Unit 14 - contemporary Issues in Travel & Tourism Assignment sample

Program	Diploma in Travel and tourism
Unit Number and Title	Unit 14 Contemporary issues in travel & tourism
QFC Level	Level 5

Introduction

Travel and tourism organization is the biggest sector of uk that provides travel packages to the clients to visit the different locations. Thomas cook is the world’s well known organization that commenced business in 1841 and it is the first commercial venture that provides first trip for liverpool. In present era organization operates business in different parts of the world and commits the long term agreement with various multinational organizations for better services. This Contemporary issues in travel & tourism assignment identifies current issue that brings change in the travel and tourism sector and affects the business in positive and negative way. Organization has identified that political factors may increase the losses of the organization and lower down the profits in order to eradicate this factors business has design various strategies. The report has assessed the current market trends that help the organization to increase the revenue and also increase the current market share. The travel and tourism is the biggest sector of the organization that brings change in the country and gives positive response to the change in the market with various tools like swot, pestel analysis. It evaluates the impact of change in the travel and tourism sector and also identifies the factors that decrease the profit margin of the organization. 

                                       Figure 1 Thomas cook

Task 1

1.1 Current issues that bring change in the travel and tourism sector

Various issues affect the organization in positive and negative ways by which business may improve the market share and may lose the brand value. Thomas cook may assess the issues by doing the survey and various other programs to identify this kind of issues. Current market issues may help the organization to gain the customer satisfaction and also evaluate the current market position of the organization. The following are the points that are considered as the current issues that bring changes in travel and tourism sector:

• Advancements in technology: advancement in technology may help the organization to upgrade the services with new tools and techniques. It is the best way to compete in the current global market and create a bench mark of services for the clients. Organization can easily protect the global clients from any risk like terrorism and cyber crime activities etc. As a manager i have identified those current issues like advance technology organization may attract the new clients towards the organization and also provide desired services to the clients (aldebert.et.al.2011). Advancement in the technology may improve the brand image of the organization and empower the growth of the business in the global market.
• Emergence of new markets: in global markets organization has identified the new market in the different parts of the world. With the help of globalization thomas cook has identified the new opportunities in the global market with the help of globalization. New market is the biggest opportunity for the business and with the help of this factor management will receive the new clients in the organization. London is the emerging market of the travel and tourism organization and it attracts the new visitors to visit the historical places (moutinho, 2011). The change set the criteria of organization to focus on the particular destination and cover the market share.
• Increased environmental awareness: government of uk binds the organization to increase the environmental awareness thus management is not able to take decisions without the interference of government. The decision of thomas cook is affected with environmental policy of the organization (ashworth and page, 2011). Environmental changes may bind the organization to aware the clients about environment protection.

1.2 Analysis of the current issues for thomas cook    

organization has identified the current market issues that affect the organization internally and externally. Thomas cook has revealed the issues that affects the profit ratio of the organization and also affects the brand image of the organization. Thomas cook is the multinational organization that operates the business in different parts of the world and also identified the issues at different locations like weather changes in uk, terrorism attack, economy failure, currency fluctuations etc. Following are the issues that are analyzed by the manager for thomas cook:

• Weather changes: It is the biggest issue that affects the business environment of the organization in different parts of the world. Continuous changes in the weather may affects the tour packages of the organization and lower down the profits of thomas cook. It is an uncontrollable factor that affects the tour packages of the clients. For example due to heavy fog many airline organization may delay the flights and it may affects the travel and tourism organization. Thomas cook provides various packages to the clients under this various locations like hill areas, sea, beach etc (buckley, 2012). But due to lack of transportation facility management is not able to provide the facilities mention in the packages.
• Terrorism attack: Terrorism attack is the biggest hurdle in the journey of the organization and it affects the growth of business. Counter terrorism may create the mindset of the customers that business is not able to select that location in their packages. The terrorism attack is not in the control of the organization thus it may affect the business outside the boundaries of the country. Thomas cook dosing packages for all the location in the organization but due to terrorism attack business is not able to design the packages in some parts of the world.

                                                     Figure 2 current issues

Task 2

2.1 Evaluation of current trends that influence the change in travel and tourism sector

There are various trends that affect the travel and tourism sector and also influence the growth of this sector. Thomas cook has to identify the current trends in the market that help the business to bring the change in the market. Following are the innovative ideas the can be implemented by the organization:

• Adventure tourism: In the present era organization has identified that all the young clients are moving towards the adventure tourism and try some innovative way to spend the holidays. Adventure tourism contains river rafting, jungle safari, hilly areas etc. The adventure tourism means holidays are spends with the nature and that are planned by the thomas cook.
• Faith tourism: faith tourism contains the trip of the holy places under which clients will the holy places in the selected destinations. It is another current trend that helps the business to attract the new clients from the particular region.
• Dark tourism: This tourism is in the recent trends that have emerged in the current market. Under this trend clients are focused to explore the haunted and historical places (buhalis and darcy, 2011). The government of uk is spending the money to develop this kind of places and expand the business of travel and tourist organization.

                                    Figure 3 current trends in tourism sector

2.2 Analyze a current trend using appropriate techniques and resources

Current trends in the travel and tourism organizations

The survey assists the organization to identify the taste and preference of the clients in the organization and also identify the current market trends. The survey is done on the group of people and tries to generate their views on the services provided by the organization to the clients. Another method is government report under this government presents the details about the current market trends and explains the perception of the customers towards the sector

Client feedback is another method that assists the business to gain the information about the current market trends like adventure marketing, customer demand etc. Client’s feedback is the best to identify the current market position of thomas cook. Next method is industry analysis under this organization has identified the current trends are floating in the industry and try to implement them in the organization.

                                                                    

Task 3    

3.1 Analysis the answer given to the change by international airlines group

Change in the current market is the biggest for the plans and packages of the organization and it may affect the brand image of the organization. Thomas always design the policies as per the current market trends thus productivity of the organization may not be hampered. Airlines organization designs the schedule of the flights as per the environmental, social and legal factors thus it will not affects the brand image and market share of the organization. Business does the various survey and analysis in the organization like swot and pestel analysis to identify the current changes in the current market.

• Pestel Analysis-: Pestel analysis helps the organization to identify the political, economic, social, technological, economic and legal factors that help the business to evaluate the current market trends.
• Political factor: Political factors affect the organization from outside the boundaries and affect the growth of the business for better output. Political factors like terrorist attack, weather changes this all factors are uncontrollable and affect the customer base.
• Economic factors: This kind of factors affects the financial position of the organization and also decreases the market share of the organization (dickinson.et.al.2011). Airlines organization has to set the price in a way that does not create financial burden on the organization.
• Social factors: Social factors may affects the organization in various ways by this management is not able to sustain in the market. Organization should promote the cultural beliefs by promoting the packages of holy places like church, royal heritage etc.
• Technological factors: Technology is the best way to improve efficiency of the organization and try to connect with more new customers. Technology plays vital role in the growth of the organization it is the biggest factors that provide positive change in the organization (morrison, 2013). Air lines organization has identified various technological factors like social media sites, business web site etc.
• Environmental factors: Our government is focused to create the awareness among the people of uk and protect the environment from being polluted. Airlines organization has to do csr activities to protect the environment to being polluted like plantation of trees, maintain the garden nearby surroundings etc.
• Legal factors: Legal factors are like various acts that are designed by the government of uk to protect the rights of customers, employees etc.
• Swot analysis: Swot analysis facilitates the organization to identify the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of the organization. The analysis assists the business to gain the competitive advantages and gain the market share for the betterment of the business (evans.et.al.2011). Identifying the strengths management has to evaluate the inner competence of the organization like skilled labor, manager etc. Weaknesses are like lack of latest technology, unskilled labor etc. Swot analysis is totally based on the micro and macro factor analysis.

Table 1 Swot analysis

3.2 Strategies for british airways and lberia

Organization has identified various strategies in order to sustain in the market and to build the good brand image of the clients. Business is focused to evaluate the best strategy in order to increase the sale and implement the suitable plan for the development of employees. British airways and lberia are the most reliable organization that is first priority of every visitor in uk. The strategies are based on the mission and vision of the organization and while designing the strategy top management consider various factors like political, environmental, social, legal etc. Thus there is no chance of loss in the organization and also keep the employees and clients satisfied. In mission statement organization has clearly mention that customer satisfaction is the first priority of the organization and for their retention management adopt the customer feedback strategy (garín-muñoz and pérez-amaral, 2011). Under this strategy british airways and lberia collects the feedback of the employees and try to design the policy as per their comment in the feedback process.

The strategy set by the management as per the current trends in the market and it also attracts the new clients towards the organization. In the present era all the organizations are switching towards the technology up gradation thus management is planning to from that kind of strategy that cost less and return is high. British airways plan that kind of strategy that provides online ticketing to the clients and customers also check the status of their tickets online with the web site of organization. Both the organization is focused for the optimum utilization of the resources and tries to identify that kind of alternative which increases the profit ratio of the organization (ghimire, 2013). Another strategy is market expansion that can be achieved development of brand like additional benefits to the clients, premium services, low cost travel etc.

3.3 Justification of the strategies for british airways and lberia

Planning the strategy for the business is the core part for the organization and its positive impact may improve the profit margin of both the organization. British airways and lberia design the policy for the development of the employees in the organization and to sustain in the market for the longer period. Strategy for technology up gradation is the most effective aspect for the organization because in the present era all the organization are focusing on the technology up gradation and with the help of this factor business can easily connect with the new clients. Technology is the best way to promote the brands in the global and local market and also help the business to satisfy the needs. British airways and lberia have to identify the marketing strategy that help the business to promote the product in the market. Marketing strategy must include the full description of the product that helps the business to attract the clients towards the organization (gössling.et.al.2012). Marketing is the most important element for the organization that help the business to gain the competitive advantage maintain the position of the organization in the market.

Feedback collection policy aids the management to design the plan as per the need of clients in the organization. It is the duty of organization to set that kind of plan which helps the business to retain more customers towards the organization. Mission and vision help the business to achieve the management goals and also give suggestion to the organization to make the optimum utilization of the resources (hall, 2010). Different kind strategies help the organization to build the positive brand image of the organization in the market and expand the business in different parts of the world.

Task 4

4.1 Impacts of issues and trends that drive change in the travel and tourism sector with reference to myla travel, thomas cook and the travel network group

Current trends affect the organization in various ways that creates positive and negative impact both. The current issues raise the profit margin of the organization but sometimes due to low quality services shake the customer base of the organization. The merger and acquisition help the organization to serve quality services to client sit will be easy for the organization to provide desired services to the clients. Thomas cook does the merger of services with the airlines organization in order to serve quality services to the clients. The merger and acquisition aid the management to increase the sales of packages in the market. The positive impact of the current trends is the employment opportunity in the market will be increases and organizations will receive the string customer base. For example myla travel will from the consortia with different organizations than business get the strong base of services and able to provide the desired services to the customers (hares.et.al.2010). The products and services of the all the organizations will be improved and it may raise the level of employment in uk.

4.2 Consequences of businesses failing to respond market change with reference to myla travel, thomas cook and the travel network group

Various consequences affect the business in the organization and also affect the brand image of the organization. Different consequences are as follows:

• Loss in business: As per the given case, travel agency myla on the way of changing trade practices that bears the high losses. Management has to identify the various losses like clients feedback, customer dissatisfaction etc.
• Debts increment: Increase in debt may affect the operations of the business and it affects the financial capacity of the business (hjalager, 2010). In order to operate the business organization needs heavy investment and due to losses organization is not able to recover the invested capital and it may be failure of business.
• Reduction in sales: Due to reduction in sales organization is not able to get the proper profits from the market and it may be cause of business failure. It is the time when customer is not satisfied with the services of the organization and it may be the reason of business failure. Thomas cook and the travel network group have to analyze the change and implement it in the organization.
• Bad management decisions: The improper decisions may hamper the productivity of the organization and also affects the brand image of the organization (mason, 2015). The management decisions making may affects the sales of the organization and also affects the customer base of the organization.
• Job losses: One of the biggest factors that bring disaster in the organization is the job loss of the employees. The change may affect the bread and butter of the employees for example technology up gradation may affect the job unnecessary employees.

Figure 4  consequences of businesses failing

Conclusion

The current report identifies the recent trends in the travel and tourism organization and also evaluates their impacts on the organizations. The current issues affect the growth of the organization and hamper the image of thomas cook in the market. The positive impact of current trends in the market is increase in the employment opportunity, employee satisfaction, business expansion etc. The customers are moving towards the new trends like adventure tourism, dark tourism etc. The report explains the analysis under which organization has to identify the strength and weakness of the thomas cook. Merger and acquisition helps the organization to expand the business and create the positive image of the organization in the customer perception.

Referneces

Books and journals

Aldebert, b., dang, r.j. and longhi, c., 2011. Innovation in the tourism industry: the case of tourism@. Tourism management, 32(5), pp.1204-1213.
Ashworth, g. And page, s.j., 2011. Urban tourism research: recent progress and current paradoxes. Tourism management, 32(1), pp.1-15.
Buckley, r., 2012. Sustainable tourism: research and reality. Annals of tourism research, 39(2), pp.528-546.
Buhalis, d. And darcy, s. Eds., 2011. Accessible tourism: concepts and issues (vol. 45). Channel view publications.
Dickinson, j.e., lumsdon, l.m. and robbins, d., 2011. Slow travel: issues for tourism and climate change. Journal of sustainable tourism, 19(3), pp.281-300.
Evans, n., stonehouse, g. And campbell, d., 2012. Strategic management for travel and tourism. Taylor & francis.
Garín-muñoz, t. And pérez-amaral, t., 2011. Internet usage for travel and tourism: the case of spain. Tourism economics, 17(5), pp.1071-1085.
Ghimire, k.b., 2013. The native tourist: mass tourism within developing countries. Routledge.
Gössling, s., scott, d., hall, c.m., ceron, j.p. and dubois, g., 2012. Consumer behaviour and demand response of tourists to climate change.annals of tourism research, 39(1), pp.36-58.
Hall, c.m., 2010. Changing paradigms and global change: from sustainable to steady-state tourism. Tourism recreation research, 35(2), pp.131-143.
Hares, a., dickinson, j. And wilkes, k., 2010. Climate change and the air travel decisions of uk tourists. Journal of transport geography, 18(3), pp.466-473.
Hjalager, a.m., 2010. A review of innovation research in tourism. Tourism management, 31(1), pp.1-12.