TRAVEL AND TOURISM INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION

In this paper I will be researching on the development of travel and tourism

industry, its structure, the relevant bodies which play an influential part in this sector
and finally the factors that affect the travel and tourism industry.

The travel and tourism industry has undergone a sea change with the
advancement of technology which has enabled the travel from different parts of the
world more affordable and convenient and enabled the travel industry to utilise the
services of tourism sector for the mutual growth of both industries across the globe.

Let us understand the history and the time lines of development of tourism
industry from the post world war II era.

Task – 1

Development of Travel & Tourism Industry

Since the end of World War II the travel and tourism industry has undergone a
lot of changes the first International Congress of National Tourism Bodies was held
in the year 1946, this was held in London. And this laid the foundation for the
creation of international non-governmental organization. This was followed up with
another meeting in the year 1947 which was held in Hague, and the temporary
Headquarters of the organisation was located in London. This was followed in 1948
by the nationalisation of railways and the creation of the European Travel
Commission. The first package holiday by air was offered to tourists in the year
1950. This was followed up the First jet liner which was launched in the year 1952
which greatly influenced the travel industry and experienced the outburst of travel
growth and movement of tourists to and fro from different locations. In the year 1958
the first Being 707 jet service was launched and it created a big impact which
enabled the tourists to travel to long distances and in shorter times. The next
advancement in the European tourism was when the Hovercrafts were introduced in
the English Channel which enabled the easy crossing of tourists from and to
mainland Europe this was launched in the year 1968. This was followed up with an
act called the development of tourism act this was promulgated in the year 1969.
The long haul Jumbo Jet Boeing 747 was launched in the year 1970 which enabled
the travel to longer distances more comfortable and affordable was introduced. This
was created in conjunction with the Pan am airlines which has assessed that the
huge demand created by the influx of more tourists would require a bigger aircraft to
increase the capacities and thereby deduct the load on the airports which would
enable the replacement of short and small flights. Then in the year 1973 ATOL (Air
Traffic Operator’s License) which was a protective scheme and it mandated that all
the companies offering air holiday packages and flights in the United Kingdom are
required to hold this license. This was specifically created to protect the concerns of
the travellers who were paying up for the bookings and if there was a failure the
same would not be addressed and hence the requirement was raised which ensured
the protection of this customers. Incidentally, during the early setting up stages of the
ATOL there has been a failure of the Court Line Group which included the second
largest tour operator of the time it collapsed in the year 1974. And a lot of tourists
were either stranded or were not able to travel due to the collapse of the company.
Then the government responded by giving prompt response to protect to all the
tourists and customers of the company and then in introduced the Air Travel Reserve
Fund Act (1975). The following year saw the launch of Concorde which is considered
to be a miracle at that time as it reduced the travel times on the North Atlantic flights
by half. Then in the year 1992 the European commission Travel Legislation was
introduced. Then the biggest achievement in the British Isles was achieved when the
Euro Tunnel was finally connected with the mainland Europe. This paved the way for
introduction of the Eurostar Train service which has created a faster easy way to
travel across the English Channel. Then in the current century the launch of the
A380 happened in the year 2006 which had the capacity to carry more number of
passengers and on longer routes.

As we have seen the history let us now understand the structure of the travel
and tourism industry.

Task - 2

Main Sectors in the Travel and Tourism Industry

The main sectors in the travel industry can be classified into three different
parts namely Public, Private and Voluntary Sectors. Let us understand this sectors in
brief.

Public Sector

They are major groups who decide on the policy and guidance for the growth
of the tourism sector in the United Kingdom. This is the government body which is
responsible for supporting the British tourism industry. The role of this organisation is
to work with the industry and provide the required amount of support.

National Parks Association

Just consider the case of the National Parks Association which works for the
development of tourism by providing different options to the tourists to enjoy their
time this in turn provides a livelihood to most people who reside in the surrounding
areas of the parks and benefits the council also. The national parks association also
conducts different activities like tourism impact survey, this activity gets the students
to observe the students to have an idea of the impact tourism has on a particular
area both negative and positive. This is carried out using a questionnaire and by
observing the patterns of tourist activities in a given area. National Parks Association
also conducts certain other activities like scenario playing to understand the needs
and requirements of the tourists in which ever location they are visiting. These are
the kind of services that are carried out by the support services in public sector. The
structure of these organisations is to basically support them in the advancement of
the tourism industry and to ensure sustainable growth of the industry from a long
term perspective.

Private Sector

These agencies play an important role in the growth of the travel industry and
are the front line that has direct interaction with the tourists. They form part of the
group that has a close understanding of the requirements of the tourists and plan
their packages and advertise different tourist locations through their interactive
communications methods like pamphlet advertising, online advertising in their
websites.

National Lottery

The support services which form part of the private sector are the National
Lottery, British Airports Authority and Travel Publishers they form part of the support
services sector in the private domain as they provide the required support to the
organisations with the extension of their infrastructure and the national lottery on its
part supports the following four causes namely arts, heritage, sport, and the joint
good cause of health, education, the environment and charitable expenditure. British
Airports Authority on the other hand has been partnering with the local tourism
boards to ensure the growth of this organisation and thereby derive the benefit of
more travels by tourists it’s a mutual win-win situation for both. Hence, we can say
that this support services provide the required funds and infrastructure for the
development of the tourism industry from a private sector point of view. Hence, we
can say that the structure of the support services in private sector for the
development of tourism industry and they are basically the driving force behind the
tourism sector.

Voluntary Sector

Voluntary sector consists of different bodies involved in the lobbying and

being the force factors who work for the benefit of the tourism sector and the benefit
of the respective associations they represent. They are namely National Parks
Association, YHA (Youth Hostels Association), National Trust, ANTOR (Association
of National Tourist Office Representatives), FTO (Federation of tour Operators),
ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies), Museums Association, UK
Inbound Tourism, Tourism Concern and PSA (Passenger Shipping Association). Let
us have a look at one of this organisation.

FTO: The vision of the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) is to ensure the
continued long term success of the air inclusive holiday by influencing
governments and opinion formers on the benefits to consumers and other
 stakeholders of air inclusive holidays compared to other forms of holiday
arrangements.

Task – 3

Factors affecting Consumer Choice in Choosing UK Destinations

The major factors that affect the travel and tourism industry are Weather
conditions, Economic activity, health concerns, terrorism, Currency fluctuations, Let
us understand each of them in brief.

Climatic Conditions: Climatic Conditions play a major role in the travel and tourism
industry as people would require more venues to decide on the travel depending on
the weather conditions and the locations of their choice. The frequent changes which
are observed of late had a major affect on the tourism and travel industry due to
severe fluctuations in the temperature, which is preventing lot many people from
moving and visiting different tourist locations.

Economic activity: The recent recession which was followed by severe job losses to
many people had a knock out effect on travel and tourism in the United Kingdom as
lot many people have stopped travelling and have started to adopt thrift measures to
sustain this down turn. This has created a vacuum in the industry with lot of
cancellations or no new bookings being received for the last twelve months.
However, as the economy is lifting back to normalcy there are signs of some
improvement which can be noticed in the travel and tourism industry as well, which
are still small off shoots. However, they are a positive sign for the industry.

Health Concerns: The other major concern faced by the industry is the issue of
spread of health disasters like SARS, H1N1 Flu which severely affects the travel and
tourism industry and bring a lot of resource curtailment due to this factor.

Currency Fluctuations: The changes in pound value have an impact on the travel
and tourism industry as frequent fluctuations create instability and affects the
planning activities of the tourists and also to an extent the tour operators as they
would have factored in the current rate of pound and would have collected the cost
of travel accordingly. However, the changes in the currency value would create a
negative effect and would force the tourists / tour operators to adopt various methods
or curtail their plans which would have a negative impact on the overall tourism
industry.

Task – 4

The other factors that are affecting the travel and tourism industry are the
political and environmental factors. Let us have a look at how they impact the
industry:
Political Factors: Regional differences and policies adopted by the governments
have a major impact on tourism industry like restrictions imposed on travel, visa
regulations, tax policies and luxury taxes would discourage tourists from travel and
hence would create less revenue. Hence, political factors play a key role in the
growth of the industry.

Environmental Factors: Environmental concerns are raising and tourists are

becoming aware of the same, some places which are perceived to be non-
environmental friendly are being dumped by the tourists as they do not want to visit
or support such. On the positive side national parks authority has been relentlessly
working towards the proper upkeep of its parks to ensure that both environment and
the tourist industry can be sustained with equal importance. This is a classic
example of how both should be integrated to ensure that the tourists can enjoy the
beauty of the natural atmosphere even in case of huge travel to one location by
tourists.

References

World Tourism Organization, About UNWTO

http://www.unwto.org/aboutwto/his/en/his.php?op=5

Civil Aviation Authority, History of ATOL

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1080&pagetype=90&pageid=6494

Civil Aviation Authority, About the CAA

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=286

ATOC, About ATOC

http://www.atoc.org/about-atoc

FTO, What does FTO do?

http://www.fto.co.uk/about-fto/what-does-fto-do/

ANTOR, About Us
http://www.antor.com/about_us/

Westdorset, Overview of factors affecting Tourism in the UK

http://www.westdorset.com/xsdbimgs/Overview_of_factors_affecting_Tourism_in_th
e_UK_2007.pdf

Naturenet, Impacts of tourism,

http://www.naturenet.net/education/tourism.html