Features of Travel and Tourism.

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Alban Clark Travel & tourism

Features of Travel and Tourism

Sectors

Private sector

The UK economy is a mixed economy. This means that it has a public sector, and a private sector. In the public sector, the state owns or controls the businesses. In the private sector, individuals (shareholders, sole traders or partners) own the businesses.

The aim of a business in the private sector is to survive by making a profit. This may be a sole-trader working alone, like a newsagent, or thousands of shareholders in a large Public Limited Company.

Businesses gain a larger market-share by increasing the sales of their products against competitors. This may involve reducing prices. To win the loyalty of customers and encourage repeat sales, businesses need to be reliable and provide a quality service to their customers. For example:

Hotels
Pubs
Travel Agents
Retail

Public ownership refers to any service or industry owned by the state, for example:

National Health Service
Emergency services
Armed forces
State education

Central government controls these organizations. Their main aim is to provide essential services for the whole population. They are not profit making, and the general public pays for these services through taxation. Some services are the responsibility of local government, such as refuse collection and the maintenance of parks.

There are arguments for and against public ownership. First look at the advantages:

JOBS - Usually protected, reducing unemployment.
RESOURCES - Key supplies, e.g. water and energy can be guaranteed and controlled.
ESSENTIAL SERVICES - Health, education, housing and transport are guaranteed for everyone.

Voluntary sector is mainly government funded and is also funded on donations, some examples of these are:

National Trust
Museums and galleries

How they interact

The majorities of enterprises are small and medium-sized often just a single person operation or a couple working in partnership. Small and medium-sized enterprises supply the travel and tourism products and services.

It is predominantly led by the private sector but the commercial sector is right behind. However, public sector bodies, such as tourist boards and local authorities, have an important role to play in the tourism planning, regulation, development and marketing.

Although their ...

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Voluntary sector is mainly government funded and is also funded on donations, some examples of these are:

National Trust
Museums and galleries

How they interact

Although their objectives are different their independence has grown enormously over the years, the reason being joint ventures between 2 or more sectors can lead to outcomes, which could not result. Such examples include contracting, partnerships and dual use and joint provision.

Technology

The use of computers for accessing info is growing very rapidly in travel and tourism.

Travel agencies, tour operators, hotel groups and airlines have centralized computer systems for many years to check availability, make bookings and search for information. Computer reservation systems (CRS), such as Galileo, Sabre and worldspan, provide travel professionals with a wealth of information on airline services, destination, accommodation, car hire and even passport and VISA requirements. Travel agents use view data computer systems, for example Istel and Fastrak, to provide customers with a wide range of holidays and other travel services.

The growth of the Internet has revolutionized the collection of information about travel and tourism products and services. Today, anybody with a computer and internet connection can access a wealth of information on travel on travel destinations, transport, accommodation and attractions, as well as making bookings direct with travel and tourism companies.

External Pressures

Travel and tourism is a very risky business. A sudden rise in the world price of oil could have a devastating effect on different economies. A terrorist attack such as the recent Bali incident or the September 11th attack where two aero planes were bombarded into the twin towers, which crippled the travel and tourism industry for a number of months. The travel and tourism industry hit a total stand still where no planes were allowed to enter or leave New York. From this action there was a domino effect on all other types of businesses in the industry.

Another external pressure was the foot and mouth incident in the UK in 2001, which is believed to have started in a pig-finishing unit in the North of England and spread through England, which had a negative impact on the English countryside and the number of day visits or short breaks to the countryside were suffering as the number of visitors increased.

Lots of tourism attractions lost out on profit such as castles, cathedrals and museums. The government reacted to this and issued warnings, so these attractions could still be visited but people were issued guidelines and precautions were taken so that the disease would not be spread.

Other great pressure are natural disasters, a most recent example is the flooding in Europe that had a disastrous effect on tourist attractions.

Floods affect a region for many years and are massly exposed by the media, which is a deterrent for tourists hence the number of visitors decreases.

The main problem with the flooding is the fact that many natural and man-made attractions are destroyed; the difference being the natural attractions cannot be rebuilt. Even though flooding has a negative effect on the country it could be a positive for years to follow, as it will be rebuilt to make sure that it could not reoccur and could be attractive to tourists.

Exchange Rate

This is the term for the amount of money received from one country to another, i.e. when the pound is strong we can buy more from other currencies for our money. This is good but inbound tourism suffers accordingly. As the pound rises outbound tourism is encouraged by this.

Introducing the euro in many major destinations in Europe made a major leap in agreement, this is a great advantage for those traveling across Europe but on the other hand Britons will have to change their currency first.

The popularity of tourist destinations with UK tourists is very dependant on the exchange rate, when the sterling is strong people in the UK benefit and vice-versa if the exchange rate is lower.

Legislation

The UK legislation is the toughest on the market and sales practices and its legislations cover, regulation, licensing, health and safety controls and standards and classifications of tourist accommodation.

UK government legislation includes: -

A company must abide by all of the legislation acts and legal considerations applicable to the project and are fully investigated.

However travelers are not only affected by UK legislation, for example the EU legislation abolished duty free, and visitors are expected to abide when traveling.

Positive and Negative impacts on host communities

There is a very mixed feeling to this subject, the tourists will spend much money and heighten the economy in communities, which will help to expand and develop. On the other hand the economical statistics are no the only ones that rise, crime increases and the every day to day price for general things increases to maximize revenue – as you can imagine the local residents don’t like this.

Local residents are also unhappy about the fact that they have to pay more taxes so that tourists information offices can be opened, the prices of land and housing increases, local shops maybe discarded and large outlets built, which create many employment opportunities.