As tourists are prepared to sit on longer flights and in some cases transfer flights, they are reaching out to different long haul destinations. Three key long haul destination holidays are:
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North America (USA and Canada)
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Australasia (Australia and New Zealand)
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Caribbean (Jamaica, St. Lucia and Barbados)
They all have proved to be very popular with the British tourists. Kenya is another leading destination that offers safaris, beach holidays or a combination of both to tourists.
Technological Innovations in the Travel and Tourism Industry:
In the travel and tourism industry between the 1950’s and today, there have been a number of technological developments. The two main areas involved are: transport technology and communication and information technology.
Through improvements, transport technology has revolutionised passenger travel. Today a large number of passengers are transported by aircrafts, ships and trains quickly, safely and cost effectively. Technological advances and aircraft design, after World
War II has seen air travel become a mass-market. The potential for air travel through the development of the jet engine meant that travel was fast, comfortable and affordable. It saw the joining of the tour operator and inclusive tour/package holiday become one e.g. Thomson Holidays Ltd offer combined transport accommodation, meals and resort services as one.
The Boeing 707 jet airline service was first introduced in 1958 and has seen many improvements up to now, which has resulted in improved transport and has opened the market to foreign holidays. The foreign market was opened as these planes/aircrafts could carry more passengers quickly and cost effectively over longer distances. Other transport technology includes rail and ferries e.g. Eurostar, P&O Ferries, Hover Speed and Brittany Ferries. They have all improved their services and lowered their prices. Smaller airline companies, such as; Ryan Air, Easy Jet and Go offer low price tickets in order to retain a market share.
Communications and information technology has allowed major airlines to use computers as soon as soon as they became commercially available in the 1960’s, to try and automate reservation operations. The British Overseas Airways Co-operation (BOAC) took the first step towards computerisation and they developed the Electronic Reservation System (ERS). IBM and Sperry Univac were working with emerging database software to try and improve on the Passenger Airline Reservation System- (PARS). Later, IBM developed the International Passenger Airlines Reservation System (IPARS) to accommodate the growth of international air travel. Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) and Global Distribution Systems (GDS) revolutionised airline tickets, package holidays, hotel accommodation and other travel and tourism products. GDS were developed from individual airline reservations, which have merged/amalgamated into four major global reservation systems; they are, Sabre, Galileo, Amadeus and World Span. This has allowed co-operations such as, Thomson Holidays Ltd to operate throughout the world and develop partnerships with agencies and tour operators. The CRS have given airlines an advantage as it allows travel agents to use reservation terminals to book seats, which means there is an increase in seat sales for the airlines and a reduction in the operating expenses. On the other hand, travel agents have a competitive advantage, as it is quicker and cheaper to make an airline reservation by a computer terminal than by telephone.
The development of the Internet and interactive digital television, has allowed consumers to make their own travel purchases, because of this many airlines, tour operators and travel agents now have on-line bookings.
Changes in Socio-Economic Circumstances:
Since World War II there have been many factors, which have contributed to the growth of the travel and tourism industry. They are:
An increase in the time available for travel activities- legislation dictates that employees are entitled to a paid holiday once a year. In 1951 sixty-six per cent of manual workers were allowed two weeks paid holiday leave, by 1970 fifty-two per cent of workers had three or more weeks paid holiday leave and by the 1990’s holiday entitlement had risen to four or five weeks per year. The entitlement of paid holiday leave has helped the UK travel and tourism industry to grow, as consumers now take short holiday breaks in addition to their main holiday. In the 1950’s the average working week was fifty hours but now typical hours range from thirty-seven to forty hours per week. This allows workers more flexibility in their jobs and working hours.
Increase in disposable income- disposable income is the money that the average person has left over once all the bills are paid. In the UK disposable income has risen, which has led to an increase in consumer spending on holidays and in the travel and tourism industry. The state of the economy affects the amount of disposable income that consumers have, in the 1980’s there was an economic boom in the UK, which led to a demand for overseas travel but the early 1990’s saw a recession in the UK, which led to a decrease in demand for tourism products. The column graph below shows the increase in disposable income in the UK:
Source: Social Trends 31
Improved transport systems and mobility- the UK has a wide and varied transport network, which means that most people have access to some form of transport. This transport network has made travel and tourism facilities more accessible. Car ownership is responsible for the increase in tourism as it is a means of transport for domestic holidays in the UK. The Channel Tunnel has led to an increase in car holidays abroad and the improvement in road networks has allowed access to countryside leisure activities. The column graph below shows the increase in car ownership per household in the UK:
Source: Social Trends 30
Changing Needs, Expectations and Fashions:
Overtime the travel and tourism industry has gone through many changes, these changes have been dictated by changing customer needs, expectations and the changing fashions.
Throughout the ages there has been an improvement in technology e.g. aircrafts have become faster and quicker, this has led to customers changing their holiday destinations from local places to exotic locations. In the 1960’s, UK residents tended to have short holiday breaks, mainly at the seaside and holiday centres at this stage were very popular as they catered for all tourists needs e.g. accommodation, catering and leisure activities.
As aircraft technology made air travel accessible and affordable for tourists, they started taking holiday breaks abroad and for longer periods of time. Tourists started expecting affordable holidays to destinations such as, Spain and Portugal, which led to the introduction of package holidays. As tourists travelled more often to short haul destinations, they started to develop a desire to explore further a field, which has led to increased long haul holidays. Tourists’ expectations of air travel and their desire to travel further in the quickest time has led to the improvements in aircrafts and the introduction of planes, such as the Concorde.
Once tourists have reached their chosen holiday destination, they expect all their needs to be fulfilled. Different needs by tourists has led to different holiday packages being introduced e.g. full board, half board, bed and breakfast, self-catering etc. Tourists expect the place they are staying at to provide adequate accommodation (price paid is in line with board offered), the food provided is what tourists would like to eat and the activities offered encourage leisure and recreation.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs best describes tourists’ expectations:
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Stage 1- “Physiological Needs” are fulfilled through food (catering), accommodation and drinks offered
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Stage 2- “Safety” is met through the holiday resort making tourists feel safe and secure in their surrounding
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Stage 3- “Social Needs” is encouraging tourists to mingle and form relationships with others
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Stage 4- “Esteem Needs” encourages staff to greet tourists and involve them in activities, thereby boosting their self-esteem
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Stage 5- “Self-Actualisation” is when tourists are completely happy and feel they have enjoyed a stress free holiday
Fashion has also dictated the changing industry. During the years, destinations have become fashionable whilst others are not e.g. during the 1990’s, destinations such as, Ibiza and Iona-Apia were fashionable locations to visit in the summer and in the winter, a snow resort such as, Andorra was popular for skiing and snowboarding. Fashionable locations are often made popular due to celebrities visiting them, thereby publishing the destinations and some destinations become fashionable through advertising and changes in peoples outlooks e.g. eco-tourism in South America.
Places as destinations will continue to be visited by different people but tourists needs, expectations and changing fashions will alter the number of people who visit these destinations.
The Future of the Travel and Tourism Industry:
As tourists become more aware of the world and the attractions around it, there is a desire to visit these places and see different cultures. Tourists are made more aware of the world through increased technology such as, the Internet, which exposes them to new ideas and places. Tourists are using this technology to plan, research and book holiday packages. Due to technology and the accessibility to different destinations, travel has become affordable and anyone with a job can now afford to go on holiday, whether it’d be for a short period or not. Tourism will continue to grow only if tour operators continue to specialise in different areas, if transportation continually gets faster and more convenient e.g. Eurostar and Bullet trains and if accommodation and catering facilities continue to grow as the number of tourists increase.
Awareness of different destinations and travel products has been enhanced through increased marketing and promotion of products using various media forms e.g. Internet, television, radio etc. Tourism products will continually develop as there is a need for them and tourists expect more from their holiday packages than before and they also insist on value for money from the service providers. Nowadays, people are better educated, which means they are open to new ideas and can be persuaded to experience new things. With education, people are able to get jobs, which shall improve their socio-economic situations and this means that the amount of disposable income increases, allowing people to take more holidays and these holidays are generally taken abroad.
Civil unrest will affect tourism to a certain degree e.g. Iraq but people will find other destinations to visit instead. Poorer countries are now charging a tourist tax for visiting their country, this money is ideally used to improve facilities and become better equipped to provide and clean up after tourists. Customers needs and expectations change overtime as they are exposed to more tourist experiences i.e. if a tourist enjoys travelling, he/she will want to continue travelling to other destinations. Improved technology that has aided faster transportation means that tourists will continue to expect quick and convenient transportation. Tourism in the future could include:
- Space travel as a long haul destination
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Faster travel from destination to destination e.g. from Australia to London could take five to six hours instead of twenty-two hours. Therefore Australia will become a short haul destination
The above two points are linked to research and development currently being done by the Boeing company, who are investigating planes so that they have a shuttle like action, thereby improving the speed of travel.
Space tourism is the holiday of the future through investigations, which have made it clear that setting up commercial space tourism services is a realistic target. The first steps would be to shorten sub-orbital flights, while orbiting hotel accommodation is readily available. The reasons for space travel by the general public are:
- People want to travel
- It is a realistic objective
- It is the quickest way to start using the limit list resources of space to solve earths problems
- Space activities would become profitable
- Living in space involves every business from construction to law
Phases of space tourism- once space tourism gets started, it will go through phases, such as:
Pioneering phase- there are only a few customers, as they pay high prices for the privilege of flying into space. Accommodation will be safe but Spartan and it will be an adventure travel more than a luxury holiday.
Recently Mark Shuttleworth, a South African multibillionaire paid Nassa a large sum of money to travel into space for ten days.
The mature phase- orbital accommodation has been improved, travel/flights will depart from different airports and there will be a growing demand from thousands of passengers each year.
The mass phase- ticket prices will fall to the equivalent of a few thousand dollars and customers will range from thousands to millions of passengers per year. Access to space resources will insure economic growth.