Travel & Tourism Today
Trends and Factors affecting Travel and Tourism
Word Count: 1871 Author: Kimi Ural Created: 2014
Trends and factors have had an impact on the travel and tourism sector because they change the way people behave. Factors for example are a reason why people would not want to go to their planned destination because they cannot afford it or they are too scared to get harmed from natural disasters, health warnings and epidemics, terrorism or environmental issues. Trends could be a reason why people would want to go to a specific destination because it is popular at the moment or they have a holiday home ownership.
Factors affecting Travel and Tourism
Natural disasters are a major disaster resulting from natural progresses of the Earth which can include: floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis. For example on the 26th of December 2004 a tsunami in the Indian Ocean destroyed Ao Nang which is in Thailand. The majority of the hotels and houses collapsed under the pressure of the massive tsunami where 166.000 people died and over 500.000 people survived with injure. This had an impact on the local Travel and Tourism industry because the once who survived lost everything they had so they would not be able to afford a stay in a hotel. Also it would not be possible because a lot of the hotels got destroyed which will affect the international Travel and Tourism at the same time because tourists would not want to visit Ao Nang when there is nothing except destroyed places. Another example would be the earthquake in Yunnan in China which happened recently at the 3rd of august in 2014 where 617 died and 112 went missing. Yunnan is a common place for earthquakes which has a massive impact on the local and international Travel and Tourism industry because it would not benefit someone to build up a hotel in that area; it will get destroyed with the next earthquake. Also people have the fear to die if they would visit the destination therefore they would not risk their life to stay in Yunnan. The ash cloud in Iceland hindered 100.000 flights through the shut of Europe’s airspace for 6 days in 2014. This affected the international and local Travel and Tourism because people were stranded all around the world until the airspace was open again therefore people had to stay longer in their destination than planned which can be an advantage because for example the accommodation owners will make more profit but it can also be a disadvantage if the accommodation has not got enough room for the stranded tourists to stay in or if their room is already booked for the next tourist.
Health warnings, epidemics & pandemics can be an epidemic which is an outbreak of a transmittable disease which quickly spreads through passing it from one person to another or a pandemic which would be epidemic of an infectious disease that spreads out worldwide. This includes flus for example the swine flu which began in March 2009 in Mexico. The swine flu spread out rapidly all around Mexico and killed 398 people in total. This had an impact on the international Travel and Tourism industry because people cancelled their holiday to avoid to get infected. It also affected the local Travel and Tourism industry because people got too ill to work and therefore lost money. Mexico made a loss of $25.000.000 because of the high costs the first aid they needed to cure the flu therefore this factor is a disadvantage for the Travel and Tourism industry. The most recent epidemic would be Ebola which is a hemorrhagig fever that broke out 2013 in West Africa and is still ongoing. Ebola had an impact on the international Travel and Tourism sector because North Korea stopped all international flights in October 2014 to avoid the risk to get infected, which means that around 5.000 had to cancel their flights from North Korea into another country. Therefore the world will lose some travellers and the outbound travel agents in North Korea will not be able to earn money until the international flights are active again which is a disadvantage for the international Travel and Tourism industry but an advantage for the local Travel and Tourism because the people will stay in North Korea and spend their money in their area.
Terrorism is currently a major factor why travel destinations and transport changed. For example Erol Incedal gun attacked the streets of London in 2013. This had a negative impact on the local Travel and Tourism because people decided to cancel their trips to London since the dangerous attack, therefore London made a dramatic loss on tourists and the money they would have investigated into accommodations and transport. It also had a negative impact on the national Travel and Tourism sector because the terrorism act has been in the news and the whole world was able to find out therefore they might think that England or the UK is a dangerous place to visit so they would not book a holiday into that area. Another example could be an attempted tourism act like Nazis organized in 2012 where they planned to place a nuclear bomb at The Olympics to blow up the event and the Queen. This was all over the news and show that the securities did not do their job well which had a negative impact on the national Travel and Tourism industry because the world saw the danger in the country and did not want to go there. It also had a negative impact on the local Travel and Tourism because people got scared that they will try to blow up The Olympics again and therefore will not go to this event which means that travel agents who offer this event will lose customers and therefore money.
Environmental issues are issues coursed from the environment like the Global warming. The global warming had a negative impact on the travel and tourism sector for example because of the rise of sea levels which will submerge small islands which are depending on the tourism and under threat. The melting of snow and glaciers are also causes of the rising sea level and have a negative impact on the Travel and Tourism sector because it affects mountains and ski resorts which means that travellers cannot book a ski holiday. The Travel and Tourism sector can also take an advantage from the global warming, such as longer beach seasons and the development of rural and seaside tourism.
Trends affecting Travel and Tourism
Holiday home ownerships can be an accommodation away from their normal living space like an apartment in another city or country. Some holiday places offer holiday home ownerships for example Rockley Park offers luxury 2-3 bedroom houses next to the sea which cost around £25.301. This affected the local Travel and Tourism because more people can visit the park daily and do not need to worry about the transport they would need if they would stay in a hotel near the park therefore people who can afford it are most likely to get a holiday home ownership and stay there. The advantage of this can be that you have your own home and can go there anytime. A disadvantage could be that often like at the Rockley Park the houses are very close together so you will not get that much privacy. Another example could be www.ukpark.com that provides caravans as holiday ownerships which are cheaper than the luxury houses at Rockley Park which means that more people can afford it. Holiday caravans affected the international Travel and Tourism industry when in2009 because the purchase of holiday home ownerships increased by 2.6%, to reach record levels of 245,384 and in2010 it increased again by 2% therefore more organisations try to provide holiday home ownerships to get more profit.
Greater flexibility of booking which means people these days can easily and quickly book a holiday online 24 hours a day, for example through the internet on the direct website of the company or simply google a holiday place to get more information. This affected the Travel and tourism industry because it is a lot quicker and cheaper than going to a travel agent. This means more people book their holiday online rather than going to a travel agent therefore travel agents will lose money and a lot of the shops will shut down in the future because less people use their service and they cannot afford to keep their staff. Call centres could be another example for people who do not know how to use the internet for example older people, and people who prefer to talk to a person rather than researching several organisations on their own.
Decline in passenger numbers is a short-term trend which still had a serious impact on the travel and tourism sector. Between 2009 and 2010 a lot of people lost money therefore they declined their flights because they could not afford the holiday anymore. This affected the local Travel and tourism industry in London for example; the transport has decreased through the missing tourists which mean that London made a dramatic loss because it is a tourist city. It also affected the national travel and tourism because not a lot people came into the UK because of the decline at airlines and hotels which is a disadvantage because a lot of people in the UK go on holiday and spend their money in other countries therefore the UK needs a lot of tourists to come up for this.
Opportunities for adventure Which are the different adventure trips tourists can book and go to have had an impact on the national travel and tourism industry because a lot of people these days want to do go on an adventure and have an amazing experience whether they are young people and want to go bungee jumping or older couples who would want to go on a calm safari trip to watch birds. Through more and more people wanting adventures, travel agents are responsible for providing a variety of different adventure trips. This is an advantage because travel agents can sell adventure packages easier. It can also be a disadvantage because travel agents will need to offer a variety of different adventure trips that the customers go to their travel agent rather than another one.
Thomas Cook
Environmental issues affected the Thomas Cook Airlines through more and more people wanting to travel green so without living a carbon footprint, Thomas Cook Airlines were responsible for providing a more environmentally friendly service which they successfully presented in 2010. On the Thomas Cook website (thomascook.com) it says that Thomas Cook Airlines recognise that aviation is a contributor to climate change and are committed to reducing our impacts where we can. It is important that we use our aviation fuel efficiently in order to reduce CO2 emission. The Airline is also implementing an Environmental Management System and has developed an environmental policy to demonstrate commitment to the environment.
Intrepid
Intrepid was also affected by the environmental issues, on their website intrepidtravel.com it says that the Intrepid recognises that climate change is one of the most urgent problems facing our world today. Therefore the company decided in December 2006 to follow a carbon management plan to reach their goal to become a carbon neutral company which they archived in 2010.
