Entrepreneurs in the Travel and Tourism Industry
* Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook (Thos Cook and son) after the war benefited from the post war holiday boom then which saw one million Britons travel abroad in 1950. In 1965 the company exceeded 1 million but then decreased and fall behind younger rivals. In the 1980’s Thomas Cook started to concentrate on long haul holidays then short and leaving short haul in 1982. Then he returned back into short haul in 1996. Today Thomas Cook is a leading travel company and most widely recognised and this started 160 years ago.
* Billy Butlin (Butlins)
Billy first started in Skegness and a total of nine were eventually built and can be divided into 3 distinct areas pre war, war, and post war camps which were Bognor, Barry, Minehead and Mosney. The camps were doing well in the late 1960s and Billy retired in 1968 and the company taken over by his son but in 1972 the company was sold for £42 million. Things carried on well but then British Holidays had some competition from the foreign countries like Spain and holidays abroad had boomed up and British seaside holidays were coming to an end. Now only 3 camps remain.
Changing Customer needs and expectations
Peoples needs and expectations have changed a lot in recent years. People are now fitter, healthier and more prosperous and are seeking more different and exciting types of leisure and tourism experiences.
The Domination of the private sector
Private sector organisations:
Private sector organisations are in private ownership, either directly or indirectly. They are normally profit making. Examples of facilities run by private sector organisations include hotels, tourist attractions and health and fitness clubs.
Accommodation Most hotels in the world are small and privately owned and operated. Most of these establishments usually employ less than 20 people. Such hotels often advertise locally or through regional tourist board promotional materials and do not take space on a Computer Reservation System (CRS); Some of the hotels offer rooms to tour operators on contract as part a package holiday deal. Privately owned hotels offer a variety and different sort of hotel to your branded hotel.
An individual chain may operate a wide range of differently named hotels and these are called brands. Brands are often differentiated by the quality of service that they offer. Holiday Inn Worldwide (USA) for example is owned by Bass PLC, UK and operates the three and four star brands of Crowne Plaza, Express, and Garden Court.
Airlines Since the attack on America Airline Company’s have lost millions in the business so the bottom line is that the airlines want free public money, so that they can then make private profit once they get back on their feet! If the airlines cannot run safely, efficiently, and at a reasonable cost what will they do Public ownership under workers’ control is the only solution. If they want public money to run the airlines, then let the public run them.
Vulnerability to external pressures
* Currency Fluctuations
Most of Europe has joined to the Euro but some countries still have their original currency. But when exchanging money abroad if interest rates go up people lose out on money. (There’s a lower cost of living in Eastern Europe e.g. Turkey and Bulgaria)
* War/Civil unrest
The pressure this is having on countries like America where people could be scared to travel there in case anything happens again. Also Turkey is having a big cut down on people travelling there because it’s close to Iraq and Turkey has been having problems in the main towns. It says that some insurance companies won’t insure people travelling to the main destinations in Turkey because they know there are problems so if anything happens they won’t be insured so less people travel there and Turkey is loosing out on tourism and money.
* Climatic Changes
Over the years the weather has been getting warmer so snow will melt in the ski tourist places will start to lose money and tourist because of the weather also some places will have increased tourist for the weather being warmer.
* Diseases
Some countries are also loosing tourist because of diseases like Sars and foot and mouth because people don’t like to travel to somewhere where they could catch something and can’t even go there. Britain lost a lot of tourists a couple of years ago through foot and mouth.
Research reveals that:
1. 78% say that there is still plenty of things for tourist to do in the country
2. 46% believe that most places in the countryside were closed during foot & mouth but then fell to 17% following a new advertisement
3. 46% of those in the survey said they were intending to visit the countryside in the month or so for a day visit (27%), short break (15%) or a holiday of 4 nights or more (11%).
* Legislation
Legislation is making laws and some of the important ones in Travel and Tourism in the UK are:
Year
Act
Aim
1947
Town & Country Planning Act
Local authorities able to designate open spaces for recreational use or development.
1949
Access to the Countryside Act
Encouraged local authorities to promote access to the countryside for recreational purposes and led to the creation of the National Parks.
1969
Countryside Act
Enabled local authorities to provide countryside-based recreational facilities.
1969
Development of Tourism Act
Created the British Tourist Authority and the national tourist boards for England, Scotland and Wales.
Positive and negative impacts on host communities
Tourism can have many positive and negative impacts on tourist destinations.
The positive are:
Many jobs are made in the tourism business e.g. in restaurants, hotels, shops etc. Also the owners of the shops and restaurants make quite a lot of money from tourists visiting and money in the country improves the country’s appearance because they have the money to improve buildings etc. The more visitors the more well known it gets and people will travel there and is known as a place to visit.
The negative are:
Even though many jobs are produced through the tourism industry most jobs are seasonal so people working in hot countries e.g. Spain after about October when it’s colder and no tourist there’s then no work till the summer again. Also for the winter ski holidays. Shops and restaurants also lose business through problems like war and diseases so people don’t travel to dangerous countries so the owners lose the money. Another negative impact is how countries can get destroyed e.g. Falaraki has had many problems with loads of young people up all night drinking. Also there have been cases of British people being arrested and even raped over the last couple of years.
Task 2
Components
The components to make up the structure of the Travel and Tourism Industry are:
A tourist attraction is the place where tourist would go to visit e.g. Alton Towers theme park. Blackpool Beach
Transport is then needed for how to reach the tourist attraction e.g. by car, train etc
Accommodation is not always needed as some tourist attractions could just to visit for a day but if needed hotels, caravans etc
Tour Operators then put a package together using the attraction visiting, the transport and accommodation and then put it in travel agents or a direct sell to the customer and cuts out the travel agent.
Travel Agents then sell the holidays in brochures in many shops all over the UK. Travel Agents often receive commission from selling the holiday.
Then the Tourism development and promotion section advertise and promote their part of the country so more people will visit the area from seeing advertising.
Tourist Attractions
A tourist attraction is a place where people can go to visit and usually of interest. The attraction can be free or of additional charge to enter the attraction.
There are 2 different types of attractions natural and man made:
* Natural – is things that are natural and not made by people e.g. national parks, which is full of natural scenery and mountains which tourist go to visit e.g. Snowdonia, Blackpool Beach which receives more than 6 million people visiting the 42 acre beach.
* Man made – is attractions that are made by people for tourists e.g. Alton Towers that is a theme park with many rides which first started off as a stately home in Staffordshire, then was built up into a theme park. Also there’s the attractions like the pier in Blackpool that was built for tourist going to Blackpool to enjoy with rides.
Many places offer the entrance to the attraction for free. Places like
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
National History Museum
Science museum Tate Modern
Tate Britain The Lowry
British Museum National Gallery
Source: Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions (star UK)
Other attractions also have a admission enter the attraction. Places like
British Airways London Eye Tower of London
Eden Project Legoland Windsor
Chester Zoo Stonehenge
Windsor Castle Edinburgh Castle
Source: Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions (star UK)
Transport
Transport plays a big part in the Tourism industry and accounts for 25% of all tourists spending on a trip. There’s many different ways of getting around and plays a big part in the travel and tourism industry and also tourist usually have to travel by more than one mode of transport to get to there destination. Either travelling to a place by own car or public transport visitors expect high standards of service including car parks and park and ride schemes. Also travel information services
* Land/Rail-There are now many train services that take you all around the country. There are now many privately owned companies virgin, GNER, also included in this are Eurostar, which takes passengers through the channel tunnel between England and France over a year channel tunnel receives over 5 million passengers. From the old days the train journeys have changed a great amount these days train journeys are more modern and a comfortable journey. General travel on trains has declined but certain services that train companies offer have risen. Coaches have always played a big part in the travel and tourism industry they provide a low cost way of travelling to a holiday destination around the UK even to places like France and Spain. Companies that offer these trips are Ledger and National Express which carries more than 12 million passengers each year to around 1200 destinations throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
* Air- that has two different types of flights. Scheduled which operates to a set timetable and will fly regardless of how many seats are sold, they are usually sold directly to business people, wholesalers and travellers. The top scheduled airline companies in the world are.
American Airline
United Airlines
Delta Airlines
Lufthansa Group
Air France Group
British Airways
Japan Airlines
Federal Express
Northwest Airlines
All Nippon Airways
US Air Group
Continental Airlines
SAS Group
Alitalia
KLM Royal Dutch Airline
Source: Airline Business, Fighting Back, Reed Publishing Ltd, September 1994
Charter flights are planes that are hired for a specific flight or duration of time that doesn’t have a regular fixed departure and arrival times. Some large tour operators own their own charter airlines, which they can then sell as part of the package holiday e.g. JMC and Airtours
Over three quarters of all package holidays sold in the UK use air travel to transport
* Sea-Ferries have been a popular way to get across to places like Ireland and France. P&O first initiated a commercial route across the channel from Dover to Calais and now other transport links are hovercraft, which can take you across the sea. Cruises have made a great holiday for many holiday makers cruise liners like P&O princess which offer trips all around places like the Mediterranean.
Accommodation and Catering
There are many different types of accommodation and is very important in the travel and tourism industry. They can be hotels, B&B’s which can be a family owned business or a large well-known chain company. Hotels use a rating system to show the quality of the hotel. They do this using a scale of 1-5 of stars.5***** offering the best accommodation, exceptional quality and best care and 1* offering fair quality and just an overall standard.
Other different types of accommodation are caravans, self-catering villas, travel inns and campsites. Different types of catering are offered e.g.
* Self-catering is where in the accommodation you have to buy and cook your own food or go out to eat. Self-catering accommodation offers all the facilities and utensils to make the food. There has been a growth for self catering holidays in recent years, self catering can also be in a range of accommodation e.g. Studios, villas, apartments, tents, caravans and boats
* B&B is where you get just your breakfast included in the price of your accommodation
* Full Board is where you get all meals included breakfast, dinner and tea
* Half Board offers you your breakfast and tea.
* All-inclusive gives you all your breakfast, dinner and tea but also includes snacks in between and drinks included in price.
Tour Operators
A tour Operator is a company that puts a holiday together into a package. They make the package up negotiating a contract with accommodation providers, transport providers and 1 significant other. Of the tour operator buys in bulk they can obtain a better price and save money. The tour operator then puts it into a brochure then it is sent out to travel agents for the holidays to be sold. The holiday then can either be sold directly from the tour operator at a lower price this is called direct sell operations. Along with Travel agents, tour operators they are most important link in the selling of products and development. It is also the most rapidly growing parts of the travel and tourism industry.
There are 4 different types of Tour Operators:
1. Mass Market, which is the main Tour Operator that is the most popular of Tour Operators. The 4 most well known mass market tour Operators are Airtours
Thomas Cook
First Choice
Thomson
Which offer holidays like Lakes and Mountains, winter, All-inclusive, City breaks and summer.
2. Specialist that offer a specialist holiday for the interests of the holidaymaker. These could be: youth holidays (18-30)
Seniors (young at heart)
Activity (Diving-Neilson)
Country/Area (Africa-Somak)
3. Domestic is holidays in the UK for UK tourists. These types of places can be: Holiday Centers (Butlins)
Health Spas
Adventure/Outward Bound
Camping
4. Incoming that offers holidays for overseas tourists visiting the UK. This is a great way to get overseas visitors to the UK and makes the UK a great place to visit. These holidays are usually offering tours of the history and culture of the UK to mainly Americans, Japanese and the French: Miki Travel
Frames Rickard
Travel Agents
Travel Agents are what sell the holidays from the brochure they offer in the shop. Travel agents can be individually owned or owned by a Tour Operator and are the important link of selling holidays. The travel agent is usually the link between the tour operator, and the consumer. Travel agents make their money on a commision basis from the selling of the holiday. Many travel agents these days have specialist holidays There are different types of travel Agents. They are:
* Multiple which is a large chain of the travel agents that have shops all around the UK in major towns and cities. These types of travel agents are very well known throughout the country. The most well known multiples are travel agents like Lunn Poly, Thomson and Going Places.
* Miniples are a small chain of travel agents around 20 to 30 shops usually in towns all near each other. These types of travel agents have to compete with the larger companies who want to buy them out. Travel Agents like Althams are a miniple and they’re placed around Sale and other towns.
* Independent travel agents are just 1 or 2 travel agents which are usually a family owned business with just a couple around usually in a small town.
* Business deal with the big companies like American Express and sort out business travel with the company for business trips that need to be dealt with. These types of travel agents are in offices and not in a shop.
* Also the same for call centres there in offices not in shops. Customers then phone up to book a holiday instead of going into a travel agent e.g. Cresta
Tourism Development
A tourist board is where people can go for information about an area they would like to know about to go and visit. They can then ring up and ask about the area. In a tourist information centre they can get leaflets and other information about the area. The tourist information centres are there to promote the area and show what it has to offer. Tourist information boards are also there to:
· To promote or undertake publicity in any form;
· To provide advise and information services;
· To promote or undertake research;
· To establish committees to advise them in the performance of their Functions
Blue Badge Guides are trained up to take individuals or groups around the region for tours of the area for visitors. You can identify the guide by them wearing a blue badge
Task 3
All organizations belong either to the voluntary, public or the private sectors.
· Private
The private sector is companies like Thomson and British Airways who are making a profit and increase sales. They make their money selling their products and this is where they make their money.
There are shareholders in this sector and usually twice a year receives divident so more shares more divident. If no profit is made the shareholders get no money back.
· Voluntary
Voluntary makes their money from visitors, memberships, sponsorships and donations. These are places like the National Trusts who protect lands, buildings and buy new sites using the money from the money collected. They have stakeholders who wouldn’t have money from the profits but have their companies advertising and special deals.
