Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1381459/Royal-Wedding-2011-tourism-boost-London-visitors-spend-50m-Friday.html#ixzz1jo1znqtt
The Royal Wedding also benefited UK Tourism, because it announcement has sparked consumer interest, and Britain has become the latest romantic destination to visit.
Although Royal Wedding had massive impact on UK Tourism it’s only one of the events that had improved UK Tourism, the marketing campaign for Liverpool over the last few years in the build-up to the capital of culture has significantly increased tourist number both domestic and inbound.
Source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/29/royal-wedding-tourism-boost
The upcoming 2012 Games will, but also had already a positive impact on UK tourism, according to the published survey commissioned by Visit Britain. The survey covered people from 35 countries, of those who said they wanted to visit the UK; one in three cited the Games as their main reason for coming.
‘’ The Chinese and Russians were among those who were most likely to see the Games as a draw. Evidence shows that visitors who come for sporting events are likely to spend almost twice as long in a country as other tourists and are likely to be younger.’’
The 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics Games will provide the UK's tourism industry with its biggest opportunity in recent years. The UK government anticipates that the games will provide a huge boost to the UK tourism industry, which aims to generate over £2billion worth of revenue over the next decade.
ECONOMIC RECESSION
Economic recession is a period of economic decline; it means that there is a drop in the stock market, and an increase in unemployment but also a decline in the housing market. It also means that in Tourism, the residents of UK will have to will choose to holiday at home as the http://www.independent.co.uk infers ‘’ Grounded by the diminishing value of the pound and fears about the recession, record numbers of Britons will choose to holiday at home this summer. ‘’
Source - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/its-an-ill-wind-uk-tourism-finds-recession-is-so-bracing-1522542.html
Additionally, the research by Visit Britain, the tourism authority, has shown that 74 % of people are trying to reduce their holiday spending, and are spending more time planning their trips to maximize value, a cottage in Britain where you can just pack the car up and take all your own food suggests that you've got greater control.
However reducing the holiday spending is not the major problem, as there has been a big change in visits to Britain - official figures have revealed that the number of tourists who visited the UK from overseas in 2009 suffered a 7% decline on the previous year to 29.57 million. The data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also showed that the number of UK residents who made trips abroad fell 15% last year to 58.53 million. But visitors to the UK spent around £16.48 billion, or 1% more last year than they did in 2008, a contrast to UK residents' expenses while abroad, which amounted to £31.85 billion - a 14% fall on figures from 2008. The recession also had an impact on the number of trips UK residents took abroad last year. The figure fell 16% to 38.44 million, while business trips were down 22% and visits to friends and relatives (VFR) abroad fell 7%. By contrast, more foreigners visited the UK on holiday, with the numbers rising 3% last year, although the overall total suffered with business trips falling 20%.
The ONS also recorded a fall of 10% in the number of VFR trips to the UK last year. Records also reveal that UK residents took 21% fewer trips to North America last year and 15% fewer trips to Europe.
Source - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/index.html
Source - http://uk.reuters.com/article/2009/07/16/us-britain-travel-idUKTRE56F3FX20090716
QUALITY OF GOOD AND SERVICES
Most visitors that come to United Kingdom have clear expectations about what they must pay for, but most of all; they are hoping that the quality of what they pay for is worth their money. The concept of value for money is closely related to price but also involves other quality criteria.
The English Tourism Council’s has set up star rating that let the visitors to be informed before they book accommodation to recognise quality and to differentiate levels of facilities and services which as potential guests they can expect, so that it can help them to match their needs and ensure they are not disappointed.
The star rating gives an overall judgement of quality including comfort, space, facilities, and cleanliness, and can be used by both domestic and inbound tourits.
One star indicates that the place is acceptable overall of quality. There is also adequate provision of furniture, furnishings, and fittings. Hotels that have only one star are usually small, and privately owned. Dinner may not be offered.
Two star hotels are also usually small, and privately owned, including resort hotels, and commercial hotels. Accommodation offers a good degree of space and convenience. Furnishings may be simple but are well maintained in all the bedrooms. Breakfast is offered daily to residents and their guests. Dinner is available at least five nights per week.
Three star hotels indicates that it is a more formal style of hotel with a greater range of facilities and services such as colour television, telephones, radios, desk etc. There are also public areas including lounge seating, restaurants or bars. Dinner will be provided seven nights per week and light snack lunches are available in the bar or lounge, together with a wide range of drinks. Additionally, there’s also laundry service available.
Four star hotels infers that there is a luxury quality with services to match, for example, there is a selection of catering options all offering cuisine and service of the highest international quality. There is also highly trained, professional staff providing exceptional levels of anticipatory service.
Source - http://www.britainexpress.com/oxford-hotels/star-ratings.htm
EXCHANGE RATES
The value of one currency against another currency is known as the foreign exchange rate. Exchange rates are an important factor in determining patterns of holiday taking, as any rise in the value of the pound will encourage outbound tourism, particularly if it involves the leading destinations countries. The
value of the pound, or sterling, against another currency affects the cost of coming here for inbound tourists. It can affect negatively if it is more expensive to visit UK, but also can affect positively it is cheaper to visit UK. It is more likely that the appeal to tourist will increase when sterling is weak, as they will get more pounds for their money. Conversely, if sterling is strong, overseas visitors get less pounds in exchange for their money and are less likely to want to come here. In recent years sterling has been very strong against the dollar, or the dollar has been weak against sterling – which amounts to the same thing. This has meant that it has been relatively cheap for UK outbound tourists to visit the United States and more expensive for Americans to come to the UK. As VisitBritain.org have suggested that due to the dollar being weak against sterling, America perceived United Kingdom, as an expensive place to visit – the cost of accommodation, transport, and food has been highlighted by Americans as being really high priced.
If the pas is riding high against most other currencies, it allows the British to budget for their holidays abroad with unusual freedom of choice, because the UK holidaymakers get much more for their money. For example, the rate of exchange with the Spanish peseta, the French franc, and the US dollar influences over 60 % of the holidays taken abroad by the British. The exchange rates depend on the strength or the weakness of sterling but they are also affected by the internal strength of currencies in main destination countries like France or Spain.
At the moment the strenght of the pound sterling against other currencies looks as following
Source - http://fx-rate.net/
Inflation is also important in the holiday resorts, as this can influence rapidly locally than in the rest of the country. Additionally one of the many tourism development initiatives is to increase the level of foreign currency earnings by attracting foreign tourists to an area to spend money on local products and services.
WEATHER
Weather can one the key factors that have inmpact on tourist's decision whether to visit UK or not.
The overall climate in England is called temperate maritime, what means that it is mild with temperatures not much lower than 0ºC in winter and not higher than 32ºC in summer. Different parts of Britain have different types of weather. Variations in the weather can be significant even within a relatively short geographical distance. There may be snow in Wales, but seldom in Chester.
The attraction of many holiday resorts in UK is the prospect of guaranteed sunshine and heat. A generally warmer climate will benefit UK where summer weather conditions are at present highly variable. With warmer weather a higher proportion of UK residents may be encouraged to holiday at home, what can lead to an expansion in the domestic market, but an expansion in the inbound international market as the UK develops a more Mediterranean climate.
by
gruchawaski (student)
