Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Tourist Destinations TUI Group
QFC Level	Level 4

Introduction

Tourist destinations assignment TUI group report will highlight the opportunities associated with the tourist destinations. As a product development Manager at TUI group my report will give the glimpses of the distinguished features of the leading and developed tourist destinations. UK is one of the popular places in the world where around 37 million visitors used to come yearly and spend around 23 billion dollars. Mostly the Americans used to visit and spend around 2.1 billion. London is the heartthrob of UK where the London Eye, British Museum, Buckingham palace attracts several people across the world. If we consider the developing destination that is Brazil where Urbanisation is growing and more than 85% of the inhabitants are living in the urban areas. But one of the major issues in Brazil is the corruption level which is around 53 billion US dollars and that stands around 2.3% in the GDP of Brazil. The service sector is the key sector that is boosting the economy of the country and that stands around 70%.

Task 1

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

The top five tourist destination can be analysed if we go through the statistics of the visitors or the spending which influence the economy of the concerned country. The destinations are as follows:

• France: One of the world’s favourite destinations which attracts 83 million foreign tourists across the world. Based on the number of tourist, France is considered to be the global leader in the tourism sector. Market research is saying that the people from the Europe and Asia are the maximum proportion that accounts for the foreign visits in France. Among the Asians it is the Chinese people who are the maximum visitors that are around 1.5 million. Currently people from Brazil and Russia are coming to visit. The spending of the tourist has also increased that is around 35.8 billion Euro which consist of the night stay and commercial accommodation. Business tourism,  cultural tourism , Activity tourism are the key features in the tourism sector of France. (Hall, 2010).
• UK: UK is one of the popular places in the world where around 37 million visitors used to come yearly and spend around 23 billion dollars. Mostly the Americans used to visit and spend around 2.1 billion. London is the heartthrob of UK where the London Eye, British Museum, Buckingham palace attracts several people across the world. Domestic tourism is also significant in UK where the visitors used to spend 21, 881 million pound. The spots like the Blackpool, Lancashire and Wales are very much popular for the holiday camps. (Conrady and Buck, 2011).
• Spain: One of the most attracting destinations situated in Europe. Around 68 million visitors around the world are to come to visit the place Spain. Tourism is the key sector which contributes nearly about 11% of the GDP. The visitors are mainly come from the Europe itself like UK, Germany, France, Italy etc. Madrid is the capital city of Spain. Majorca, Tenerife, Ibiza, Malaga are the popular destinations in Spain. The cultural festival, beaches, heritage, music are the key features to attract the tourist across the world.
• United States: United States is one of the top destinations across the globe where the visitors nearly around 75 million has came in the previous year which makes them second in the world ranking after the France. Both the international tourist and domestic tourist used to accelerate the tourism industry significantly. The places like New York, Boston, San Francisco and Washington DC are the main cities in USA. Maximum of the visitors are from the Mexico, Canada and UK.
• China: Among the top five tourist destinations, China is also attracting the people across the countries. The visitors coming to China are nearly around 56 million and the foreign exchange stood at 45.8 billion dollars. The income from the visitors is around 777.1 billion Yuan that is a significant contribution in the economy of China. The market research by WTO claims that China will become the leader in the tourism sector by the year 2020. The department of Travel shows a significant income that is around 38% which is much high than US and UK. (Hannam & Knox, 2010).

Analyze statistics to determine tourism destination trends and predict future trends (1.2)

The trends based on the destinations can be analysed in the following way:

• France: France is the leading tourist destination in the world which we have observed from the total number of visitors that is around 83 million. It shows a 2% growth in the number of visitors and most significant part is the rise of the Asian visitors in France that is around 13%. By the current trend we can say that percentage of visitors will be double and reach to 100 million within the year 2030. The National Conference on Tourism that was held in Paris formulates their objective to make the number of visitors that is 100 million by developing the infrastructure and to integrate the travel and tourism industry for meeting the requirements of the visitors around the world. (Alegre and Garau, 2010).
• UK: In UK the visitors are coming mainly for the relaxation and sight scenes. The market research from the tourism alliance categorises the activities based on the trips mainly domestic.

              

From the trend it is clear that an increase of 3.5% in the GDP will be from the tourism sector. The place like Edinburgh has contributed nearly 6 billion pound in the tourism industry. The revenue generation from this sector is nearly around 1 trillion pound per year which will boost the employment opportunities for the country. The future trend for the inbound tourism will increase up to 6.5% and domestic tourism by 5.6% due to the increase in the house hold spending of the people. From the following image it is clear that the scope for the inbound tourism is much higher and it will grow around 7.8% within the year 2025. (Dodds and Graci, 2012). 

     

• Spain: The economic recession in Spain was affected the economy strongly but now they have improved their economic condition and has become one of the growing economies. The Spanish economy is highly influenced by the tourism industry. But very recently the market research is saying that the growth rate has decreased due to the uncertainty in the political area, external trade policies are not structured, labour market is the also not significant due to the low quality and skills gaps of the people. But the natural resources of Spain are the key attributes that can attract the tourist all over the world. The Government is focusing on the tourism industry which contributes in the foreign exchange of the country.
• United States: The Government’s initiative to uplift the tourism in US plays a major role to increase the visitor’s percentage in future that will contribute remarkably in the US economy. As per the market research US will increase their visitor’s percentage around 4%. The competitors will be the China and Brazil in near future for US in the tourism sector. The countries like the Canada, Mexico. Western Europe and Eastern Europe will contribute in the US travel and tourism sector due to the arrival of the visitors from these countries. (Andereck and Nyaupane, 2010).
• China: From the market research it is clear that China will beat US within the year 2020. The economic growth is also high in China which is currently 7.9% and that is high than that of US. If the trends continue then it is clear that China will be the strongest contenders in the travel and tourism. Shanghai is the popular city in China where majority of the Multi-national companies have opened their headquarters for expanding their business in China.

Task 2

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

UK is one of the attracting tourist destinations which have a potential to attract the tourist all over the world and the increasing number of the tourists that is around 36 million in the year and that is the proof for that. As an Assistant Product development manager at TUI, I would like to focus on the cultural, social and the physical features which can attract large number of tourist across the world. For a comparison I will like to focus on the country which is emerging that is Brazil

• Social features: Traditionally the British society was influenced by the occupation, status and the political power. But after the industrialisation, the factors like education influence the social structure of the British society. But still there are the controversies where House of Lords signifies the upper class and House of Commons are for everyone.Social features for Brazil can be analysed if we look after the Gini coefficient index. The rich people at Brazil are accounted for 10% and they used to receive nearly about 43% of the income and the poorest used to receive 34%. But the main issue that is the poverty which is quite significant in Brazil but consequently it is improving. Marketing research is saying that the indicators for the social values will be improved like the developed countries by the end of the year 2016. (Ghimire, 2013). 
• Cultural Features: At UK, cultural factors are one of the most appealing features which attract people all over the world. Delicacy and the  organisation behaviour  is the key variable that distinguished the British people with other. Christians are the dominant in UK which distinguished the people of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The literature, art, theatre education are the main indicators of the culture at UK. The city Cambridge speaks the truth of it. Other than that sports are also the important part of the culture where the events like Football, cricket are very much popular. The culture of Brazil which mainly shows the Western ingredients is for the colonisation by the Portuguese. Thus it shows the mixture of European as well as American culture. Brazilian carnival, Bumba Meu is the well known festivals in Brazil. For this festival, 1 million people used to visit at Brazil per year. The language that the Brazilian used to speak is Portuguese and that is account for 99%. The Roman Catholics are the majority in Brazil that is around two third. 
• Physical Features: UK is the destination that is popular for the physical elements with wide varieties of sceneries, heritage spots, leisure activities, night life, adventures etc. Places like Edinburgh, London and Wales are famous for the Black Mountains, Thames River, British Museum, New castle etc. Rio de Janerio is one of the attracting places in Brazil which attracts several foreign tourists around the world. Around 5.18 million visitors used to come in Brazil. Eco tourism is popular at Brazil adding to that cultural as well as historical values are popular in Brazil. Rainforests, dunes, beaches are the attracting physical features in Brazil. (Wallace and Pierce, 2011).

Task 3

Compare the appeal of current leading tourist with that of currently developing tourist destinations to be presented to marketing department to assist them in marketing activity (AC3.1)

Developing and developed tourism can be compared if we analyse the number of visitors coming to the concerned destination. Apart from the number of visitors if we consider the money that the visitors are spending in the destinations it will also help us to understand the reason they are spending. Observing the reason and implementing the reasons in the marketing activities can help the organisation to achieve the desired target. From the perspective of UK, around 35 to 36 million visitors from the world used to come for exploring and the spending stands around 17.2 billion dollars. It has been observed that the visitors from United States and other European countries used to come in maximum. The spending of the visitors from US, France, Germany and Australia is the highest in UK which boost the economy of the country UK. The night spent are increasing around 7.8% which is the positive trend for the hospitality industry. The visits from North America have increased around 3.3% and the visitors from the Europe have also increased nearly 6.6%. The reason behind the visit in UK is mainly for the holiday spending, that is around 13.6 million. Overseas residents accounted for 17.4 million and it shows an increase around 3.5%. (Hjalager, 2010).

   

From the discussion as stated that the maximum visitors are coming to UK to spend their holidays that can be clear from the below picture:

In UK the cultural aspects like the education, historic value, sports, entertainment plays a major role. For instance, 7.4 bn pounds per year is coming from the heritage tourism. The behaviour, manners, politeness are the key features for the people of UK. VISA services are also simplified by the UK Government (Andereck and Nyaupane, 2010). The transport system is also developed due to the privatisation like Virgin. The local bodies, Government sponsored organisations are working jointly in UK to attract the tourist all over the world.

Tourism is growing in Brazil and nearly 7500 kilometres consist of the coastline. Sao Paulo is one of the famous and biggest cities in Brazil. Urbanisation is growing in Brazil and more than 85% of the inhabitants are living in the urban areas. But one of the major issues in Brazil is the corruption level which is around 53 billion US dollars and that stands around 2.3% in the GDP of Brazil. The service sector is the key sector that is boosting the economy of the country and that stands around 70%. Around 63% of the people are employed. Coffee is the major export area for Brazil along with sugarcane as well as soya beans (Rogerson and Rogerson, 2011). Visas for Brazil are mainly taken care by the Brazilian Consultants. The temperature is around 28 degree Celsius in average. Brazil has organised Olympic Games 2016 and the tourist from Australia, US, Japan, will come in more numbers and for that exemptions has been given within a period of 90 days. Around 5.18 million visitors used to come in Brazil. Eco tourism is popular at Brazil adding to that cultural as well as historical values are popular in Brazil. Rainforests, dunes, beaches are the attracting features in Brazil.

From the comparison it is clear that Brazil is trying to uplift their tourism sector in the world in order to boost their national income. The Olympic Game 2016 will attract different visitors across the world which will give an added advantage to Brazil as developing tourist destinations.

Provide management report where you evaluate how characteristics of a tourist destination affect its appeal with reference to either Cuba, North Korea or Burma (AC3.2)

Tourism of a nation is based on the features which create an interest among the visitors that attracts the people all over the world. The potentials are needed to be analysed to attract more tourist across the world. 1 million foreign tourists have come to Myanmar (Burma) which creates an opportunity for the nation. It has not been late for the Government to understand the future opportunities at Burma and thus they form a Tourism Master plan that aims to target 7.5 million visitors within the year 2020 (Taw, 2013). The revenue from the international tourist has also increased in Burma from 315 million dollars to 534 million that strengthen the economic conditions of Burma. The initiatives of the Asian Development Bank, Norway Government are also observed when they assured to give support for developing the infrastructure of Burma. Along with the tourist attractions, driving the employment is also the aim of the Government. The master plan includes the beautification activities of the Nagapali beach, Inle Lake etc. Simplification to the licensing to the hotels, restaurants, tourist organisations is also focused in the plan for  decision making  establishing an easy process. Visitors from China, Japan are majority in Burma but also have the tourist from the France, UK and Germany that is around 5%. If we consider the negative aspects then we can observe the environmental damage in Bagan, Inle etc. Local livelihoods are affecting from the development activities for tourism.  The social movements can be observed from the report by Danish Institute where the breaching of the Human rights is done in order to uplift the tourism. Local inhabitants are complaining about the unethical relocation for the development activities that is the negative side of the tourism in Burma. (Philip and Mercer, 2010)

After observing both the positive and the negative side of the tourism opportunities, situations at Burma we need to consider the sustainable areas that can help Burma to grow their tourism sector. In UK we have observed the stringent laws, regulations, policies by the companies are made accordingly to the sustainability. Same thing has to be followed at Burma where the master plan should consider the environmental part which will develop the tourism and also safeguard the environment. By following the sustainability, the inhabitants will also be satisfied by the approach and in turn they will support the Government. Apart from the development activities the Government has to consider the integrated approach just like UK which will help the Government to attract more tourists.

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Task 4

4.1 Your line manager has asked you to write a management report summary to be presented to a senior sustainability executive analysing issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations

The popularity of the tourist destinations is depend on the features, factors and the environment of the concerned place. The visitors who plan the trip are conscious about the experiences they are gaining. These experiences will create differences in the visitor’s number. The motives behind visitors are needed to be analysed which will help the management to address the factors for attraction in a particular place. For example in UK the following picture will revealed the popular activities which are the reasons for the visitors to come.

  

So from the chart it has been clear that relaxation is the only motive that the people all over the world to come at UK. Apart from that the developed transport, integrated approach of the Government drives the tourism in UK. But again if we look after the issues like terrorism, threats, political unrest which affect the tourism to a greater extent. The terrorist activities of the ISIS have taken several innocent lives in Belgium, France and Bangladesh very recently which threatens the economy. The visitors will be afraid to plan their visit due to the political unrest at Egypt which decreased the visit around 80%. The groups like Ansar Bayt, Ajnad Misr are creating the violent activities by attacking the Government of Egypt which influences the popularity of the tourism activities (Chen and Chen, 2010).  For example if we observe the recent terrorist activities at Bangladesh that kills foreign visitors will create a negative impact on the tourism. The negative experiences will influence the visitors to set their visit plans in the country where the political unrest and terrorist activities are significant. Political tension is one the reason that declined the visitors heavily around 36.2 million. Terrorist attacks are also the reason for this drop which we have observed very recently. Cost is another factor that decreases the popularity of the tourist destinations. The market research is saying that in Sri Lanka the cost for the accommodation is very much high than the value they are providing in the name of the 5 star. The tourist will consider the cost while planning their trips and if they are unsatisfied with the experience they have gathered it will surely damage the goodwill of the place. The same tourist will share negative experiences in the social media which will create an impact on other visitors who are planning for the trips (Fawcett, 2013).  The management of the Government sometimes failed due to the negative coordination between the associations and agencies. Thus an integrated approach is needed to be established like in UK where all the levels like the national, international, domestic are united to give their best services to the visitors. The simplified process of the Government can also attract the tourist across the world. For example Government of UK has taken an initiative to make the process simple with the visitors coming from China which will attract more people in future. The security of a country is also the criteria that the visitors will consider while planning their trips. If the security is inadequate and high risk is there then it will positively influence the decision making process of the visitors.

4.2 Produce a draft magazine article that could be published in Travel and Tourism Gazette

Travel and tourism sector is one of the attracting areas that are accounted for the foreign exchange. The direct contribution is around 7.6 trillion dollars and that includes the accommodation, transportation, entertainment etc. The direct contribution increases the employment opportunities in the country and also boosts the economy by increasing the contribution of the foreign exchange. Travel and tourism is expected to generate 9.4% of the GDP and 10% of the employment will also generate s per the market research. People like to spend their free time or take their time to explore which is only possible from the travel and tourism which is directly influencing this sector.

• Europe: is the leader in the tourism sector and has a huge potential to attract the visitors all over the world. The combined platform European Nation is being formed which involve 27 members and very recently UK got separated. Trips around 1.2 billion are recorded for the inbound tourism sector. Major attractions are the France, Spain, UK, Belgium etc. 52% of the share of the tourist is for Europe as per the market research which boost the sector in Europe. (London travel Guide, 2016).
• Egypt: is the place that represents the tourism with their special attracting features. 12% of the people in Egypt are associated with tourism. The visitors from all over the world come to explore the beauty of Egypt that is around 15 billion. 11% of the GDP is from the tourism sector and the Government fetched around 12.5 billion dollars. The major attractions are the Great Sphinx in Giza, pyramids, Karnak temple, Cairo Museum, etc. but the political unrest is affecting the tourism to a great extent and drop the visit around 80%. (Dey and Sarma, 2010). Historic ambience and seaside resorts are the key features of Turkey for attracting the tourism all over the world. 42 million visitors used to come at Turkey. Culture, health care also influences the visitors to plan their trips at Turkey. Political tension is one the reason that declined the visitors heavily around 36.2 million. Terrorist attacks are also the reason for this drop which we have observed very recently. Instabul is one of the attracting spot in Turkey which attracts the visitors to address the sceneries and also for the business purposes. Tourism is one of the major industries at Thailand which contributes around 16% of the GDP which has increased from 12%. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) plays a major role to promote the tourism of Thailand around the world. The hotel and the retail sector have grown tremendously at Thailand due to the development of the tourism. Around 30 million tourist visitors used to come at Thailand and for that the revenue has increased around 547 billion baht. The visitors from China are the main contributors of the tourism sector at Thailand. Domestic tourism has grown in Thailand due to the integrated approaches of the Government and the agencies. The non Governmental Organizations are also playing a major role to save the elephants of Thailand which represents the culture of Thailand.  (Dodds and Graci, 2012). 
• Mexico: is the country where the tourism is the largest sector for the economic contribution. The tourism season of Mexico is between the December to January and in the summer season. The tourist from the Canada and United States are the majority visitors in Mexico. Meso-American ruins, resorts at the beach are the popular places including Guadalajara, Jalisco, Morelia, Nuevo Leon etc.
• Cuba: is the developing tourist destination which shows the culture of African, European and American. Wide variety in the physical features can be observed in Cuba that includes Sierra Del Rosario, Sierra Maestro, Zapata Swamp etc. Around 3 million people all over the globe used to come yearly to explore the country Cuba. 7 UNESCO recognized spots, 257 national monuments and many protected areas. There was a negative relation between the US and Cuba which hampers the trade relation.
• Dominican Republic: is the country which attracts 5 million visitors from the world. In the Caribbean region it is the most popular place which is famous for the tropical climate, diverse mountains, colonial historic values, sea beaches etc. Pico Duarte is the famous lake in Dominican Republic. UNESCO also recognized some historic sites which give added advantage to the Dominican Republic.
• Costa Rica: attracts nearly 3 million tourists across the world which is surrounded by the Caribbean sea. Eco tourism is the major sector in the travel and tourism. Accommodation and transportation is developed to attract more tourists across the world. Sight scenes are the major activity which has been preferred by most of the tourist coming to explore Costa Rica. (Evans and Campbell, 2013).

Conclusion

In this report we have found the tourism opportunities based on the developed and the developing destinations. Travel and tourism sector is one of the attracting areas that are accounted for the foreign exchange. The direct contribution is around 7.6 trillion dollars and that includes the accommodation, transportation, entertainment etc. The direct contribution increases the employment opportunities in the country and also boosts the economy by increasing the contribution of the foreign exchange. Travel and tourism is expected to generate 9.4% of the GDP and 10% of the employment will also generate s per the market research.

References

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