Introduction to Travel & Tourism
Word Count: 3188                Author: Kimi Ural                  Created: 2014
Travel & Tourism is an important industry in the UK because it helps the economy through giving jobs to people and providing products plus services for customers to purchase. People get to know the world and see different places and get to know different cultures; also they can get out of their daily routine and living place to enjoy the beautiful places in our world.
Inbound is when people come from another country to stay in your country. For example:Â when someone from Germany goes on holiday in the UK.
Outbound is when people from your country go to another country. For example: when someone from England goes on holiday to Jamaica.
Domestic is when people travel in their country. For example: when someone from Preston travels to Manchester.
Types of tourism
There are 3 different types of tourism: Leisure, Business and VFR (visiting friends and relatives). Leisure means relaxing or eventful holidays with family for example that could be cultural, events, recreation, sports or religion. Business means often day trips for meetings and work it also could be for a conference or exhibition. Business trips usually get paid for the business traveller. VFR means visiting friends and relatives.
Accommodation: a place where you stay at (Hotel, Apartment, Cabins, B&B. Accommodation is important for inbound, outbound and domestic tourism because people need a place to stay at during their holiday, otherwise there would be nothing else then daytrips. There are two different types of accommodation one is serviced which includes things like cleaners who clean and tidy your room in a hotel for example, it’s most likely to be more expensive. This is good for rich and busy people because they have the money to pay a bit more and don’t have to bother about tiding or cleaning, this probably wouldn’t be the right choice for a student though because they have a low budget but most probably the energy and time to keep their room tidy and clean. The other one is non-serviced which is cheaper than serviced stays because you’ve to clean your room and make beds on your own, in an apartment for example, that could be good for families that they can decide when and what to cook. But probably not for business travellers because they don’t have the time to do that.
Transport: something that takes people from one place to another (plane, coach, cruise, train). The transport is important because if someone wants to travel they need to get there somehow. There are 4 different types of transport: road travels (stagecoach), rail travels (Virgin Trains), sea travels (Go Cruise) and air travels (British Airways). For example to travel by train like Virgin Trains is the quickest way to get somewhere as a domestic tourist, a plane like British Airways would be better for inbound or outbound tourists. Also travellers will need local transport at their destination to get to certain events or other attractions.
Attractions: famous buildings, festivals or natural places people want to see (London eye, Big Ben, Stonehenge and so on…) Attractions are one of the main things why tourists want to visit a place. There are 5 different types of attractions: Natural which is a natural place like beaches, landscape and lakes, for example The Lake district; Cultural which is a place people go to, to see another culture or their own like art galleries, for example Tate Gallery; Heritage which are important old buildings like Blenheim Place or Stonehenge; Purpose built which are buildings build for tourists like Madame Tussauds and Blckpool Pleasure Beach; and Events which are festivals everyone can go to like music lovers to music events or sport lovers to the Olympics.
| Natural | Cultural | Heritage | Purpose built | Events | |
| What is it? | Lakes, beaches, landscape | Art galleries, places which enrich people live | Old building, important part of British history | Museums, galleries, theme parks | These are one off or annual occurrences that attract visitors |
| Who might go there? | Families, old people, nature lovers | Old people, families, education | Old people, families, education | Group of friends, students, school trips | Families, students, friends, old people |
| Examples | Lake district, snowdonia | London museum, science museum, Tate modern | Blenheim palace, tower bridge | Cadbury world, legoland | Glastonbury, Olympics, carnival |
Tour Operations
The role of a tour operator is to put together all the different components that make up a holiday, such as; travel, accommodation and entertainment and sell them as package to customers. This is most likely to be outbound but can also be domestic or inbound. The most popular tour operator is Thomas Cook who operates in the UK with 800 travel agencies.
Specialist Tour Operators: Tour operators which specialise in particular destinations such as Tibet or specialist products like diving holidays. They are needed because of the trend for tailor-made holidays and they have specialist knowledge in the niche market. For example: Anatolian Sky is a tour operator specialised for holidays in Turkey.
Tour Operator`s Associations: UK inbound is the trade body which represents tour operators and suppliers to the UK, they are needed because they ensure laws and standards are upheld. For example: The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) represents about 160 of the UK`s specialist tour operators in their organisation.
Mass Market Tour Operators: The major tour operators which dominate the outbound market – such as First Choice, Thomas Cook. They dominate the market because they are well established and have good reputations over the years they have been active.
Travel Agents: The purpose of travel agents is to give advice, information and to organise the traveller’s accommodation, transport and activities but also providing the link between tour operators and customers. Travel agents can operate through: retail shops, business shops, a call centre and the internet, for example Travellers Choice.
Tourism development and promotion
The aim of it is to get people to visit their country or region. The main organisations in the UK are: VisitBritain which reports to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS); VisitWales which reports to the National Assembly for Wales; the Northern Ireland tourist board(NITB) which reports to the Northern Ireland assembly; VisitScotland which reports to the Scottish executive. The (DCMS) are responsible for supporting the tourism industry and at large scale (national scale): The department for transport; the department for children (DCSF);The department for the environment (DEFRA). All have responsibilities within their own areas of travel and tourism. With the (DCSF) having responsibilities for sector skills councils and training organisations. While the (DEFRA) is responsible for looking after issues affecting the countryside, wildlife and waterways. Finally the Department of transport having responsibility over aviation, railways, roads and the London underground.
The following diagram shows that Visit Britain is a big and successful company for inbound tourism in the UK. It splits up it to smaller sides, specified for the area tourists want to visit.
Trade association, is an organisation which represents the interests their members and help them operate successfully in business. The AITO is association of independent tour operators which, with other trade associations and regulatory bodies, have a role to play in development and promotion.
Regulatory and trade bodies in the travel and tourism sector whose role it is to advise members and represent them particularly with government officials.
Ancillary services is an organisation that does not have a direct role in the travel and tourism industry but they play a supporting role, offering related products and services as organisations with specific roles in travel and tourism. Insurance companies that offer travel insurance and car park operators that provide parking for facilities at airports as well as in other locations are all examples of ancillary services.
Interdependency is when two companies need each other to function, for example a visitor attraction like London Eye depends on the transport industry, London Coach to bring its customers to the attraction.Â
Interrelationship is when a business works with other companies. They don’t need each other but it would be better if they would work together, for example when students come to England as part of Whitehouse Guardianship, Whitehouse don’t need a coach company but it would make the students stay better if they could go on coach excursions to for example London.
Chain of distribution
The chain of distribution means getting a product to a consumer. For example Hilton Hotels put packages together and give them to tour operators which will give them to travel agencies to sell to the consumers so basically they all work together to ensure consumers get the best deals and packages.
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This diagram shows the traditional way of interrelationships. These days the internet has quite a big role in this business.
The internet replaced the tour operators and the travel agents because more and more consumers use the internet instead of travel agents.
Integration: companies often buy or merge with other businesses to make more profit. This is known as vertical or horizontal integration.
Vertical integration is when a company buys another company. For example if Thomas Cook would buy Hilton Hotels. The benefits to the customers would be: cheaper holidays, better quality holidays, more control over what is sold, less dependency on other suppliers and guaranteed line of supply. The benefits for Thomas Cook would be: discounted products, increased profit for the company, carrier opportunities/job swaps, increased incentive payments and less independency on other suppliers.
Horizontal integration is when for example British Airways would buy the same company so Easy Jet. British Airways would make profit from this because they would have a lot more plains to offer to travellers and have one competitor less which is an advantage. It could be a disadvantage because they will have to take care of a lot more plains and need to come up with the money to buy the other company in first place. It can be an advantage for Easy Jet if they want to give up their business and sell it but it also can be a disadvantage if British Airways would not pay enough money that Easy Jet is satisfied.
The roles of an organisation are to meet key organisational aims, provide products and services (e.g. accommodation, transport and selling products), being responsible to stakeholders (someone that has an interest in the business or who is affected by it),responsible to the environment and contributing to international and UK economies. For example the roles of the company British Airways are to complete their aim which is to make profit so they need to meet the needs of their passengers by providing travel on the routes demanded and good in-flight service, to meet the needs of customers.
There are 5 different aims of organisations: to meet key organisational aims which can include all of the following, for example: Hilton Hotels have to meet their organisational aims such as presenting good quality service to get satisfied customers; be environmentally and ethically responsible this means to take care of the environment and try to be as green as possible, for example: Virgin Trains` new Pendolino trains are environment friendly that’s why customers choose them and no other train organisation to travel with; contributing to international and UK economies this means that the organisation should offer jobs that the economy will benefit from this, for example: Thomas Cook has shops all around the UK and therefore a lot of jobs to offer; be responsible to stakeholders which can be the safety of the customers and providing products and services (e.g. accommodation, transport and selling products) This means offering good services and high quality products.
M1 organisation 1 (Hilton Hotels)
Hilton Hotel meets their key organisational aims through adding more Hilton hotels in more countries and cities to the already existing 540 locations in 78 countries, at the moment Hilton Hotels have 7 more hotels in planning which will be ready at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015. The more Hilton hotels they make in different locations all over the world the more customers they get, so more profit which would meet their key organisational aims. Hilton Hotels is a serviced accommodation that provides B&B (bed and breakfast) in over 550 hotels, free and unlimited Wi-Fi access, family adventure trips, leisure activities like golf and relaxing spas and free parking for 7 nights. Hilton Hotels support global sustainability like reduction of energy use; reduction of carbon output; reduction of waste output and reduction of water use. The customers see that they support global sustainability to be environmentally responsible and therefore will choose The Hilton instead of another hotel. In fact, a Hilton hotel was the first to earn both LEED and Green Seal environmental certifications. Hilton Hotels contributes to international and UK economies through the amount of hotels in 6 continents and over 70 countries including the UK with over 144.000 members. Hilton hotels already have hotels in more countries than any other full-service hotel brand and they are still growing. Hilton Hotels have interrelationships with transport organisations like taxis or coaches. I think the relationships between Hilton Hotels and the transport organisations is fair because if there would not be transport organisations then the customers could not get to the hotel or travel around in destination they stay. And the transport organisations need the customers of the hotels to get more profit. They also have relationships with HHONORS, which is a company where you can exchange miles (from travelling) to points. If you have enough points you can stay at a hotel for free. This is a good partnership because it means that they could potentially get more customers. Even though the customers aren’t paying to stay in the room because HHONORS will take the charge of that, they could also pay for other things in the hotel. Also if they enjoy the stay they might come again or tell others who would then stay and they would pay for the accommodation.
Organisation 2 (Virgin Trains)
Virgin Trains meets their key organisational aims through their future plan to develop a high-speed and frequent rail service. During their 15 years of existence, they took Pendolino and Super Voyager trains into their business which will help them to get more customers therefore sell more tickets. Virgin Trains are already the most experienced train company in Britain. Virgin Trains provide tickets they offer for first class with food and standard tickets without a meal, also family tickets, two for one and group tickets. “Vision for a sustainable and environmentally responsible business will continue to be based on challenge, innovation and always wanting to be better.” With this phrase I found on the Virgin Trains website (http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/assets/pdf/green-policy/on-our-way-to-sustainability.pdf ), they want to show that they are environmentally friendly and will keep wanting to be better even though they are already greener than any other train organisations. The rail transportation has a very positive impact on the UK economy. They provide reliable and frequent services to key commercial centres such as London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, and Edinburgh as well as many regional towns and cities such as Wolverhampton, Stoke, Preston, Carlisle, and Holyhead. Virgin Trains have interrelationships with attractions like Alton Towers this means that customers can get the train straight to Alton Towers and visit the attraction. I think this interrelationship is fair because Alton towers and Virgin Trains take profit from it, as Virgin trains get customers on their trains and Alton Towers also have customers and with quality service come customer retention.
Organisation 3 (Alton Towers)
Alton Towers aim is to engage with the District Council to devise a local success of development which means a sustainable and commercially viable future. Alton Towers is aiming to be one of the best attractions in their location. Their aims were to get more customers through adding more events and possibilities like fireworks, Santa’s lunches and Scarefest to make their stay as joyful as possible and they succeeded and keep on going with their aims to get better and better. Alton Towers provides adult, children, group and family tickets; also they provide accommodation through their own hotel in the theme park. Customers of Alton Towers are also stakeholders because it affects them in what rides they go on, they will also be interested in products and rides they offer therefore Alton Towers is being responsible to stakeholders through keeping the customers safe on their rides. They’re also environmentally and ethically responsible, even though their economy makes a lot of noise, traffic and waste they have environmental teams who control the traffic and take care of the recycling. Because Alton Towers is one of the top 5 tourist attractions they offer a lot of different jobs for young people and is therefore contributing to UK economies. Alton Towers have an interrelationship with Virgin Trains which have collaborated to provide an inclusive ticket which provides transport from various locations and admission to the theme park which I explained in the previous paragraph.
Thomas Cook and their interrelationships
Thomas Cook have an interrelationship with Disneyland which means that customers can visit one of the two thousand travel agent shops in the UK to book a holiday in Disneyland. I think this is a fair interrelationship because Thomas Cook makes a profit through offering a visit to an exciting attraction for the whole family and Disneyland gets new customers for their theme park because Thomas Cook put Disneyland as an attraction in several packages which include transport and stay. Also, Disneyland will be promoted on the Thomas Cook website (http://www.thomascook.com/ ). Thomas Cook also has had an interrelationship with the Olympics through sponsoring them in 2012. Thomas Cook provided a range of short break packages which included accommodation, transport and event tickets for the Games in a ÂŁ20 million ($32 million) deal. The Olympics get more customers through letting Thomas Cook organise the whole package that customers will not have to bother about stays and transport. Also everyone thought that Thomas Cook made profit from this because they offer the package to customers through which they will earn more money and also advertisements for their company that will help Thomas Cook promoting their travel agent organisation but after Thomas Cook published their report it turned out that the company has lost around 17 million pound during this interrelationship. Therefore I do not think that this was a fair interrelationship. Interrelationships are very important for Thomas Cook because as a travel agent they need options to offer people and the more they have the more they can offer people and therefore earn more money but only as long as it is a fair interrelationship.
