Assignment on Tourist Destination TUI Group

Program	Diploma in Travel and Tourism
Unit Number and Title	Tourist Destination TUI Group
QFC Level	Level 4

Introduction

Tourist destination TUI group case study delves with the functioning of the product and business development team at TUI Group in which the team for product development functions across the globe ensuring that the appropriate type of holidays are offered for attracting new customers and also to retain the customers who are already present. Business development tries to find out new opportunities for business that ranges from defining the product to the increase of  sales planning  whereas development of product is concentrating on the identification as well as development of experiences for new travel.

Task 1

AC 1.1 Analyse main tourist destinations and generators of the world in terms of visitor numbers and income generation

Attractions, amenities and accessibilities are the main characteristics which are encompassed by the tourist destinations. Destination is the place which is offering an amalgam of the tourism products to the tourists and these products are delivered under certain brand name of the destination. Attractions, accessibilities, available packages and activities, and subsidiary services are the six main core provisions for the tourism destination. According to the World Tourism Organisation the destination is the physical entity or space which is made up of different tourism products as well as support services and the tourism resources with administrative and physical boundaries and the market perception of the competitiveness. (Vengesai, 2003)

Top five tourism destinations are assessed on the basis of their visitor’s number and the income generation.

Destinations	Characteristics
France	France has gained the position of the top destination as tourism in the rankings of the World tourism Barometer of United Nations World Tourism Organisation. In 2013 the tourist arrivals was 84.7 million which is making it as the most popular destination. EUR77.7 billion to the French GDP had been directly contributed by the France tourism. 30% of the contribution came from the international visits, and rest 70% has come from the domestic visits. The tourism of France has been supporting 2.9 million jobs in the country which is 10.9% of the employment of the nation. The main tourist attraction was Paris. Variations in the physical attractions are attracting the UK holidaymakers to this destination. The longer stays and the night spending are contributing in the French economy through foreign currency, which is amounting to a total of €35.8 billion. (diplomatie.gouv.fr., 2013).
USA	United States has been ranked as the second highest as individual tourists destination. In the year of 2014 the visitors’ number was 74.8 million, among this figure 41.9 million has been visited in time square. Orlando has been the most visited place in this destination. The tourism in 2014 has contributed in the tourism 1.47 trillion US dollars in the country’s GDP. In 2014 the travel and tourism industry had supported 5,302,000 jobs which are 3.6% of total employment. Spending in the Leisure travel in inbound as well as outbound tourism generated 70.2% of the direct GDP in 2014. (wttc.org., 2015)
UK	This destination has gained the position of 8th place as a tourism destination worldwide. In the year of 2015 it gained 36.115 visits and US $22.072 billion was contributed through the foreign visits. The night spend has been 273 million which has been contributing £611. Visits for the holiday have been 38% in inbound visits. The journey by purpose has been regarded as the largest share of 39%. The holidays and the summer are the biggest seasons for travel in the domestic tourism. The longer stays and the night spending are 14.85 million and 11.39 million. In 2015, the total; night spend was 273.05 million. The average length of night stays is 7.56 million which has decreased by 1.77% from 2014. (visitbritain.org, 2016).
Morocco	Morocco is the strong tourist destination in Africa. In 2013 the destination has 10 million international tourists. It is the most visited country in Africa. The morocco ministry has figured out that the visits in 2013 have contributed 57.5 billion dhirams as revenue tourism has been the largest economic sector in Morocco. It accounts as the 8% of the country’s economy. More than 500,000 people are employed in this industry. (alarabiya.net.,  2014)
China	Through reform and development and opening the tourism of china has been expanded with faster pace. China has become one of the largest inbound and outbound tourist markets. In 2010 the foreign tourist arrival was 55.98 million domestic tourist number was 1.61 billion which generated the total income of 777.1 billion yuan. The tourism industry contributed 2.6 % to the China GDP. 22 million jobs are provided by the tourism industry. (statista.com., 2016)

AC 1.2 Analyse statistics to determine tourism destination trends and predict future trends

With the changes in the daily lives and different behaviours of the tourists the trends in the tourism are also changing. By analysing the current trends and the changes within them the future prediction over the industry can be done. By analysing the current market layout on the market trends can be given. (Frechtling, 2012) With the use of the structural data the trends are analysed. Through the statistics the current realities are analysed over the given data. There are different key drivers which are driving the forces within the tourism destination. Different visits and the increasing visitors within the destination of UK or London are encouraged through certain key drivers.

The key drivers in UK destination acting as tourism trends: The rich culture and heritage is working as the key driver in enforcing the popularity of leisure tourism. The reason behind the increasing tours of holidays to the city of London. The cultural attractions are attracting more proportion of the leisure tourists within the destination. The renowned status of the London city as the cultural metropolis has been driving the interests of the inbound as well as the outbound tourists. The increase of 45% of the tourists to the destination has been considered as the result of the cultural experiences of UK. (case study, 2016)

There are major factors which are affecting the tourism of UK: The word of mouth and the online resources are impacting over the tourists before they are making their visits. Different guide books are influencing the international visits. The domestic travellers are influenced by the word of mouth. Different media like T.V., newspaper and radio are the influencing factors over the intellect of the international as well as the foreign tourists. Different services which are attached with the tourism packages and the development in them are impacting over the popularity of the leisure tourism and its statistics data, such as the airline business, low cost airline flights, lodging services, accommodation and food and beverages, development in the transportation system etc. (Frechtling, 2012)

Future trends of UK tourism destination: Different rends are evolving within the tourism industry which are impacting over the future demands of the tourism industry. The rise in the e-tourism, emerging trends in booking whole tourism products through online agents or purchasing the tour packages from the tour operators by considering the standards, having proper knowledge over the features of the destination with the help of globalisation before making the visits are impacting directly over the tourism destinations. These are also impacting over the services and the development of the subsidiary services of the destination. (ttgmena.com., 2012) On the other perspectives the natural disasters like tsunami, earthquakes impacting the willingness of the tourists such as the massive earthquake in Nepal had made vast impact over the place as a tourism destination, health issues like epidemics, political issues like terrorism such as the terrorist attack in the USA have decrease the number of visits.

Emerging inbound markets like Asia, South America are attracting the tourists through different development. With the diversification in the tourism products these markets are sustaining their positions as tourism destination. The Chinese market has been considered as the developing emerging outbound market. In 2010 the Chinese travellers were 57,386 million rather than 34,524 million in 2006. (case study, 2016) With this analysis the development of the inbound tourism products has been increasing different certain areas like transportation, communication media, merging and acquisition of the tourism industry with the airlines, development of lower cost airlines or charters. (ttgmena.com., 2012)

Different tourisms are impacting over the future trends in tourism such as increasing trends of green tourism, sustainable tourism, green tourism etc. the continuous growth in these trend are imposing influence over the demand and the nature of the tourism product as well as making the travellers aware of the negative impact over the destination. Future trends also include the travelling with a purpose as the increasing trends of travelling with real travel experiences. The political issues are also imposing on the security and safety perspectives of the government. As UK government has been enforcing strictness over the visa and passport legislations, it has been impacting over the willingness of the travellers in visiting. (ttgmena.com., 2012)

Task 2

AC 2.1 Analyse the cultural, social and physical features of tourist destinations explaining their appeal to tourists

The features of the destination have been working as the attractions and also parts of the tourism products in increasing the tourist’s number and interest.

Cultural features: the cultural features of the destination has been enforcing the cultural tourism which consisting of visiting the sites and the places having historical values and has their turn of being the part of the cultural heritage of the community. (Cooper, 2016).The cultural features of a destination are the set of cultural and historical sites, values and life styles of the community or local population, arts, crafts, different traditional features and customs of the local community. The cultural heritage is also included within the cultural features of the destination. The tourism products which are included within the  cultural heritage  are tangible and also intangible in nature. These products are the carriers which are efficient to carry out the cultural values which are interrelated to the historical importance and also national identity. The cultural tourism is also related to the opportunities which provides enjoyments in seeing or vesting the past achievements of the human beings. (Cooper, 2016).

• Cultural features of UK: UK and London has been a renowned destination as a cultural destination. There are various art galleries, museums which are used as the wealth of fantastic arts and artefacts. There are theatres in London which compromises cultural features through the opera performances, and record breaking musical performances. Different artefacts and other historical buildings are efficient in giving cultural impact over the tourists. British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum, London transport museum, Science Museums are efficient in providing the cultural and historical values of 300 years of human advancements and cultures of different generations. Apart from these the Buckingham Palace, Kensington palace, UNESCO world heritage sites like Tower of London, Big Ben Westminster Abbey etc are the most important in the cultural as well as heritage aspects of UK. (visitlondon.com., 2016).

• Cultural features of India: India has the greatest cultural aspects and features within the cultural tourism. The past civilisation, ancient history, and ancient historical importance are impacting over the cultural features of tourism. The campaign of Indian Government ‘Incredible India!’ is also featured on growth of the cultural tourism in India. Cultural music, different cultural festivals which are celebrated irrespective of castes and religion, cultural dances, different cuisines, wide ranges of the buildings, artefacts, crafts of cultural as well as historical importance. On the one hand the forts in the Rajasthan, Delhi are retelling the historical features of the nation and on the other hand the Ghats of Varanasi, different centres of Buddhism, temples, pilgrims are also attracting the foreign tourists to the religious culture of the nation. (Cooper, 2016).

Physical features: the physical features are the landscapes, lakes, mountains, beaches, coastlines, flora and fauna etc. these are the geographical features of the destinations. Tourism places these as the natural sights of the place. Several attractions within one destination make the destination more popular in the tourism. (Cooper, 2016).

• UK’s physical features: there are several physical features within UK which are accreting appeal or urge to visit among the tourists. The beautiful natural resources are working as the appealing attractions to the tourists. The destination has different beaches, lakes, caves, mountains etc, such as Lulworth Cove in England, Gaping Gill, Blackmoss Pot, Giant’s Causeway, Cheddar Gorge, different Isles, Seven Sisters Cliff etc. (Cooper, 2016).
• India’s physical features: India has diversity in its physical features. There are islands, mountains, beaches, desert, tropical features and many more physical characteristics which are effective in generating the tourism revenues. It has been considered as the land of paradoxes. Great places like Sar pass, Rohtang Pass, wide mountain ranges are attracting the tourists seeking trekking or adventure tourism, valleys of Kashmir and Ladakh are attracting the foreign tourists for many years. The colourful villages, tea gardens, different falls, forests, green valleys, barren areas, caves etc are adding values in the tourism products.

Social features: the social groups of the national, local and regional communities of the destination are adding values on the social features within the tourism. The social features impact on the tourists’ mind and the perception of the destination’s social image. Through diversity within the social features as well as the behaviours of the communities the expectations of the tourism can be achieved. (Cooper, 2016). This tourism is significant in the development of the community welfare. It is important on sustaining as a destination. The warm and welcoming behaviour of the local communities’ impact on the mind of the tourists. This will also important for the promotion of the place through word of mouth. The overall experiences to the tourists are the responsibilities of the local groups. 

• UK’s social features: UK has historical impact over the social features. The impact of the word wars on the social classes also attracting the tourists to this destination.
• India’s social features: India has been famous as having complex social system. The ethnic and the linguistic diversity in the civilisation are the most important in the social features. Different regional and social groups and differentiation in their practices, cuisines etc are impacting over the tourism of the destination. (Cooper, 2016).

Task 3

AC 3.1 Compare the appeal of current leading tourist destinations with that of currently developing tourist destinations to be presented to marketing department to assist them in marketing activity.

In this regard, UK is being considered as the current leading tourist destination and Costa Rica is being considered as the current developing tourist destination. The growth strategy of UK involves a major portion of the travel and tourism sector. According to the UK government, it is considered to be one of the important segments that require marketing campaigns with the prime concentration on the promotion of domestic as well as international tourism. There is the occurrence of global campaigns for the promotion of tourism in UK. There have been criticisms over the visa process in UK regarding the limitations on inbound travelling as well as regarding the rise in the duty for Air Passengers which have created an adverse influence on the travel sector. (Robinson, 2011) The main performers of tourism in Costa Rica are the hotels as well as airlines along with related businesses for sightseeing. Also, the foreign tourists travelling to Costa Rica receive superior services in respect of hotels.

Data & Text Table

Leading tourist destination - UK	Developing tourist destination – Costa Rica
1. In the year 2011, the VAT was increased from 17.5% to 20% which had a negative impact among the tourists who were planning to visit UK as the nation is already being considered as a very expensive place to visit.	1. A recent survey has depicted that a medium-high returns family unit will be spending nearly about 101, 000 colons (Costa Rican currency) in respect of a journey within the nation. Also, the foreign tourists travelling to Costa Rica receive superior services in respect of hotels.
2. There was an inclination in the number of tourists travelling to UK in 2012 because of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations as well as the London Olympic Games. (Robinson, 2011)	2. Around 90% of the domestic citizens feel that the expansion of sightseeing have been beneficial for Costa Rica due to the amount of foreign exchange that is being supplied, then there is the boost in the revenue of the government, jobs as well as development in the infrastructure. (Robinson, 2011)

AC 3.2 Provide management report where you evaluate how characteristics of a tourist destination affect its appeal with reference to either Cuba, North Korea or Burma.

There exist different beneficial aspects that can be actualised with the help of tourism. These benefits can either be social or economic, especially for the nations such as Cuba even though there might exist negative influences as well. There have been a lot of debatable discussions in respect of the influence of tourism that can be either beneficial or harmful for the environment. On the brighter side, tourism assists in creating a lot of scope for job in various sectors such as transport, retail and so on that assists in the generation of a huge amount of income for Cuba whereas on the flip side, it can be said that these jobs are seasonal and not permanent. There can also be negative influences on the lives of the inhabitants of Cuba in respect of pollution, crowds, traffic congestion, littering as well as dust. (Moutinho, 2011) Also, on one hand, tourism safeguards the wildlife as well as well-known locations whereas on the other, there is the risk of a huge number of people getting forcefully evacuated from their own land to get that vacant land for the building of a hotel or place for site-seeing. There might as well occur the risk of tourists bringing with them certain unwanted diseases to Cuba.

Sectors that are linked to tourism function in a competitive environment. The purchases associated with the tourism sector increased from around 18% almost a decade ago to around 61% in the recent years. In this respect, there was the creation of around 2, 00,000 jobs for the tourism sector. It has been seem that most of the hotels in the country are being administered by almost 17 international chains of hotels. The foreign organisations are becoming more and more inclined towards making investment in the tourism sector of Cuba. The policy associated with education as well as development related to human resource is one more significant support associated with the strategic aspect of development for tourism in Cuba. The Cuban sector for tourism is presently facing the challenge to increase its capacity for competition as well as to take advantage of significant scopes as well as resources. (Mowforth, 2015) The process of expansion as well as development for the tourism industry of Cuba in respect of the economical aspect of the island is facing certain challenging scenarios. The elevation associated with financial productivity is one of them. One more significant challenging aspect is balancing the investments of the hotels as well as those associated with the development of the facilities for tourists. Another significant challenging aspect for the tourism industry in Cuba is slowing down the rising investment in the capacity of hotel as well as to increase the investments in non-hotel facilities as well as infrastructure. Despite having reduced investments in these locations, there is the generation of around 18% of income related to the tourism industry in respect of non-hotel tourist facilities. (Mowforth, 2015) Also, the tourism development of Cuba is based on the high quality of transportation by air. Cuba is not focusing on tourism as some kind of temporary resolution that will be exploiting the inquisitiveness of the individual’s regarding the island. Tourism in Cuba is considered to be the development of a strategic aspect in relation with the creation of new concept regarding sustainable tourism from the vantage point of its financial, social as well as ecological facets.

Task 4

AC 4.1 Analyzing issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations.

The popularity of various tourist destinations is influenced by different types of issues. Most of these issues affect some destinations whereas others affect the tourism industry as a whole. The issues are analysed as under,

The sector for tourism is very much affected by the financial system. When there is a dearth in amenities as well as wealth and individuals are concerned about their livelihood, then it is obvious that they will not go for sightseeing in UK or Costa Rica. There are majorly nine issues that are associated with various tourism aspects which are quality of service, natural beauty, known destination, convenient lodging, adventure, security, transportation that is effective as well as efficient, quality and  safety food  and facilities for shopping, which are being utilised as variables that are original where the intention of tour was used as variable that is exogenous. (Conrady, 2011)

There exists a positive association for the purpose of tour of the various tourists with the quality of service, natural beauty, destinations that are known, convenient lodging, security, effective as well as proficient transportation, safe as well as quality food, adventure as well as facilities for shopping. There has been the emergence of security as the most effective issue in respect of degree and scale influencing the intention of tour of various tourists. The issue of security is important as individuals are travelling in respect of amusement as well as pleasure. There is no possibility to get amused or entertained if the place of visit is lacking proper security. It is therefore a significant aspect that should be taken into consideration by the government of UK and Costa Rica for ensuring the security in different tourist locations in respect of gaining the attention of tourists as well as reception. (Conrady, 2011) There was the emergence of service quality as a significant issue influencing the intention of tour of various tourists to these destinations. The issue of service quality is important since it is dealing with the perception of the tourists regarding contentment. The tourist destination’s natural beauty has also surfaced as a significant issue influencing the intention of tour of the various tourists travelling to the destinations such as UK and Costa Rica. The issue associated with natural beauty is important since it is dealing with the perception of tourists regarding the significance of the tourist destinations such as UK and Costa Rica as well as the consideration of their attractiveness as a place of tourist destination. As a matter of fact, natural beauty is being considered as mainstay service in respect of the products associated with tourism. There is the existence of the facilities for shopping in the various tourist spots that has an inverse impact on the intention of tour for the tourists travelling to the destinations like UK and Costa Rica. The outcome is not complementary with the intention of the tourists in the foreign countries. In the global environment, the elementary desires of the tourists are making enjoyment with various facilities of tourism that takes into consideration facilities for suitable shopping. (Conrady, 2011) Purchase of various souvenirs as well as items for gift are commonly done by the general global tourists. Regarding group tour, tourists are bound to spend some money in respect of shopping for certain fashion as well as fancy materials in response to the pressure of their friends, and peers.

AC 4.2 Discuss the potential for responsible tourism to enhance the host community at worldwide tourist destinations where TUI group operates with reference to Costa Rica.

The responsible tourism is explained as the travel that assists in reducing the impact that is harmful in respect of financial, ecological as well as communal aspects. It assists in producing better financial benefits in respect of local individuals as well as for improving the condition of the tourist destinations, advancing the functional scenarios as well as accessing the business. It involves the local citizens in evaluations that affect their way of life. It is responsive in an ethical way, producing respect among the hosts as well as tourists and assists in the building of guarantee as well as domestic fulfilment. Moreover, responsible tourism is considered to be that tourism that assists in maximizing the beneficial aspects to the local communities, minimizing the influences that are associated with the negative, social or environmental aspects, as well as assisting the local individuals with the conservation of delicate cultural aspects as well as habitats or species. (Buckley, 2011)

Costa Rica, which is a developing nation, is required to follow the attributes such as properly structured as well as better resort townships, friendly as well as welcoming citizens, natural attractiveness, as well as different kind of attractions in respect of responsible tourism. The most significant responsibilities of any nation’s sector for tourism are bringing excess profits as well as generation of income in respect of the nation. There is the requirement to have special focus on the areas that can assist in the actualisation of the goals for tourism. The areas for resort as well as hubs for travel are required to be sustained as well as developed in a planned method. There exist different destinations for tourism throughout the globe therefore there is the need to have proper positioning of the plans as well as policies which will assist in the enhancement of footfall of the tourists in Costa Rica. (Buckley, 2011) These arrangements as well as supports should be in such a way that the travellers will be choosing the particular destination in comparison to other similar location for tourists. There is the need to have the provision for security in respect of the local citizens and the tourists as well. There is the need to have security in respect of social, economical, architectural, environmental, cultural, and aesthetic aspects as a part of responsible tourism. In this respect, there is the requirement to receive collaboration from every associated party and also the tourists travelling to Costa Rica. Responsible tourism assists in the creation of more opportunities of job for the local people. (Buckley, 2011) They are offered jobs in their free time for increasing their additional income and for improving their life. Alongside, responsible travellers are required organizing donations or charities during their trips for supporting the poor individuals as well as the disabled individuals. Because of the responsible travellers, the local individuals in Costa Rica will be learning certain better things from the tourists like the ways by which the natural environment will get safeguarded, for managing their time as well as behaving in a collective way.

Conclusion

This case study is associated with the aspect of  travel and tourism  management where there is the scope for exhibiting understanding of UK as well as international destinations, their cultural aspects, social as well as physical attributes, their characteristics as well as factors that are impacting their popularity. The analyses of the statistics have been done for determining the trends associated with the tourism destination as well as predicting the future trends. Then the comparisons of the appeal of current leading tourist destinations with that of currently developing tourist destinations are done. Then, analyses of the issues are done that influence the popularity of the tourist destinations.

References

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