Natural attractions
Many places within the UK and also abroad have natural attractions. Beaches, caves, water sports, waterfalls, coral reefs, shipwrecks, rivers, lakes, gardens and mountains are all many different kinds of natural attractions that can be found. Often the climate of a destination is also classed as a natural attraction. Natural attractions are things that create and interest to tourists, yet have not been man made. Natural attractions have been placed where they are through causes that have not been altered, affected by or changed by people.
Built attractions
Built attractions are those purposefully made for tourists. Monuments, Buildings, Statues, Bridges, Pyramids, Markets, are all built or put there by people who are wishing to draw tourists attention to a particular site. Historically built places are often the centre of tourist’s attentions too. Churches, Cathedrals and Stately homes all get their fair share of tourists looking around them, willing to learn more about them.
Main holiday destinations such as Spain, Portugal and Greece also have many built attractions. Hotels, nightclubs, water parks, theme parks, shops, restaurants and general places of entertainment can all be found within these resorts. Before they had such great demand from tourists, none of these attractions would have been found within these places, but as the tourism increases so does the demand for built attractions.
Paris is a city that has a lot of built attractions. Paris has over 80 museums and 200 art galleries along with many examples of architecture and historical buildings. The Pompidou Centre, Notre Dame Cathedral, The Champs-Elysees, The Louvre, The Eiffel Tower and L’Opera all being among them.
Accommodation and Catering
Accommodation can often be found in many shapes and forms. There are little B&B’s which quite often is just a single outlet, then there are major chains of hotels such as Forte. Within the different types of accommodation there is quite often also a range of different choices for you to make concerning your eating habits. You can get accommodation, which includes meals and housekeeping, accommodation and just housekeeping leaving you to arrange where and when you eat and many other variations of accommodation, meals and housekeeping. Accommodation is available in a variety of different levels of quality and service.
Serviced accommodation
Serviced accommodation vary hugely in terms of their size, for example small, (ten rooms or fewer) medium (eleven to fifty rooms) or large (more than fifty rooms) turnover, for example less that £100,000. £100,000-£499,999. £500,000-£999,999. Or £1 million and over or the services they provide such as restaurants, gyms, spas, leisure complex, maid service etc.
Self-Catering accommodation
Wide ranges of self-catering facilities are available throughout the UK. Holiday homes and cottages are often rented out per week and for that you get your accommodation, then on top of that you have to provide your own meals. Caravan parks, campsites, chalets and time share properties all have the option of accommodation only, which is self-catering accommodation. Butlins and Pontins among other companies have all come up with a great plan. They provide self-catering accommodation, within a resort that includes many fast food outlets, restaurants and snack bars, along with day and night entertainment, kids clubs, swimming pools and many other activities. So although you are using their self-catering facilities, you often end up buying your food from their resort anyway.
Tourism development and promotion Pg.58, 256,
Tourist Boards
National tourist boards were established in 1969, but the English Tourism Council replaced the English tourist board in 1999. National tourist boards are responsible for promoting domestic tourism in their respective countries. There are four main national tourist boards and they all have broadly similar objectives which include advising the government and public bodies on all matters concerning tourism, enhancing the image of their countries as tourist destinations and many other features. National tourist boards are supported by regional tourist boards. There are ten regional tourist boards in England and three in Wales. Although regional tourist boards receive grants from the central government, they still have to raise a lot of their income themselves.
Tourist Information Pg. 30.
Guiding Services
Guiding services are used to provide specialist knowledge of a specific area, historic building or site and tourist attractions. Guide Friday is one of the largest commercial firms as it caters for over one million visitors a year. They have distinctive open topped green and cream buses that can be seen at most of Britain’s heritage centres. A lot of the guiding work is done voluntarily. People give up their time to show people round and give them free tours of historic buildings and churches.
Transportation
How you transport yourself can depend on a few different factors each needs to be taken into consideration. The length of the journey, where you are going to, the amount that can be spent, the time it would take and also the ease of access to the mode of transport you decide to take. Transport can be divided into three main categories. Land, Sea and Air.
Land transportation
The most common modes of land transport are cars, coaches, taxis, buses, bicycles, caravans, trains and the tube. Cars are the most commonly used forms of land transportation. It’s so much easier to just hop into a car or taxi than stand around in the cold waiting for a bus or train so most people choose to use cars. However things don’t always run smoothly. There are traffic jams which can make you late, and cars sometimes have problems which prevent them from being used so then you face the problem of choosing another form of transport. However if you can’t drive, or don’t have access to a car then things become a little bit more difficult. Bicycles are ok if it’s just one person that needs to get somewhere, but even then it isn’t very practical in the cold weather. If you have to take the bus, coach or train, there is always that added problem of it coming to early and you missing it and having to wait another half hour for the next one, or it could even be delayed in the first place. So it would appear that although cars are probably your safest option, even they couldn’t always be relied on.
Sea transportation
The most common modes of sea transport are ferries, cruise ships, hovercraft, riverboats and narrow boats. The UK has many seaports, the main ones being Dover, Folkestone and Portsmouth, with ferry routes to France and Northern Spain. There are two main categories within sea travel. Ferries and cruises. Cross channel ferries transport people, cars and lorries and provide facilities such as shops, restaurants and children’s play areas. Cruise ships are often described as floating 5-star hotels. Basically you get everything that you’d expect from a holiday resort, upon one boat.
Air transportation
The most common modes of air transport are scheduled flights, charter holiday flights and air taxis (helicopter or plane). Air travel falls into two main categories, scheduled and charter flights. Scheduled flights have timetables, which they do their best to stick to whether or not the seats are actually filled. These tend to be more expensive flights. If you are going on a package holiday, which uses seats on a scheduled flight, it is referred to as inclusive tours by excursion. Charter flights are when the aircraft are booked for a specific destination and length of time. Package holidays using chartered flights are referred to as inclusive tours by charter.
Travel Agents, in terms of multiples, independents and functions and products
Tour Operations, in terms of mass market, specialist and domestic incoming
