Unit 1 The Travel and Tourism Sector Assignment

Programme	Diploma in Travel
Unit Number and Title	Unit 1 The Travel and Tourism Sector
QFC Level	Level 4
Credit value	15 credits
Unit Code	A/601/1740

Assignment 1

Section 1 Introduction

1.1 Define the term “Tourism”

Tourism means to travel and visit different geographical locations, from one place to another over a time period. Tourism has its own purposes such as people travel and visit places for leisure, recreations, to spend vacations, to enjoy, for business meetings and other such tasks. Depending on the level of geography of the tourism, it can be national or international. If the person is travelling within the country from one place to another then it’s domestic and if he goes abroad in a place separate from his country, then its international tourism. Tourism is known as one of the rapidly growing business sector at present time mostly in United Kingdom. Generally speaking, tourism is to go to a place out of the usual atmosphere, visiting different places, moving to newer locations in a year.

1.2 Background Information of your chosen destination e.g. location, population, languages but excluding tourism product/services information.

I select London to be my first option as a tourist place for the discussion here. It’s the national capital of England and is one of the most popular cities. There are around 103 million people and is a metropolitan city of the country. The city has rich culture, history, education, fashion, arts, healthcare, entertainment, media, R&D, tourism, profession and services etc. London is considered to be a financially stable city and has strong financial resources. Moreover, it is also referred as the cultural capital of the world. As per a survey of 2014, it has been shown that the city is considered to be one of the best tourists’ destinations in the whole world. With immense beautify, London has several tourist destination spots which attract thousands of tourists every year from all over the globe.  There are several mesmerizing locations, buildings, monuments, art galleries, locations, parks, museums etc. The city observed a total of 15.3 million of tourists from all over the world, who visited the city. There was almost of £9.4 billion investment at year on tourism (Hall, 2012). London Eye is one of the best tourist destinations. There are several other places known as best to visit such as Madame Tussauds, Tower of London, ZSL London Zoo, Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral, London Dungeon, Tower Bridge Experience etc. Some other places famous for their beauty are Science Museum, British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum etc.

Section 2 Historical Development of the tourism industry

2.1 Identify one of the key factors that have contributed to the growth of the tourism industry.

The growth of travel and tourism sector is highly contributed by is the technological improvements and advancements as the people are technically becoming savvy now. This factor has highly important for the development of this industry. Before this, the tourism industry has to invest a lot of resources in marketing, promotion and selling, but at present, the technology has made it very easy. People use internet and social media and now the tourist industry is not required to put so many efforts. Earlier, the tourisms companies had print the hardcopy of brochures, thanks to the technology, now everything is online. The ad packages are very cheaper and create mass attention using online marketing and TV.

2.2 Describe the key factor

The work of tourist operators has been highly supported and made easy by the internet use. The use of internet has highly contributed towards the growth and development of tourism industry in recent years and due to this reason, the industry is growing at a fast rate. Several options are available for the tourism industry to promote and advertise their services in the home country using online videos, ads on TV, social media ads and others (Gossling, 2006). With help of internet access on computers or smartphones, people usually access the details of tourists destinations and can compare the packages of different service providers and thus they make their plan as per their comfortableness. At present time, the tour operators are also offering tour packages including all the services and facilities which the tourists may need during the whole journey.

2.3 Explain the changes that have come about in the industry (from Pre – War to current data) as a result of this key factor.

The tourism industry has experienced lots of significant modifications till date from the time of pre – war. Earlier, people didn’t find traveling safer that much and were always doubtful about relocating due to safety concerns as pre – war period had no democracy so much. People didn’t trust the tourist operators and the tourists’ operators also lacked proper information regarding the services and facilities of the tourist places and even after the service providers who would provide the all services to the people at the place. But at present, all the details can be taken in a moment. People are advanced and tech experts and easily retrieve and compare all the information of different destinations and service providers and can easily decide which place and which service provider they have to select. The technology such as internet, smartphones etc have made this work easier and cheaper and less time consuming. As all the tourist operators are available online, people can book their tickets and make payment, sitting at home without relocating themselves. So technology has made all the process, cost efficient and less time consuming as compared to the past where people would contact the service providers physically and they didn’t have much options to select.

2.4 Explain how the key factor will affect the industry in future.

Tourism industry will definitely be impacted by this key factor in the near future. With technological advancements, the processes are getting cheaper and easier for the tourism industry. People use technology to compare the tourism packages easily and service providers use online videos, e – brochures. With the help of internet, it has become more helpful and trustworthy for the people to make planning for their vacations where they would go to visit. Technology and internet has made things easier and cheaper for the people to plan and schedule their visit to some other place confidently and easily.  This will make their travel experience more comfortable, enjoyable and they will get proper satisfaction. We are living in the age of smartphones and mobile applications. Travel companies have their mobile applications and users use them for all the process. In coming time, all the work will be done using mobile applications only and everything will be on the screen of mobile apps (Leiper, 1979). This is a major factor which will contribute to the growth and development of the travel and tourism industry.

Section 3 The Structure of the Travel & Tourism Industry.

3.1 Describe the structures of the tourism industry in your chosen destination.

London attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world. As the city is a national and commercial capital of the country, there is a huge in flush of people. This resulted in the governmental concerns and suitable steps are required to maintain the city’ physical aspects. The structure of travel and tourism is framed on the basis of 6 basic components. These are:

• Tourist attraction
• Transport facilities
• Tour operators
• Travel agents
• Accommodation
• Tourism and development

 Now let’s know about each component one by one. 
The very first component is the tourist attraction. London has several attractive places which we have already discussed in the above sections. It has some of the best transport facilities. The railway network of London is highly active and it has connected the whole city in a line. They city’s air transport is also very strong and is functional all the time (Kozak, 1999). Millions of people travel to London via air and via trains. Moreover, thousands of tour operators are there in the world who provide all the information regarding the London tourism. The industry has experienced a huge growth of tour operators exponentially in recent years due to the rise and growth of this industry. London has unmatched services of accommodation and travel agents which has contributed to the growth and development of London tourism on global scale. Several hotels and high quality restaurants are there in the city which have provide high quality services to the visitors as per their requirements. The travel agents too assist the tourists for the services which they require around their journey to the places.

3.2 Explain how the following organizations get their product to the tourist.

Hotels: The customers make reservations as per their need in the hotels. The hotels reach to them via advertisements. Hotels advertise a lot with help of online marketing, social media, transport websites, travel websites, video marketing, e – newsletters, brochures and others methods. These hotels also have their tie – ups and partnerships with railways and airlines so that they may provide services with the complete travel package. The hotels approach the tour operators to promote their services and tour operators provide all the information of the services to the customers provided by the hotels.
Theme Parks: Tourists come to know about theme parks through online advertisements. The theme parks advertise with the help of several companies who conduct online surveys providing high quality customer reviews about the parks so that they can attract more and more customers. They use online videos, pamphlets, print media, social media advertising so that they can get in touch with the customers easily (Beddoe, 2004).
Transportation: The airlines and the travel companies approach the customers using social media and online marketing. They provide attractive discounts to the customers and for the same purpose they use social media like Facebook, YouTube to advertise about them. Also they use print media for advertisements such as travel and tourism magazines, news  papers etc.

3.3 Select one of the following components of tourism structure and explain how it relates to the other components of the industry.

I will opt the tourist attract as the component to discuss. No doubt, all the other components are connected with this component. Tourism attraction is one of the basic and most prior things can impact the others tourism industry sectors. If the destination is attractive enough to bring the visitors, it will boot up the other tourism industry sectors like Air transports, accommodations, tour operators, hotels, travel agency. If the people like the place and want to visit, then it will automatically increase the demand of other services, and in case if all the other services are of high quality and the attractiveness is less as compared, so it will affect the other sectors of the tourism industry and will also influence the demand of all the other components (Botterill, 2002).

Assignment 2

Section 1 Social – cultural, environmental and economic impacts of tourism

1.1 Tourism impacts on society and culture

a) Discuss two negative and two positive impacts that tourism could have on the society and culture of your chosen destination as a result of an influx of tourists.

A destination of tourism is considered to be a boon to the tourists as they are visiting the place; also it is for those people who are residing around those destinations. It is also for the entire country and economy of the country which is gained by the tourism as well as for the people who are staying in those locations. A tourist spot not only just add value and beauty to the place to the tourist destination, there are lots of other aspects which contribute a lot to the country. The tourism is connected with many aspects such as cultural, social, physical and economical. A culture of any place is directly reflected upon by the tourism. For e.g., the enormous among of tourists coming from different countries, they contribute some 50% and in many cases, they even can be more as they bring their own culture and sentiments to that place. This is very important as it leads to the cultural development of that place and its society (Seddighi, 2002). People who are living in that particular place are exposed to diversified cultural backgrounds, which they might have only seen on TV or read only in books. But, there is a flip side as well, it may be that kind of culture which the people have preserved it since centuries and which has not be modified so far. London has been known for its famous tourist destinations and attractions have always attracted tourists from all over the globe. During the early 18^th century, the culture of the city was very much in common with the people who loved music, art and theatre. But today, as London has come up as a most sought after tourist destination because of its amazing and beautiful tourist attractions. The city is known as a leading centre of cultural attractions. The people interest has shifted from art and theatre to media, fashion, trend and entertainment. Hence, the positive influence was the cultural introduction to the tourism and thus makes this city a highly rich city in terms of culture. Changes due to tourism are always considered good for society. When people visit to the place, they bring their own culture and leave prints of it on the local culture. This is how the local people are exposed to the cultural variations and helps them to know about other cultures of the world. Tourism has played a key role in the growth of city’s economy. Due to high number of visits by foreign tourists, London has flourished a lot and developed as a society. This also contributed to the national economy (Moutinho, 2000). London is now known as country’s strongest economy and one of the best societies in the country. Though tourism has not entirely impacted the economy but it has certainly played a key role in its development. Sometimes, this impacts the local culture negatively as the introduction of a foreign culture dilutes the local culture and changes the social parameters. There is one more demerit of this introduction of culture is that the tourist destination host may not like the new place and culture. This sometimes leads to chaotic society.

b) Suggest how these negative impacts could be minimized.

We can reduce these negative impacts by ensuring that the host culture and the society should come in contact with the positive aspect of the culture and social factors of the tourists and should be getting in touch with the bad influences of the society. Different cultures should be welcomed by the host country but it should also ensure that the uniqueness of their culture and society should not get in too much with the external society enduing up being diluted. 

1.2 Tourism impacts on the environment

a) Discuss two positive and two negative tourism impacts on the environment

Environment is affected adversely by the tourism activities and also the local communities. These are many times connected with the progress and growth which is not easy to monitor and check. There have been several cases where a huge amount of income which is coming from tourism doesn’t remain at the destination and get channelized to the investors from other countries. This is considered as a serious threat to the domestic economy as it needs a great emphasis on the development from the responsible tourism prospective. There is another problem which includes rise in the cost of standards of living and in the crime levels in the domestic communities. All of such activities can be checked up to certain extent if the tourism sector is more careful and responsible for a sustainable tourism. The tourist industry should be responsible to make sure they are making less harm to the environment (Rao, 2008). The tourist industry has to ensure if they are playing an important role in reducing the pollution to the environment of that place. The tourism industry should be responsible for the maintenance and strengthening the beauty of the nature of that place. They should be responsible for protecting the cultural beauty and enrich the atmosphere of that community as it has diversely unique. There can be one positive aspect, the tourist would carry fortune and the tourism companies would contribute to the development and protection of the local atmosphere.

b) Outline the measures that the local authorities could take to maximize the positive impacts.

The domestic authorities should make measurements on regular basis to ensure if they can maximize the positive impacts of the tourism on the environment. They should ensure that several rules and laws should be employed to ensure that the tourism companies are not harming the environment and should enforce them for the protection for the local environment of the community. They should further ensure if the native people are getting work for the tourism companies so that it can help in the employment of the native people. One more thing can be done, they should invest in service development so that the visitors spend huge on the services and stay for longer times, this way they can host to grow and more and more tourists would come every year to the tourist destinations from all over the world.

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References

Beddoe, C. 2004. Labour standards, social responsibility and tourism. Tourism Concern, UK.
Botterill, D. 2002. Tourism studies and research quality assessment in UK universities. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 1(2), 72-75.
Gössling, S., & Hall, C. M. 2006. Uncertainties in predicting tourist flows under scenarios of climate change. Climatic Change, 79(3-4), 163-173.
Hall, C. M., Timothy, D. J., & Duval, D. T. 2012. Safety and security in tourism: relationships, management, and marketing. Routledge.
Kozak, M., & Rimmington, M. 1999. Measuring tourist destination competitiveness: conceptual considerations and empirical findings. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 18(3), 273-283.
Leiper, N. 1979. The framework of tourism: Towards a definition of tourism, tourist, and the tourist industry. Annals of tourism research, 6(4), 390-407.