* Product development and innovation: the development of seaside resorts, introduction of holiday camps, package holidays, long-haul destinations and all weather attractions have all been introduced to meet growing demand for travel and tourism products and services.
* Changing consumer needs, expectations and fashions: through exposures to television and other mass media, people are looking for more opportunities to travel in the UK and overseas.
The rise of seaside resorts
In 1752 Dr Richard Russell published Concerning the Use of Sea Water which led to an increase in seaside resorts as doctors began to realise that the healing and relaxing minerals that were present in spa waters were also to be found in the sea. Resorts such as Southend, Brighton and Blackpool began to increase in popularity. Accommodation, catering and entertainment facilities were developed in the resorts, some of which benefited from the introduction of steamboat services in the early nineteenth century, a factor that led to the contribution of many of the piers still seen at seaside resorts today.
The introduction of holiday camps
The first purpose-built holiday camp was opened by Billy Butlin in 1936 at Skegness. Holiday camps worked on the simple principle that if the children were happy on holiday then the parents would be happy as well. Holiday camps provided entertainment and activities for both parents and children at a low, all-inclusive rate with the added bonus of a child-minding service to allow the parents to enjoy themselves. Butlin's and Warners became market leaders in this type of holiday which still survives to this day.
Increasing car ownership
The increase of car ownership after the Second World War provided individuals with greater freedom and flexibility in the use of their leisure time. People travelled further, exploring new areas of the British coast and countryside. The number of private cars on the roads of Britain rose steeply from 2.3 million in 1950 to 11 million in 1970. In 1999 the figure exceeded 23 million vehicles.
The upward trend in the ownership has resulted in a drop in demand for traditional types of public transport. The use of trains fell from 48 per cent of all journeys in 1952 to just 8 per cent in 1990. Coach travel dropped from 28 per cent in 1951 to 9 per cent in 1990.
The growth in car ownership in the UK has led to an increase in associated environmental problems, including pollution, congestion and the loss of land to further road building.
The development of jet aircraft
One positive outcome of the Second World War was the rapid advance in aircraft technology, which led to the growth of a viable commercial aviation industry in Britain and the USA. The excess of aircraft in the immediate post-war years, coupled with the business flair of entrepreneurs including Harold Bamberg of Eagle Airways and Freddie Laker, encouraged the development of holiday travel by air. Comet aircraft were used in the 1950s, but it was not until the introduction of the faster and more reliable Boeing 707 jets in 1958 that the possibility of air travel becoming reality for the mass of the population was seen. The 1960s saw a surge in demand for scheduled and charter flights, the latter being combined with accommodation transfers and courier services to form the overseas 'package tour'.
The growth of package tours
The 1960s saw the beginning of the rapid increase in the number of package holidays sold. Destinations such as the costal area of Southern Spain, the Balearic Islands and Greece were favourite locations for British and other European travellers. Today in the region of 15 million package holidays are sold to British tourists each year.
Long-haul destinations
Long-haul destinations are generally considered to be those beyond Europe, for example the USA, Australia, the Far East and India. Advances in aircraft technology, coupled with low prices offered by some of the mayor holiday companies, have open up many new long-haul destinations in recent years. Places such as Florida, the Gambia, the Caribbean, Goa, Hong Kong, South Africa and Australia have all become popular with British tourists.
Call centres
A call centre is a customer service department that uses trained staff available over telephone lines. A company or organisation may have their own call centre or may hire out this function to a call centre company. Ontario has more than 3,000 call centres providing service in every industry from financial to government, tourism, travel, manufacturing, technology and the arts, and over 30 service bureaus. Call centre companies offer complete menus of business-to-business and customer-driven services. The industry is growing at a rate of 20 percent per year.
Call centres have become one of the world's most important job creators, and a critical resource for the travel and tourism industry.
Future developments in travel and tourism
The travel and tourism industry will continue to grow in different ways. There will be a number of important influences on the way that the industry develops in the future, including:
1. Social Factors: Demographic trends and social changes will have important impacts on the future development of the industry in the new millennium. The fact that people are living longer, the fall in the number of young people, the increase in one parent households, more couples choosing not to have children or to delay having children all point to the fact that the type of travel and tourism products and services will change radically.
2. Political and Economic factors: On a global scale, the late 1980s saw historic world developments with countries emerging from State control and embracing the Western 'market economy'. Event such as the demolition of the Berlin Wall have had profound effects on travel and tourism developments; tourists from Western countries are now more able to visit the former Eastern bloc countries, while those from the former East are curious to sample Western hospitality by travelling further afield. The completion of the Single European Market in 1993, with the easing of all the controls, has further increased travel within European member countries.
3. Cultural and environmental factors: The 1980s saw the emergence in Britain of a greater environmental awareness and a society that was beginning too take its health and fitness seriously. These factors are likely to remain important influences on travel and tourism developments in the future with so-called 'green issues' high on the agenda.
4. Technological factors: travel and tourism has always been an industry that has made extensive use of new technology equipment. Central reservation system (CRS), the use of computers in travel agencies and sophisticated databases for marketing purposes are now ordinary. Increase in competition within the industry will force organisations to use new technology to the full. New developments in transportation make extensive use of new technology, for example the Channel Tunnel, the advances in aircraft design and opening up new long-hall destinations.
The British Tourist Authority estimates that:
· Growth in overseas visitors to the UK is expected to average 4.4% over the next five years, reaching 34.6 million visits in 2005.
· Spending by overseas tourists to Britain is forecast to rise by an annual average of 7.4%, producing £21 billion in 2005.
· UK residences' tourism is expected to show an average 2.6% increase in visits and 8% in spending between 1998 and 2003
Factors affecting the travel and tourism industry today
Current factors affecting the travel and tourism industry today include:
* Destinations (e.g. changes, new destinations, re-established destinations, re-vamped destinations, third world destinations)
* Customers (range of customer types e.g. age, social background, families, independent etc)
* Time (e.g. change in pattern of taking holidays)
* Activities (e.g. new activities, change in activities)
* Technological (e.g. e-commerce, transport developments)
* Political (e.g. terrorism, war)
* Health and safety (e.g. natural disasters, epidemics)
Technological
The growth of the Internet has increased the collection of information about travel and tourism products and services. There is an estimation of 30 to 100 million worldwide users, this makes the Internet an important part of the travel and tourism industry. Anybody can access information on travel destinations, transport, accommodation and attractions on the Internet; they can also make bookings direct with travel and tourism companies using secure credit card facilities.
Customers can also get up to date information on a wide range of services such as flight schedules, train timetables, compare costs of similar products and find information about holiday destinations.
Since the Internet has given customers the ability to plan and book their own travel there has been a decrease in business in travel agents, therefore there is a decrease in business for tour operators.
Advantages of the Internet:
* Gives travel agents the opportunity to have their own sites and greatly expands their contact.
* The Internet is an information and transaction source.
* The Internet can be used by anyone, therefore reaching a much larger audience.
Disadvantages of the Internet:
* Direct sales channels reduce distribution costs by having the consumer do the booking, therefore eliminating travel agency commission and computer reservation fees.
* The Internet produces too much information therefore customers will be put off.
* Customers sometimes question the privacy and security of the Internet, therefore will not purchase.
Bookings in the period after the war were simple to take as airlines and travel operators had charts on the walls of their offices and took bookings by telephone or through written enquiries.
Computer reservation system:
The name given to a whole range of systems that enables agents to make bookings with principals which have developed by the airlines. Provided access to flight information, times, fares and seat availability and passenger reservations.
View data:
Is the main tool used by tour operators to sell their holidays? It is a simple booking system which displays information transmitted by public telephone lines.
Global distribution system:
This is a system that links up several CRS and presents information to the travel agent.
Political
In recent years the strength of the pound against many other currencies has made it expensive to travel to the UK. The fact that Britain has remained outside the single currency (euro) has made it costly for Europeans in particular to visit.
Inbound tourism has been affected by September 11th, Foot and Mouth in 2001 and the Iraq War of 2003. Recent figures show that British tourism has weathered these storms.
While aftershock from September 11th touched nearly everyone and everything across the U.S. and beyond, no industry has been more affected than the travel and tourism industry. Images of commercial airplanes piercing Manhattan's skyline, horror stories of airport security, and accounts of nervous airline passengers subjected to a gauntlet of persistent check-in procedures upset the travelling public.
Despite increased security, travellers remain wary. Although a number of travel and tourism companies have reported a decrease in demand of 30% and more following the terrorist attacks, the long-term outlook for travel and tourism demand is expected to slowly brighten as consumer confidence about safety and security recover.
Customers
In the travel ad tourism industry there are different types of customers, therefore making the industry meet different types of needs for different customers
Greater use of segmentation in the travel and tourism industry has led to focus on more varied customer groups:
- Leisure customers
- Business customers
- Independent travellers
- Package holiday makers
- Age-specific groups
Bibliography
Ray Youell Vocational- A-level Travel and Tourism
Tourism and Hospitality in the 21st century A. Lockwood and S. Medlik
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www.prospects.ac.uk