Contemporary Travel and Tourism Industry

Unit 1 – The Contemporary Travel and Tourism Industry 

L01

I will start this assignment by giving a definition of travel and tourism. On the first part I will discuss the historical development in the travel and tourism industry such as the Grand Tour, British Seaside Resort, holiday camps, the start of mass tourism and finally space tourism. Secondly, I will identify the different elements of the travel and tourism industry, I will also talk about the interrelationship between companies. Finally, I will give an explanation about private, voluntary and public sector.

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Tourism involves the movement of a person or persons away from their normal place of residence: a process that usually incurs some expenditure, although this is not necessarily the case. Someone cycling or hiking in the countryside on a camping weekend in which they carry their own food may make no economic contribution to the area in which they travel but can nonetheless be counted as a tourist. We can say, then, that tourism usually, but not invariably, incurs some expenditure of income and that, further, money spent has been earned within the area of normal residency, rather than at the destination. The term ‘tourism’ is further refi ned as the movement of people away from their normal place of residence.  Holloway (2012)

The UNWTO recommend that 3 basic forms of tourism for a country should be distinguished: domestic tourism which are activities of resident visitors within the country, outbound tourism activities of resident visitor outside the country and inbound tourism activities of anon-resident visitor within a country on an inward trip.  Fletcher (2013)

The tourism started before 500AD. The development of the Olympic Games in 776 BC provided a vital stimulus for tourism.  Page (2003)

The Grand Tour is a new form of tourism developed from the early seventeenth century.  Under the reign of Elizabeth I, young men seeking positions at court were encouraged to travel to the Continent to finish their education, usually lasts for 3 years. As a results, European towns and cities were opened to the tourist.  Holloway (2012)

The British Seaside Resort starts growing in the early years of the eighteenth century when the sea became associated with certain health benefits because initially the objective was to drink it rather than bathe in it. Health theorists would eventually recognize that the minerals to be founded in spa water were also present in abundance in sea water. Holloway (2012)

The first British Seaside Resort that theorist believed that offer the medical benefits was Scarborough and Brighton and were attracting regular visitors by the 1730s. Soon even Blackpool and Southend start being popular with working class.  Holloway (2012)

Holiday Camps deserves a special mention as was the major tourism developments of the 1930s. Holiday Camps aimed the growing of low-income market for holidays, they offered 24-hour entertainment at an all-inclusive price. Holloway (2012)

The first package holiday was in 1949 organised by Vladimir Raitz he took 32 passengers to Corsica and charged them £32,50 which included accommodation in tents, transfer and flights. Holloway (2012)  Package holiday is a holiday which must cover a period of at least 24 hours or overnight stay and must consist in a combination of at least two of transport, accommodation and other tourist service such as car hire.

Mass Tourism is a form of tourism that involves tens of thousands of people going to the same resort often at the same time of year. In the immediate post-war period military aircraft were converted to passenger services and the 1950s saw introduction of jet airlines. As airlines bought new jets and older aircraft become available for holiday company to operate services to holiday destinations. In the UK Vladimir Raitz is credited with offering the first package holiday. By 1959, 2.25 million Britons took foreign trips, 76 769 of which were to Spain. Page (2003)

In 1960 package holiday started to develop with some being sold and advertised by tour operators. Major grow came in 1970. Most packages were to Spain and its islands. https://www.abta.com/help-and-complaints/frequently-asked-questions/what-package-holiday

By 1967 there were 5 million British holidaymakers going abroad. Page (2003)

A new trend that is likely to emerge in the next 50 years is space tourism. For tourists seeing the earth from 100 km above its surface will provide a lifetime memory, there will be also leisure space for activities such as weddings, sports and games. Also, certain medical and physical preparation will be necessary.  Page (2003)

The travel and tourism industry is made up with nine different components: accommodation, transport, attractions, events, tour operators, travel agents, tourist boards, trade associations and ancillary services. https://bethsworldoftravel.weebly.com/component-industries.html

There are two different types of accommodation, serviced when everything is provided for you at your accommodation an example of a hotel chain is the Marriott Hotels; the second types of accommodation are non-serviced which are usually individually owned and do not provide food and drink, an example is Hoseasons Caravan Park. https://bethsworldoftravel.weebly.com/component-industries.html

There are many types of transport to help you get around as airlines such as British Airways, ferries an example is P & O Ferries, rail such as Virgin trains and coach as National Express.

There are distinct types of attractions such as man-made that have been purposely built to appeal to UK and overseas visitors an example is Alton Towers, natural attractions have been created by nature such as desert, beaches and waterfalls, historical or heritage attractions have been purposely built many years ago and are still standing like castles, ruins and battlefields and last, cultural attractions which are events concerned with a country’s culture that attract many visitor to Britain every year an example is the Labour Party Conference 2016 in Liverpool. https://bethsworldoftravel.weebly.com/component-industries.html

Tour operators combine into holidays the various products and services offered by travel and tourism companies and sell them as packages. There are two types of tour operators which are mass market which offer holiday to a large number of customers an example is Thomas Cook and TUI and specialist operators cater for customer’s specific interests, destinations or activity an example of this is Makkah Tours. https://bethsworldoftravel.weebly.com/component-industries.html

There are different types of travel agents: retail who advise people when they are travelling about different hotels around the area they are travelling to and about weather conditions and different currency exchange an example of retail travel agent is Cooperative Travel, business travel agent concentrate on travel services for companies and business, they focus of short notice trips an example is American Express Business Travel, call centre travel agent sells products over the phone and every day they have to reach certain number of sales they make per day an example is Eye for Travel and last are web-based travel agent sells holidays over the internet, an example would be Expedia. https://bethsworldoftravel.weebly.com/component-industries.html

Tourist boards are companies that encourages people to visit an area, city, town or country. There are 2 types of tourist board which are local and national. Local tourist board provides information about what is happening in the town and what events are going to take place, an example is Visit Bolton. National tourist board provides information about what there is to do in a country and what events are taking place; an example is Visit Britain.

There are two types of Trade Associations: Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) represent 122 of Britain’s best independent tour operators, specialised in destinations or types of holiday about which they are passionate, they provide advice on first-hand experience. The second type of Trade Associations is the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) which is in control of all travel agents, offer access to fast, cost-effective and independent complaints resolution service which save you money, time and hassle.  https://bethsworldoftravel.weebly.com/component-industries.html

The last components are ancillary services: insurance which prevent high bills if you need to seek medical attention during your holiday an example if TravelSupermarket.com which offer a range of different types of insurance; foreign exchange of pounds into foreign currency when going abroad, the Post Office is where people are able t exchange their money. Car hire while visiting another country, using the car for the duration of your stay and able to drive it anywhere in the country, an example is Enterprise.

https://bethsworldoftravel.weebly.com/component-industries.html

There are two types of interrelationship which are vertical integration and horizontal integration.  https://bethsworldoftravel.weebly.com/interrelationships.html

Vertical integration occurs when two companies of the same level on the chain of distribution emerge together to create one single company an example are Thomson and First Choice Holidays, two holiday companies that in 2007 combined together to create one single travel company as Thomson bought out First Choice holidays. This interrelationship may be useful as First Choice customers can still use First Choice websites and travel agents, but they will fly on Thomson plane with Thomson crew, so this may be a positive interrelationship as the will use their own services and products without any third company.

Horizontal integration then occurs when two companies of a different level on the chain of distribution emerge together which makes it easier for the different companies to gain more customers an example of this integration is the interrelationship between Chester Zoo and Grayway Coaches, this interrelationship is helpful for both companies as will make it easier for people to come and visit the Chester Zoo when a public transport is provided for them when they may not have their own and for Grayway Coaches as they will be able to organise excursion more often than just waiting for private to come and book with it.

https://bethsworldoftravel.weebly.com/interrelationships.html#

The last topic of this assignment is about the three types of sector in travel and tourism: private, public and voluntary sector.

Most of the travel and tourism businesses belong to the private sector, their main objective is to make profit, examples are Thomas Cook and Alton Towers.

Public sector organisations are funded by the national and local government and their aim is to educate, inform and provide service to customers, examples are museums and National gallery. http://stravelandtourism.weebly.com/public-private-and-voluntary-sector.html

Voluntary sector organisation are often charities or trusts, their aims are to preserve, protect and promote their cause, they are usually staffed by a mixture of paid managers, workers and volunteers, examples are The National trust and Tourism concern.

http://stravelandtourism.weebly.com/public-private-and-voluntary-sector.html

In this assignment I talked about the historical development in the travel and tourism industry, followed by the nine different components of the travel and tourism industry including examples for each one and finally I explained the two types of interrelationship between the travel and tourism companies. 

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