Tourist Destinations Assignment Help

Task 1 Understand the scope of key UK and worldwide tourist destinations.

Introduction

In this task we will be looking into preparing an analysis on the scope which various tourist destinations over the world have. The objective of this is will be to produce a set of information which can help in taking informed decisions as well as planning for further improvement of the tour operators in the travel and tourism industry in view of the various challenges in the tourist destinations in UK and worldwide.  

P 1.1 Analyse the main tourist destinations for each country and research the main generators in the world in terms of visitor numbers and income generation

In 2013, there were 1.087 billion international tourist arrivals worldwide, with a growth of 5.0% as compared to 1.03 billion in 2012 (UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, 2013).  The top 10 international tourism destinations in 2013 were:

We will look into two tourist destinations each for top countries (France, United States and Spain) and the UK for the purpose of this research. We will start with the UK.

As far as UK is concerned, most of the tourists visit this place with their main attraction as England and specifically London. This city is full of cultural and historical attractions which have been successfully attract significant number of tourists from all over the world during last few decades. The 2 most famous attractions for the tourists of London and overall UK are the Big Ben and the Stonehenge. The former is a clock tower which is more than 150 years and has a 13 ton bell housed within the tower. It is named after Sir Benjamin Hall who had ordered the development of this. It is the 3th largest free-standing clock tower in the world. On the other hand the Stonehenge which is one of the most significant prehistoric locations in the world also is the top tourist attractions for England and the UK (Theobald, 2012). The generators for the tourism business for this destination are these attractions which are unique to the UK. Apart from this the aesthetic and historic attractions which are present for these destinations attract the travellers to this area as well as these specific attractions. These factors also lead to the customers opting for the hospitality sectors of these area which also generates the income for the tourism sector of the nation.

For France, the most important tourist locations are St Tropez and Eiffel Tower. St Tropez is a picturesque village located on the French Riviera. This attraction is famous for playing host to various global celebrities. Apart from it the Eiffel Tower situated in Paris is one of the topmost tourist attractions in the world which has experienced approximately 200,000,000 footfall till date. This has made it arguably the most visited paid tourist attractions in the world. The generator of tourism activity is the immense popularity of Eiffel Tower as one of the most recognizable structures in the world as well as a global cultural icon of France (Dwyer, 2012).

For the United States Manhattan and the Grand Canyon are two most visited tourist attractions. Amongst these Manhattan boasts of its skylines and sights including the Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, Broadway shows, Central Park etc. The Grand Canyon is one of the great tourist attractions in the United States and is located in Arizona. The vast size if it and the colourful as well as intricate landscapes offers spectacular vistas to the visitors (Dwyer, 2012).

P 1.2 In that pack analyse statistics to determine tourism destination trends and predict future trends

In this section we will be analysing some statistics for determining current as well as future trends for tourism with respect to a country of choice. In accordance to the previous section of this report, we will look into the statistics of the UK for identifying the trends as well as predicting future trends for tourism destination.

From this statistics it can be confirmed that the share of holidays in the total tourism has increased from the 42% to 46% and for the same reason the share of spends through holidays in the total spends for the tourism has increased from 52% to 58%. Looking at these trends it can be confirmed with reasonable confidence that the holidays are on the rise as a reason for travel and tourism and the companies and the government bodies working for this industry need to take this issue into consideration for the development of the policies of the industry (World Bank Data on Tourism, 2014).

Following is the year on year receipts from International tourism for the UK. This ratifies that shows that during last few years, apart from the years 2008 and 2009, which were badly hit by the global economic meltdown, the tourism has been increasing for the region.

Year	International tourism, receipts (current Mn. US$)	% Growth
1995	27,577
1996	29,181	6%
1997	30,483	4%
1998	31,658	4%
1999	30,807	-3%
2000	29,978	-3%
2001	26,137	-13%
2002	27,819	6%
2003	30,736	10%
2004	37,166	21%
2005	39,411	6%
2006	43,803	11%
2007	48,193	10%
2008	46,285	-4%
2009	38,564	-17%
2010	40,746	6%
2011	45,940	13%
2012	45,966	0%

On the basis of these various data as well as other indicators some of the future trends which can be predicated for the tourism industry for the UK are as following:

1. The count of jobs which are made by the industry of tourism in the UK will be increasing to 2.899 million as opposed to current 2.645 million by the year 2020 which is an increase of 250,000 in a span of 10 years. As per the current trends approximately 8% to 9% of the total jobs of the region is created by the tourism industry in a direct or an indirect way.
2. For the UK, tourism is 3^rd highest earner of export after financial services and chemicals. The tourists spend as much as 16 Billion GBP on a yearly basis and contributes over 3 Billion GBP to the Exchequer. This is expected to rise in the future years at a growth rate of 8 per cent to 10 per cent.
3. The country can expect most of the international visitors coming from countries including France, Germany and the USA. However although 33 per cent of the total tourists come from these nations, there is an increasing trend of visitors from various Asian countries coming to the UK for the purpose of tourism. This will be a significant trend for the future of the tourism of the UK as the policy makers for this industry need to take into account these visitors coming from Asian nations while deciding on the various service provisions for the industry (Theobald, 2012).
4. One of the most important attraction for the UK is the British Museum which welcomed as much as 6 million visitors during the year 2012. The tourism department of the region needs to ensure that these tourism attractions are maintained well to keep more number of tourists attracted to the region.
5. London is the most important pull for the foreign travellers. These travellers add to the overall spending in the industry by 8.6 billion GBP.
6. Apart from the destinations in London, the most popular tourist destination for the foreign visitors is Edinburgh Castle which attracts more than 1.2 million visitors per arum each.
7. Also it is necessary to ensure that more number of nations are connected through various flights with the UK in view of the fact that it has been identified that more than 70 per cent of inbound visitors reach the UK by air and this figure is expected to rise continually in the near future (Davenport, 2006).

Task 2 Understand the cultural, social and physical features of tourist destinations

Introduction

In this section of the report, we will be looking into various cultural, social as well as physical features of the tourist destinations and the way these can help in attracting the regular as well as prospective tourists for the locations. Amongst the various factors which add up for the creation of the cultural factors are the monuments, museums, religious locations, festivals, music, food, drink etc. For the social features the constituent factors are national, regional, religious factors. For the physical factors geology of mountains, lakes, beaches, coastline, flora and fauna, landscape etc. are the constituent factors.

P2.1 Analyse the cultural, social and physical features of the worldwide tourist destination selected by you explaining their appeal to tourists

For the UK the cultural factors depend heavily on the long history as well as pervasive culture of the region. Cultural tourism is one of the main generators of the business for the tourism of the UK. In terms of Heritage sites in various destinations, Britain is 4th ranked. Apart from this in terms of cultural sites it is 7th. In view of the fact that the region has large number of galleries, churches, museums, castles depicting the rich culture and history of UK and visiting museums is one of the most sought after activities in comparison to other tourist activities done by tourist, the heritage and culture of the UK is an important feature for attracting global tourists (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2007).

As far as the social features of the tourism industry are concerned for the UK, the most significant factor is that this industry has been able to generate jobs for as much as 2.72 million people. This roughly translates into almost 10 per cent of the total working population of the UK. In view of the fact that the industry has been able to provide the living for so many people and families of the nation, the social impact of this industry is immense which has made the industry the 3^rd employer of the UK. Apart from this the industry and the activity of it has also been able to herald various changes in the behaviour of the local culture as well as the local people in view of the fact that this industry helps in initiation of interaction with the international tourists and hence their way of life and behaviour. This leads to mixing of global culture in terms of food, language etc. However the main language of the UK which is English is considered to be the most global language in terms of its acceptability in various nations. Hence the overseas tourists feel secure as well as comfortable while visiting places and sites in UK (Davenport, 2006). 

With respect to the physical features of the tourism in the UK, the country and the country side is full of hills, rivers, lakes, etc. There are also various beaches in the UK apart from the Peak district national park, Lake District national park, New Forest Park, Jurassic etc.

P.2.2 Compare features of a tourist destination in a developing country and leading tourist Destinations.

We will compare the above mentioned features including cultural, social and physical features of the tourist destinations in a developing country and leading tourist destinations to understand the different which exists amongst these types of nations. We will carry out this comparison on the basis of two countries, UK and India. As far as the leading tourist destinations of the developed countries like the UK are concerned, those are well known for the culture as well as rich heritage of the nation. On the other hand for the developing nations like India, the cultural significance tends to be relatively lower in comparison to these developed nations. The level of ignorance of the local people on the topic of the rich culture of the nations is also a reason of challenge. Although the government of these nations needs to invest more resources for the creation of the awareness of the cultural heritage which these countries have, the lack of resources hinders the process for the same.

Similar challenges can be identified for social features as well. Tourism is considered as an important and separate industry by the leading global nations which lead to a lot of investment for the maintenance of the tourist sites. However tourist is considered to be an additional generator of revenue for the nation and thus this does not get enough focus from the government of the nation. As we have seen before as much as 3 million people of the UK work for this sector, which is in stark difference with the same sector of India where this sector is not considered as a safe career option. Also the people working in this sector for the developing nations are not compensated well which leads to dissatisfaction related to job and lesser level of services. The local language and the use of it is also a cause of problem for the tourists and thus the tourism sector in these nations. One more differentiating aspect is the infrastructural support provided by the government of these countries, which is excellent for the developed nations like the UK through superior infrastructure including world class airports and good road networks apart from various other transportation modes. But for the developing nations the poor infrastructure is a major drawback. Political stability or the lack of it also plays as a deterrent for the development of tourism in these nations.

Physical feature is one aspect which is not dependent on the level of the development of the country. However the maintenance of these sites is has significant dependence on the level of resources which the government of the country is ready to invest. This creates a lot of difference in the maintenance of the physical sites for different types of countries at various level of development (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2007). As can be identified, the location of cultural and historical value in the UK are much better maintained through the higher funds allocated for the same. However in  India the same are not maintained very well and hence there are various World Heritage sites including Taj Mahal etc. which are losing its appeal with passing time.

 Task 3 Understand how the characteristics of destinations affect their appeal to tourists

Introduction

There are various tourist destinations all over the world. However the appeal which these hold for the prospective tourists are not equal and for the same reason some of the tourism destinations are more popular when compared to the other destinations. In this section of this report we will be looking into creation of an understanding of the way the characteristics of destinations affect their appeal to the tourists.

P 3.1 Compare the appeal of current leading tourist destinations with that of currently developing tourist destinations

In this section we need to perform a comparison of the appeal of a current leading tourist destinations with that of currently developing tourist destinations. For this purpose the destinations which have been chosen is the UK and India respectively.

The satisfaction level of the tourists can be a very good indicator for the appeal of the destinations and hence we will first look into the satisfaction level of the tourists with respect to quality of service and management practices for the following attributes including immigration procedures, hotel front office, taxi operators, performance and behaviour of staffs of the hotel, tourist guides, tour operators, shopkeepers etc. Following is the table detailing the same:

 

Satisfaction level with Immigration	Immigration	Taxi Operator	Hotel Front Office	Hotel Staff	Tour Operators	Tourist Guides	Shop Keepers
Not Applicable	0.4%	0.4%	0.9%	1.1%	19.2%	15.2%	2.7%
Poor	1.1%	3.1%	1.8%	2.0%	1.3%	0.7%	6.9%
Below Average	3.3%	5.1%	30.8%	26.1%	8.3%	8.5%	18.1%
Average	40.6%	48.7%	42.2%	46.0%	38.8%	39.5%	35.3%
Satisfied	40.4%	35.9%	24.3%	24.8%	26.1%	29.9%	28.3%
Highly Satisfied	14.1%	6.7%	100.0%	100.0%	6.3%	6.3%	8.7%

Apart from this, the following table will give the overall satisfaction level of immigrants in India:

Overall satisfaction in India	Number of Immigrants	%
Not Applicable	3	0.40%
Excellent	134	19.20%
Good	325	46.40%
Satisfactory	219	31.30%
Poor	19	2.70%

The results have been taken from the survey done by the Government of India. It can be confirmed that more than 1/3rd of the total count of people interviewed have rated their level of satisfaction as just satisfactory or poor and this is a point of concern for the tourism sector of the nation (Indian Government, 2015). This is also in stark comparison to the travel and tourism industry of the developed countries like UK. For these nations as much 95 per cent of the travellers are usually very happy with the level of the service which they receive from the immigration procedures, hotel front office, taxi operators, performance and behaviour of staffs of the hotel, tourist guides, tour operators, shopkeepers etc. (Page, 2013).

Hence it can be safely concluded that with this level of service and satisfaction the appeal of a current leading tourist destinations is much greater than the appeal of a destination which is currently developing. However there are various means and methods through which the developing destination can minimize this gap in appeal. For which it is important for these nations to understand the way various characteristics of a tourist destination can affect its appeal. In the next section we will be looking into that particular point.

P 3.2 Evaluate how characteristics of a tourist destination affect its appeal

Some of the characteristics of a tourist destination can potentially affect the appeal of that destination for the prospective tourists include various features like social, economic, cultural, political etc.

We will first look into the social features where the dependency of the economy and the overall wellbeing on this industry determines the kind of importance this industry gets from the population of the country determines the way this characteristic is developed and put to use for the attraction of the tourist. For example in the UK a significant number of people earn their livelihood through working in this industry and hence it is of utmost importance for the government of this country to put an  effort to develop the industry continually to ensure the wellbeing of these people. In this type of destination the tourism is considered by the local government as not only just a source of additional income but also a full grown industry unlike the developing destinations. Hence the kind of investment which these destinations receive in terms of various resources is also much better in terms of quality and quantity. Hence these destinations are benefited in terms of economic as well as social factors.

With respect to the economic characteristics the globalization as well as industrialization of the destination influences the appeal of the destination in view of the fact that the number of business trips starts contributing to the tourism sector exceedingly.

The culture and lifestyle of the local people of the destination also adds to the attraction of the prospective travellers as the cultural tourism can be a very significant contributor to the overall travel and tourism industry (Yang, 2008). For example UK benefits a lot from the cultural tourism opted by the tourists from various other countries. The primary reason for this is the various museums and churches as well as historical destinations which the country has. Also there are various music festivals which take place in this country over the period of the year and a lot of tourism happens due to the same.

The political stability is also a significant factor for this appeal as a destination with political unrest can lose all of the attraction for the tourist. A very good example for this is Kashmir of India which although being very attractive for the tourists in terms of its physical attributes has lost the tourism due to sever political unrest there.

Task 4 Understand issues likely to affect the popularity of tourist destinations.

Introduction

There are various factors which affect the popularity of tourist destinations. We will be discussing these factors in this section of the report (Page, 2013).

P 4.1 Analyse issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations

Some of the issues which affect the popularity of tourist destinations are as following:

• Political instability: Political instability can be a significant factor which can diminish the popularity of tourist destinations since political unrest deters a lot of tourists from visiting the destination. A very good example for this is Kashmir of India which although being very attractive for the tourists in terms of its physical attributes has lost the tourism due to sever political unrest there. In case a region which has a lot of potential for tourism is going through a sustained phase of political instability, the stream of incoming tourists declines steadily and it becomes very difficult in future for the region to win back the image it used to have earlier for a tourist friendly destination.
• Terrorism: Chance of terrorist activities in the destinations also hinders the tourism significantly. One significant example for this is the attack on World Trade Centre which hampered the tourism activities in the USA for several years (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2007).
• Natural disaster: Natural disaster also acts as a deterrent for the tourism where occurring like floods and earthquakes can hamper tourism in the affected countries (Scott, 2005). Due to natural disasters the various infrastructure as well as the facilities of the region get damaged significantly which in turn reduces the likeliness of people travelling to these destinations.

P 4.2 Discuss the potential for responsible tourism to enhance the host community at worldwide tourist destinations

Responsible tourism is considered to be an effective way for enhancing the local people of the destinations in various global tourism destinations. Responsible tourism as a concept was started through a reflection on some of the possible problems which are generated through tourism including the impact it has on local population. These influences include the impact on local environment and culture (Goodwin, 2011). One of the leading tourism destinations which practice the responsible tourism is Bhutan.

The government of the nation is highly aware regarding the environmental impacts which the activities of tourism can have on unique and unspoiled landscape of the country as well as its culture. Hence the government of the nation, despite tourism being one of the major revenue earners of the nation, has restricted the level of tourist activity from the start, preferring higher quality tourism. In view of the fact that the concept of responsible tourism is linked to the idea of sustainable development the processes related to the tourism ensures that there is not any ill effect with respect to economic, environmental as well as social factors in the local community of the destination.

Some of the activities related to responsible tourism which are often experienced in Bhutan are as following:

• A tourism tax for the incoming tourists from other nations restricting the number of tourists and thus managing the resources of the country in a sustainable manner
• Strict laws against throwing garbage and plastic bottles of water. Restriction on use of plastic bags
• Use of biodegradable products for personal hygiene
• Use of rechargeable batteries for the electrical appliances,
• Respectful behaviour for the local people of the nation

Responsible tourism ensures that the receipt of the tourism benefits the local people in their educational or livelihood requirements. Hence it can be said that the responsible tourism can generate greater financial advantages for the locals in addition to enhancing the host communities’ wellbeing and improving their working conditions (Page, 2013).

References

Amelung, B., Nicholls, S., & Viner, D. 2007. Implications of global climate change for tourism flows and seasonality. Journal of Travel research, 45(3), 285-296.
Crouch, G. I., & Ritchie, J. R. 1999. Tourism, competitiveness, and societal prosperity. Journal of business research, 44(3), 137-152.
Davenport, J., & Davenport, J. L. 2006. The impact of tourism and personal leisure transport on coastal environments: a review. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 67(1), 280-292.
Dwyer, L. 2012. Trends underpinning global tourism in the coming decade. Global tourism, 3, 529-545.
Goodwin, F. L., Foley, J. P., Jacquemot, A. J., Munasinghe, M., & McNeely, J. 2012. The economics of global ecotourism. Protected area economics and policy: linking conservation and sustainable development. 235-252.