Today, people go online to book their holidays. It is a quick and easy way of searching for what you need, however it still has disadvantages which are, gaining less information and also there are a lot of websites out there which are fake, so you get conned. Due to Web-based searching retail travel agents are declining. Expedia is an example of web based operator, It mainly deals with outbound and inbound tourists.
Ancillary Services
These are the extras that the company provides you with. It is very important to the travel agent financially i.e. insurance provides a lot of profit. Every extra thing the employee sell they get commission for. Direct Line is an example of travel insurance company.
Tourism development and promotion.
Tourist Boards are Industries such as Visit Britain and Visit England.
Visit Britain works together with the Government, the industry and there strategic partners in London, England, Scotland and Wales to endorse Britain in 35 key overseas markets. Their network of international offices is supported by their London-based marketing, commercial, research and policy teams, who are backed up by experts in IT, financial management. .They also provide UK government with advice on tourism policy and show the importance tourism to the UK economy. They’re particularly working towards showcasing Britain and increasing the tourism benefits in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport supported Visit Britain by granting them approximately 32.6 million for 2010/11
Visit England
Enjoy England is the official tourist board for England and part of VisitBritain. Their mission is to increase the number of tourism throughout the English regions, throughout the year. They’re idea is to work towards enjoy England.
Trade associations and Regulatory Bodies
Every travel agent that has the ABTA logo is a good quality product. Most of the travel agent and tour operator pays money to be part of the club. What ABTA does is, if my travel agent/tour operator goes bust during my holiday ABTA will arrange your way back home. So basically it’s like insurance for the customers. Outbound tourists would be more interested in ABTA as they would be outside the country while they’re travel agent has gone bust
Accommodation
- Serviced: After booking their holiday, tourists would need to stay in an accommodation. The type of accommodation depends how much the customer is willing to spend and how long they want to stay. Hotels differ from small local ones e.g. Chiltern Hotel to large international hotel chain with many hotels around the world. Domestic tourists would usually accommodate Chiltern Hotel, whereas the inbound and outbound tourists would accommodate the Hilton Hotel. Hotels are called serviced as they provide high quality service for the customers e.g. room service, reception staff and restaurant facilities.
- Non-Serviced: Tourists can also accommodate in places such as apartments and cottages. These are suitable for tourists who choose to have an extended holiday and people who have a high budget. An example of this would be cottages4u. This mainly deals with outbound tourists.
Attractions
Attractions
When tourists visit different countries they like to visit the attractions that the country is famous for. For example Eiffel Tower in France, Windsor Castle in England and statue of liberty in America. There are four different types of attractions; natural, heritage, purpose built and Events.
Natural
A Natural attraction is something that is being created by nature. These attractions are most likely to attract people who enjoy nature or even science. It is less likely to attract people of younger ages. Schools, colleges and universities may visit these attractions in an educational aspect. All types of tourists go on a holiday for this type of attraction. He River Thames is an example of a natural attraction. Inbound and domestic tourists would be mainly interested.
Heritage
Heritage attractions are directed at the cultural heritage of the particular location, for example tourists may want to look at Windsor Castle or Natural History Museum to find out about English history. This type of attraction is usually popular for domestic tourists, who want a budgeted holiday in the UK. Domestic tourists normally visit these types of attractions as it is cheaper. Furthermore heritage attractions are more likely to have customers take a particular interest in cultural history or of older age. Domestic Tourists are more likely to be the ones who see these kinds of attractions, and they could book a holiday with the organization, Heritage Group Travel
Purpose Built
Purpose built attractions are places made in a country to attract more tourists. Building new attractions increases tourism location which therefore manipulates the customer to spend more and when they spend more, the countries economy will increase. These sorts of attractions are allowed by the government who has been advised by specialist in that field. Alton Towers is an example of purpose built attractions and mainly deals with domestic and inbound tourists.
Events
When a country holds events such as international events it increases the countries reputation because, holding that event makes the country known, basically that event advertises the country. Tourists then recognize the country from it and even book a holiday. For example, England will soon be hosting the VMA Awards in London. Most musical artists perform in the VMA therefore tourists will not only come to watch the VMA but start to book frequent holidays here. Events like this attracts inbound and domestic tourists
Transport Provision
If you decide to travel into a different country by car it would take loads of your time then going with a plane. Travelling with a car also is very risky as there are loads of careless drivers out there. Hertz is a company where you can hire cars, this type of transport is mainly used for Domestic travel.
There would be none of the traffic-jams of driving, nor is there any of the seasickness of travelling by boat. It is safe to travel in as people are scared to fly by plane a reason could be, being scared of heights. Again this type of transport could be very long when travelling long distance. You can travel with First Capital Connect and this type of transport is mainly used for domestic travel.
Examples of sea transportation are ferries, cruise ships, barges and yachts. This way of travelling is the cheapest method as it uses less amount of fuel. There would be no traffic in sea like car transport and during bad weather conditions it could be very dangerous. P&O provides sea transport and it mainly deals with outbound and inbound travel.
This is the most popular type of transport used by tourists in Britain. However, this way of travel causes a lot of congestion and air pollution. Travelling in air is the quickest way of travel therefore it saves you valuable time, tourists would want to spend couple of hours in travelling and the rest in entertainment. British airways is an example of Air transport and it mainly deals with outbound and inbound tourists.
Tour Operations
To describe the largest groups of consumer for a specified industry product they use the general business term ‘mass market’ e.g. Thomas Cook and Thomson. Thomson is one of UK’s largest and best tour operators. They offer a very big range of package holiday deals to many nice places. They’re mainly popular with their beach and cruise holidays.
Specialist tour operators make a holiday by including various things such as accommodation, air travel, activities and sometimes transfers. A specialist operator is more flexible for the customer to be able to do what they want to do, they specialise and provide the tourists interests e.g. old people, skiing holidays, gay couples, wedding organisers and etc. which is why it makes it different from mass market tour operators. Shorefield Holidays Lt is an example of a specialist tour operator and it mainly deals with outbound and inbound tourists.