby affects his behavior. Some of those factors are attraction, information, transportation, promotion and services. All such factors represent the interrelationship between demand and supply facets. Supply and demand can be managed when the flow of money is proper and adequate. For the purpose of maintaining proper flow of tourism products, it is requisite to manage varied aspects such as land, labor, capital and expenditure on promotional activities. The government of UK assists different organizations by providing them effective services related to resources (Petia Petrova and Peter Mason, 2004).

Demand for tourism can be enhanced only when government pays proper consideration towards innovations and benefits of the industry. There are a lot of customers that gets affected by the natural factors and this thereby changes their mindsets and this reduces the demand for tourism. Competitive advantage at the marketplace can be attained after retaining the potential customers and this is only possible when facilitating effective services for their benefits.

Understand The Impacts Of Tourism

Examine the impacts of tourism and evaluate the key economic, environmental and social impacts of tourism in specific destination

The impacts of tourism can be segregated into negative as well as positive. Some of the positive impacts are as under:

Generates employment: As mentioned above, the practices under travel and tourism generate lot many opportunities for employment in UK. For the purpose of effective services, companies are required to engage different people and thus it reduces the level of unemployment. This industry has been considered as the most significant one that contributes in economic growth (Ottenbacher and Harrington, 2009).

Foreign exchange: With the help of travel and tourism, different kinds of currencies can be attained by Chinese states. The foreign reserves of the country can be attained only after getting more and more customers from different countries.

Social benefits: New leisure amenities provide benefits to the local communities. It also encourages the preservation of traditional customs, handicrafts, etc.With the help of technological advancements, infrastructure of the hospitality industry of UK has been enhanced and this brings improvements in tourism sector.

Negative impacts of tourism are as follows

• Many of the negative impacts from tourism occur when the amount of visitors is greater than the environment's ability to cope with the visitor volume (Mehmetoglu and Normann, 2013).
• Some of the consequences of exceeding the environmental capacity include strain on already scarce resources such as water, energy, food and natural habitat areas.
• Many well intentioned people in the public and private sector are hard at work looking for solutions that will provide viable, long-term socio-economic benefits for tourist area at UK.
• Destinations dependent on tourism can be adversely affected by events such as terrorism, natural disasters and economic recession.
• Visitor behaviour can have a detrimental effect on the quality of life of the host community (China) (Manente, 2000).
• As in tourism various services are related to serving of alcohol and when the consumption of drugs increases, it increases the opportunities of crime as people will involve in crime, prostitution and this affects the interests of the society
• Tourism poses a threat to a region's natural and cultural resources, such as water supply, beaches, coral reefs and heritage sites, through overuse
• It also causes increased pollution through traffic emissions, littering, increased sewage production and noise.
• Increasing demand for basic services and goods from tourists will often cause price hikes that negatively affect local residents whose income does not increase proportionately.

Economic impacts

Tourism affects negatively as well as positively in different sectors. Summing up the entire description, it can be said that on one end of the continuum it generates employment opportunities but on the other side it affects the economic condition of the society when the rate of taxes are high.

Social impact

With the help of tourism, the living standard of people has changed, whereas on the other side criminal activities increases the crime ratio in the country and thus it affects the interest of the society (Managing sustainable tourism Development, 2001).

Environmental impacts

Sometimes tourism consists of several practices that create pollution and this affects the natural beauty of a place and thus it causes various problems related to environment.

Demand for tourism has been increased regarding visit to Albert and Victoria museum of London after the success of London Olympics event 2012. Whereas, demand for American Museum of Natural History of US has come to end.

Discuss how destinations can overcome and mitigate the negative impacts of tourism while enhancing the positive impacts

There are number of negative factors that impacts tourism and in order to reduce such impacts, several strategies can be put into use. Subsequently, government has taken various steps in context to overcome from issues in travel and tourism such as:

• It is required for the government to monitor and control the activities so as to maintain security facets
• Proper time should be fixed for sight scenes
• Ban the use of drugs and alcohol at public place
• Framing of strict rules and regulations so as to restrict the industry not to involve in unethical practices (Komppula, 2009)
• Proper management should be there in the industry so as to guide all the tourists properly
• Proper allocation of resources for each and every project

On the other side, government should pay attention towards enhancement of tourism activities as this helps in contributing in economic development of the nation.

Students also like:

• Marketing in travel and tourism 
• Sample on travel and tourism sector 
• Tourism lessons 
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References

• Batta, R. N. 2000. Tourism and the environment. New Delhi: Indus Publishing Company.
• Bernick, N. L. and Boo, S., 2013. Festival tourism and the entertainment age: interdisciplinary thought on an international travel phenomenon. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research.
• Briggs, S., 2001. Successful Tourism Marketing: A Practical Handbook. Kogan Page Publishers.
• Buckley, R., 2012. Adventure Tourism Management. Routledge.
• Amelung, B. and et.al., 2007. Implications of global climate change for tourist flows and seasonality.Journal of Travel Research.

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