Antigua is mainly a leisure holiday destination, this is because its war all year round and offers a wide range of leisure activities. It is also used for medical reasons due to the fact that St Johns has some of the leading medical facilities of the world. It is also a popular wedding destination and people from all round the world fly in to get married. Antigua is also used as business retreats; large companies often use some of the hotel resorts as corporate holidays. Over the years it has become more frequent for people to fly to Antigua to visit Friends and Relatives due to the fact that more people are immigrating to the Caribbean.
Sustainable tourism is a travel company trying to make a low impact on the natural environment and local culture, while helping to generate income and employment for locals. What this means is that when we visit LEDC’s and less developed nations that we should try local foods and cultures, this way we are supporting the local community rather than funding all ready successful businesses. Tourism that is economically, socio-culturally and environmentally sustainable. This means that it can be “re-grown” and can be reused once the tourists have left. With sustainable tourism, socio-cultural and environmental impacts are neither permanent nor irreversible.
This also links to Responsible tourism. This is a type of tourism used by tourists who make responsible choices when choosing their holidays. They try to limit the extent of the sociological and environmental impacts their holiday may cause i.e. polluting the area by over using taxis and using public transport instead.
A travel reps job is to look after holiday-makers at their holiday destination. A holiday rep in Antigua would have to know the island very well and would probably have to know several European Languages.
They would have to meet groups of holiday-makers when they arrive at the airport and accompany them by coach to their accommodation. They would then have to hold a welcome meeting to give information about resort facilities and local attractions.
Internal pressures of a country are factors that can be controlled. The Internal pressures of Antigua would be the government control over airport tax, conflicts between locals and tourists and things like approval of planning permission for new hotels. External Pressures of a country are factors that can not be controlled or predicted. The external pressures of Antigua would be the hurricanes that hit the island or a global economical meltdown.
The Caribbean was undiscovered as a tourist destination until the start of the 19th century. It was currently being used at the time as naval bases for countries, slave colonies or resource collection points of the Caribbean ocean. Tourists first started coming to the area with the development of the steam ship. The first official hotel to open in the Caribbean was the Bath Hotel, on the island of Nevis. It was used as a health spa and a luxury retreat.
Early tourists to the Caribbean depended on their nationality when deciding which islands they would go to. The English went to Nevis, Barbados and Jamaica. The French went to Martinique, and the Dutch went to Curacao. The tourists were wealthy people who had plenty of time to travel, because the cost and length of the sea travel meant that only the well-off could travel.
As the area continued to grow and become more popular the languages started to spread and it wasn’t before long a person didn’t have to worry about language.
This led to the development of the jet aircraft. It started with people getting flights from all around the world into America and then getting flights down to the Caribbean. As the islands got more popular they started building their own airports. After the introduction of the international airplane services, multinational organizations such as hotel chains and tour operators began to show serious interest in the region.
Due to the increase in tourism in the area, companies like Thomas Cook created package holidays. A package holiday is a mass produced holiday that included the transport, accommodation and transfers. This led to the Caribbean becoming a mass tourism area. This is when a huge amount of tourist travel to the same area for a holiday. This has continued to grow over the years with the development of the internet and online booking. This allows people to compare hundreds of offers quickly and helps them find the perfect holiday.
There is now the option of a self package holiday. This is when the person is allowed to create their own package holiday. They are given the choice of several flights, accommodation and transfer options. Lots of tour operators now offer a multitude of packages, deals and holidays to Antigua. Travel operators like first choice and Thomas cook create thousands of the same holidays to Antigua. They then use the services of travel agents to sell on the holidays to the consumers. As well as selling on the package holidays they sell ancillary services, these are extras to a holiday like car hire, rail cards or hotel tours.
I believe Antigua is a great holiday location because it has grown and adapted over the years. It in now a mass tourist destination but still feels secluded and unique to the traveler.