Unit 9 Tourist Destination Assignment Solution

Programme	EDEXCEL Travel and Tourism Management
Unit Number and Title	Unit 9 Tourist Destinations
QFC Level	Level 4
Credit value	15 credits
Unit Code	K/601/1748

Introduction

The report has been prepared to gain understanding of UK and worldwide destinations, their cultural, social and physical features, their characteristics and issues affecting their popularity. The various aspects that have been studied in this report are

• Understand the scope of key UK and worldwide tourist destinations
• Understand the cultural, social and physical features of tourist destinations
• Understand how the characteristics of destinations affect their appeal to tourists
• Understand issues likely to affect the popularity of tourist destinations

Based on these aspects the complete understanding has been developed and thus helps in

• Identification and applying the strategies to find appropriate solutions
• Selection and development of design and techniques for improving the tourism

Thus the study highlights key aspects associated with the tourism industry and assists in developing understanding of the key concepts that can be utilised in the development of tourist destination.

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

This section of the report analyses main tourist destinations and generators of the world in terms of visitor numbers and income generation. Further tourism destination trends is determined and future trends in predicted

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

The analysis of the main tourist destinations and generators UK and Australia has been conducted. The study conducted for UK highlights that it is the eighth largest tourist destination of the world.London, Manchester, Cambridge, Glasgow, Birmingham etc. are the major tourist destinations in UK. The top tourist attractions of UK in around these places include Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Birmingham Palace and the Royal Academy of Arts. Most of the cities that have been discussed above are associated with business and trade hubs or the education centres.However the other aspects that have contributed to the generation of tourism and spending are
Visitors visiting friends and relatives and
For the purpose of holiday
In case of Australia, the tourism is one of the core sectors that has major contribution in the GDP of the country. The Australian tourism industry did suffered a bit because of the financial crisis but in the year 2010-11, although the industry was impacted by the economic challenges and natural disasters, the tourist number increased as this growth was supported by increased consumption. The major tourist destinations for Australia include the coastal cities of Sydney and Melbourne. The other tourist destinations are Queensland, Goldcoast etc. The analysis shows that there isn’t much difference between the tourism that has been generated in both the regions although the location of both the destinations is quite far away. Also it is important to note that the economy of both the countries is quite similar although the core sectors may be different. Lastly the cultural aspects are quite similar as Australia has been developed after it was acquired by British as one of its colonies.

Analyse statistics to determine tourism destination trends and predict future trends

The above section highlights the main tourist destinations of UK. Based on the above aspects it can be said that the major reasons for tourist visits that have been identified are business, holiday, study or transit. With respect to UK the transit has a small share in the tourism. The spending and the number of visits under different categories from 2005 to 2010 has been shown below.

Data	purpose	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Visits (000)	Business	8,168	9,019	8,845	8,124	6,579	6,793
	Holiday	9,713	10,566	10,758	10,923	11,424	11,668
	Study	605	698	652	559	503	505
	VFR	8,687	9,406	9,720	9,727	8,783	8,408
Spend (£m)	Business	4,055	4,753	4,546	4,575	3,686	4,037
	Holiday	4,516	4,968	5,348	5,480	6,376	6,638
	Study	1,111	1,216	1,135	1,200	1,370	1,417
	VFR	3,218	3,562	3,590	3,816	3,781	3,554

The above trend shows that there has not been significant growth in all these aspects. Further the contribution of study has reduced. The further study is conducted with respect to the inbound tourists and international tourists. The spending by inbound tourism has been shown below.

As shown above the inbound spending has increased from 2006 to 2010 although there was fall in the number of visitors from 2008 to 2010. Thus it can be said that the inbound tourists have major share in the tourism market.

The statistics for Sydney as tourist destination has been shown below

The above data clearly highlights that the importance of Sydney as a tourist destination has increased as there has been increase in the spending in Sydney by the tourists. Further the numbers of visitors visiting the city have been shown below.

The above data shows that there isn’t much difference in the number of visitors visiting under the different category. However the figure has dropped marginally for leisure and holiday trip after 2008. This is because of financial crisis that occurred. However due to relaxing of the immigration and visa policies of the country the number of tourists under the category of visiting friends and relatives have increased. Lastly it is important to note that the Australian education industry isn’t quite popular as that of UK and thus the contribution of education isn’t significant in comparison to UK.
From the above it can be said that Australia has huge scope as holiday contributes majorly to the travel and tourism industry and thus there is huge scope in other categories. It is also important to consider that although Australia is one of the developed economies, it has abundant resources and thus will attract more investors and thus increasing the tourist under the business category. Overall the scope of tourism in Australia had been good and will continue to have better scope in comparison to UK as it is turning into a saturated destination in comparison to Australia

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

This section of the report analyses the cultural, social and physical features of Sydney and thus highlights why it appeals to tourists. Further the comparison of Sydney as a tourist destination is conducted with respect to tourist destination in Nepal.

Analyse the cultural, social and physical features of the worldwide tourist Destination selected by you explaining their appeal to tourists

This section of the report provides an analysis of the cultural, social and physical features of the Sydney.The cultural features of Sydney are attributed to the British Empire as it was the first site of British colony in Australia in 1788. Thus it is one of the oldest cities of the world and has witnessed huge changes since then. As a dynamic culture the city has many museums, galleries and art spaces. The city is also home to many festivals including the Sydney festival, Film Festival and the Sydney Royal Easter show. 
The social life of the city is driven by the sports events and the importance of the city with respect to business hub of the country. Thus in both ways the importance of the city has increased over the last decade. It is the home to the largest economic sectors such as mining, real estate, health and social community services etc.
The physical features that appeal the tourists include infrastructure, transport network and Safety & security. In terms of infrastructure there are several hotels of varying ratings in the city to cater the needs of the travellers. Further the transport facility, both intra city and inter-city, is quite good.  The city also has airport with International Access. Lastly in terms of safety and security, several considerations have been given to encourage tourists to visit the city. Although the location is quite important and does provide strategic advantage, this aspect is impacted by the demography as it is on the east-most coast of Australia. However this has little impact on the popularity of the city as it is well developed and well connected with International cities.
Thus from all the aspects the city has been developed as one of the major cities of the country and thus has generated huge number of tourists. There were around 10.5 million international and domestic tourists in city in 2012. It resulted in the injection of $11.7 billion into the economy of the city. Thus considering this it can be said that city has evolved over the period of time and is currently having a large number of tourists and is one of the most important tourist destinations of the country.

Compare features of a tourist destination in a developing country and leading tourist destinations

The city Pokhara of Nepal is the neighbouring city of capital of Nepal. It is the third largest city of Nepal and is also the gateway to the foot of Himalayas. The city is famous for its natural and scenic beauty of Phewa Lake, with views of the snowy mountains of the Himalayas.
The city of Pokhara is the home to hard core trekkers as it offers trekking tour which generally takes several of travel. The city has experienced rapid urbanization since the last decade and thus is developed as one of the most important tourist destinations of Nepal. Although the infrastructures like airports and shopping malls have been developed to attract foreign tourists and also improve the facilities available to local public, there is lack of cohesion as these are far away from each other and thus while lead to discomfort for the tourists. The city is also famous for its many temples and religious places associated with Hinduism and Buddhism.
Thus the city has a very good mix of modern infrastructure as well as traditional and heritage places. Also the connectivity of the city isn’t an issue considering its closeness to the capital city. Lastly it provides opportunity for the adventure lovers and the mountaineers to have wonderful time.
The above discussion clearly shows that the culture of Pokhara is completely different from that of Sydney. The natural setting of the two cities is also quite different. Thus it can be said that both the cities have features that can attract tourists however based on other factors i.e. social and physical factors the city of Pokhara is lacking. This is to say that the infrastructure isn’t well established in Pokhara and thus in case of Sydney more tourists are attracted. Although the cost of living is high in Sydney buy considering the attractiveness the physical features are not well established. Further considering the social factors, the city has not been developed as a business hub or any other attraction is there such as sporting event or education centre. Thus Pokhara lacks facilities that need to be developed in order to increase the attractiveness of the tourist destination.

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

The appeal of tourist destination is important aspect in understanding the development of the tourist destination. This section of the report provides the comparison between the appeals that current leading tourist destination and the currently developing tourist destination. Based on this the various characteristics that affect the appeal have been discussed. For the purpose of this study the tourist destination of Liverpool in UK and Pokhara inNepal. These two destinations have a lot of similarities but the appeal that these destination have impacts the growth of tourism in these destinations.

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

Liverpool had been quite important cities and has contributed to history of UK as well as has been very important from the perspective of geographical presence. Liverpool is one of the metropolitan cities of UK. The city is known for its rich architectural heritage with several areas of the city being granted the World heritage Site status. The ethnicity of Liverpool is mix of White British, Asians and also Black British.  The city is of huge importance to UK as it is house for two core economies
Further the city has been the home to many sporting activities. Also the transport facilities in the region are very efficient and have very good connectivity with other important cities within UK and also a few international countries. Lastly based on its location and the assets available various entertainment events and sites have been developed.
This is not only because of the heritage of the city but also the international importance of the city as well as the development of transport, infrastructure and the tourist sites. The city has been the manufacturing base and is the headquarters of many shipping lines of the world. The transport facility of the city connects it to major cities across UK and thus isn’t a huge bottleneck for the tourist. Apart from this the local transport is also quite well developed. Overall the Liverpool has mix of every aspect that can generate tourism for the city
The city Pokhara of Nepal is the neighbouring city of capital of Nepal. It is the third largest city of Nepal and is also the gateway to the foot of Himalayas. The city is famous for its natural and scenic beauty of Phewa Lake, with views of the snowy mountains of the Himalayas. The city of Pokhara is the home to hard core trekkers as it offers trekking tour which generally takes up to 25 days of travel. The city has experienced rapid urbanization since the last decade and thus is developed as one of the most important tourist destinations of Nepal. Although the infrastructures like airports and shopping malls have been developed to attract foreign tourists and also improve the facilities available to local public, there is lack of cohesion as these are far away from each other and thus while lead to discomfort for the tourists. The city is also famous for its many temples and religious places associated with Hinduism and Buddhism. Thus the city has a very good mix of modern infrastructure as well as traditional and heritage places. Also the connectivity of the city isn’t an issue considering its closeness to the capital city. Lastly it provides opportunity for the adventure lovers and the mountaineers to have wonderful time.

Evaluate how characteristics of a tourist destination affect its appeal

The different characteristics of a tourist destination affect its appeal it has with the tourists. The characteristics can be as follows
Destination as Choice: This means the interest of tourists and the level of satisfaction of the interest of the tourists. The various choices of the tourists can be with respect to the choice of urban or rural place, region, type of natural setting such as coastal, mountain, historical or modern etc. Thus the tourist destination may be impacted by the number of tourists being attracted based on the choice they have. Both Liverpool and Pokhara have diverse aspects and thus have all the different attributes that can attract tourists. In this respect both the destinations provide many choices to the tourists and thus have huge potential.
Access to Destination: This is one of the most important aspects that affect its appeal. A tourist destination that is accessible has higher appeal. This is known as proximity to tourism generating regions. The accessibility is governed by the transport connectivity of the destination. Liverpool is more accessible to the tourists than Pokhara. Both the cities are close to the capital cities but Liverpool is well connected by road and airways and thus attracts more tourists both domestic and international. On the other hand the connectivity isn’t good enough for Pokhara as the road transport isn’t well developed and also the air transport isn’t having enough tourists that can afford it.
Cultural Appeal: The cultural aspects include traditions, religion and festivals. The other factors that are considered in cultural appeal are the lifestyle and cuisine. The cultural appeal for Liverpool is based on the Church that are there in the city and also the traditional aspects of the city. The city of Pokhara has the similar aspects but are quite different from that of Liverpool
Features and Attraction: The other features such as security and the attractions such as events and other reasons for travel like education sector also contribute to the appeal. From the viewpoint of security Liverpool has higher appeal than Pokhara. Further the health facilities are better in Liverpool and thus have higher appeal for tourists. Lastly apart from the business hub and the natural attractiveness the various events that are organized attracts the tourists that have interest in such events. Pokhara lacks this characteristic considerably in comparison to Liverpool and thus has lower appeal than Liverpool.
The different aspects of that affect the appeal, which have been discussed above, highlight why Liverpool appeals more than Pokhara in Nepal and what consideration should be there for Pokhara to be developed into major tourist destination and thus improve the facilities and increases the opportunities it can generate. The above discussion gives a broad view of the various characteristics that can be categorized as economic, physical, social and the destination selection.

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

Tourism is the largest industry of Nepal. This is also the largest source of foreign exchange earnings and revenue for the country. Every year the tourists are attracted towards the country because of its natural beauty and the opportunities to explore for mountaineers, rock climbers and the adventure seekers. However there are various challenges that are being faced in the development and promotion of tourism in the country. This section of the report highlights the issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations and also the potential for responsible tourism in enhancing the tourism in Nepal.

Analyse issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations

Nepal is a small country in the foothills of Himalayan range. The tourism in the country is driven by the heritage of Nepal,natural beauty and the opportunities to explore for mountaineers, rock climbers and the adventure seekers. Although in the year 2011 there was 21.4% growth in number of tourists visiting the country there is much more potential for tourism in the country. Issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations of Nepal have been discussed below
Lack of Transport and Communication: This is one of the major factors that affect the tourism in the country. Across the world there is huge number of tourists visiting the adventure sites but the lack of communication and the transport facility disconnects Nepal from the rest of the world. The technological advancements are not there that impact the transport and communication in the country and thus affect the tourism. Further the tourists visiting the country face problems in visiting other regions of the country as transportation and communication impacts the movement of tourists within the country.Improving these facilities would certainly put Nepal on the map of the world as one of the tourist destinations that provide opportunities for mountaineers, rock climbers and the adventure seekers.
Lack of Manpower: The tourism industry is boosted by the availability of trained manpower. Due to low level of literacy the skilled manpower isnot available. The only concentration is in the region of Mount Everest. However this is also very limited and thus impacts the services that are available to the tourists.
Lack of quality hotels and infrastructure: There were around only hundred hotels in the country. These hotels were not managed well and were unhygienic. This impacts the attractiveness of the country for the tourists. Further the lack of infrastructure such as roads and the maintenance of destinations lead to disinterest of the tourists.
Lack of services and facilities: The lack of services and facilities impact all other factors that have been discussed in this section. The lack of services impacts the availability of manpower, development of infrastructure and also the employment of advance technology in improving the services and facilities and thus increasing the satisfaction of the tourists.
Lack of resources: Nepal is a very small country and thus has limited resources that are available. Thus the asset of the country i.e. the natural resources are being depleted or being exploited by the locals. Thus the country is unable to conserve the natural resources and the places of heritage. This is also related to the lack of policy making and the involvement of the government.
All the factors that have been discussed have above shows that there is lack of investment in the tourism sector which is the backbone of the economy. Thus the involvement of the government in the sector is lacking either in the development of infrastructure, manpower development, conservation of the tourist destinations and the availability of services and facilities. With the increase in investment in the sector these aspects would improve and thus will result in reducing the impact of these challenges.

Discuss the potential for responsible tourism to enhance the host community at the worldwide tourist destination selected by you

Responsible tourism represents an approach to the involvement and engagement of the tourists and includes tourists, business, local and other stakeholders such as government. Responsible tourism emphasizes on the involvement of all the stakeholders in the development of tourism. The tourism planning and development based on responsible tourism can be promoted in the developing nations as it would provide an opportunity to such countries for transition of the economy.
The tourism planning and development has three different impacts. These include economic, environmental and social impact. The ad hoc response to the increase in tourism can benefit the economy on short term but the long term negative environmental and social impact is also important and thus responsible tourism is important in developing short term as well as long term sustainability and growth.
Responsible tourism involves responsibility towards society, commitment towards environmental aspects and the integration of the local people in the activities for tourist development (Butowski, 2012). Thus it can be said that responsible tourist development meets the need of the tourists as well as the host region and at the same time protecting and enhancing the opportunities in future. It leads to efficient management of the all the resources so as to fulfil the needs of the tourist in all respects and maintaining the cultural integrity, biological diversity and environmental balance.
Overall the responsible tourism will benefit Nepal by

• Minimizing the negative economic, social and environment impact
• Generating economic benefit for the local people and also enhance the services and facilities being offered to the tourists
• Increased satisfaction of tourists
• Make contribution towards the conservation of tourist destinations and the places of heritage and thus developing long term sustainability.

The above advantages and the requirements of responsible tourism shows that it will require huge investments and the development of plans for responsible tourism. Thus the role of government would be for the implementation of these plans and thus provide support to the tourism industry by positively impacting the aspects and thus developing the tourism industry in the country.

Conclusion

The report has been prepared to gain understanding of UK and worldwide destinations, their cultural, social and physical features, their characteristics and issues affecting their popularity. The various aspects that have been studied in this report are understand the scope of key UK and worldwide tourist destinations, understand the cultural, social and physical features of tourist destinations, understand how the characteristics of destinations affect their appeal to tourists and understand issues likely to affect the popularity of tourist destinations.
Based on the discussion that has been done in the various sections of the report it can be said that it is very important that the cultural, social and physical features of tourist destinations need to be studied and thus the facilities, services and the infrastructure needs to be developed harnessing the important characteristics of the tourist destination.
The three different cities have been discussed in the report i.e. Liverpool, Sydney and Pokhara. All the discussion that has been conducted highlight that the three cities have strong cultural background however in case of Liverpool and Sydney the aspects of responsible tourism can be seen which are absent in Pokhara. Thus the role of government would be for the development of plans and implementation of these plans and thus provide support to the tourism industry by positively impacting the aspects and enhancing the appeal of the tourist destination by utilizing and maintaining the physical, social and cultural characteristics of the tourist destination.

References

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