Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
for visitors. Natural areas such as mountains, lakes and
beaches play an important part in attracting visitors
to tourist destinations in the UK and further afi eld. All
organisations involved with travel and tourism must
play their part in helping to protect the environment.
Tourism must also respect the people and communities
that exist in the tourist destinations, by acting ethically
at all times. This topic is covered in more detail in Unit
12 Responsible Tourism. Organisations such as the
Travel Foundation have been set up to respond to
concerns about the negative environmental and ethical
impacts of travel and tourism.
•
Inbound visitors spend more than £16 billion each
year and contribute more than £3 billion in taxes to
the UK economy.
Interrelationships in the travel and
tourism sector
We have seen in this unit that the travel and tourism
sector is made up of many different component
industries, e.g. accommodation, attractions, transport
companies, tourism development and promotion, etc.
Individual businesses must work in partnership with
other organisations in order to be successful. A hotel,
for example, may work with local tourist attractions and
events to offer its guests discounted admission prices.
Tour operators use airlines and hotels when assembling
their holidays, which are sold through travel agents. Tour
operators work with tourist boards when introducing
and promoting new holiday destinations. These are
just a few examples of the many interrelationships in
travel and tourism.
Weblink
Check out this website for more
information on the work of the Travel
Foundation.
www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk
Contributions to the economy
Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK, as well
as being a major contributor to the global economy.
Key facts from a recent Deloitte study, The Economic
Contribution of the Visitor Economy, include:
Travel and tourism is a very competitive and complex
sector and many companies develop links with other
businesses as a way of maximising their profi ts and
increasing their share of the market. Some of these
alliances are friendly and benefi t both parties, but
some are classed as 'hostile', i.e. when one company
attempts to take over another which would rather stay
independent.
•
The nations' tourism was worth £115.4 billion to the
UK economy in 2009 once the direct and indirect
impacts are taken into account;
•
This is equivalent to 8.9% of UK gross domestic
product (GDP);
Chains of distribution
•
The number of jobs that tourism supports is forecast
to increase by 250,000 between 2010 and 2020,
from 2.645 million to 2.899 million;
Figure 1.12 shows the traditional chain of distribution
in travel and tourism, where tour operators (the
'wholesalers') use the services of hotels, airlines, etc.
(known as 'principals') to put together holidays and
travel products, which are sold to consumers via travel
agencies (the 'retailers').
•
One in twelve jobs in the UK is currently either
directly or directly supported by tourism;
•
Tourism expenditure is forecast to grow at an annual
real growth rate of 3.0% per annum over the period
2010 to 2020;
We saw earlier in this unit that technology is having a
major effect on the way that holidays and other travel
products are sold to customers. This means that the
traditional chain of distribution is being altered in a
number of ways, often leaving out the travel agent
or tour operator. This is most apparent when people
use the internet to book their own fl ights and hotel
•
Spending by inbound visitors is forecast to grow at
a faster rate than spending by domestic residents
(4.4% versus 2.6%);
•
Tourism is the UK's third highest export earner
behind chemicals and fi nancial services;
