Travel and Tourism

BTEC Level 3 National Travel and Tourism

AS1 Interview

What experience do you have of the travel and tourism sector? Interview a family member about a holiday or trip they have been on (the most recent they can think of) and make notes on all the aspects of the trip using the following table.

Question Response Sector component

Where did you (or someone else) book the holiday or trip?

What did the holiday or trip include?

What documents did you need for travel?

How did you travel?

Where did you stay?

What facilities did you use while you were away?

What sources of information did you use prior to going away?

What sources of information did you use whilst away?

Complete the second column with your interviewee’s answers and then try to complete the third column with the relevant component of the sector. For example, travelling by plane as a response leads to the transport (air) component of the sector. Keep all your information for a group discussion. Discuss how many of the components are needed for a holiday. Are any more important than others?

10 © Pearson Education Ltd 2010. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. BTEC Level 3 National Travel and Tourism Unit 1 Investigating the travel and tourism sector

AS2 Trip of a lifetime

Design a diagram to illustrate the links between the different components of the travel and tourism sector. Include text, pictures, diagrams and cuttings showing different types of organisation and how they are linked. Make some explanatory notes that could be displayed alongside. Your diagram should relate to the following scenario.

Panday Rafir is going on the trip of a lifetime to Australia. Her dad has given her £4,000 to spend. She has made a list of all the things she needs to do to plan her trip. Of course, she may use travel agents or other organisations to do some of the things on her list.

Your poster or diagram should indicate the various components of the sector that Panday will use and how they link together. For example, if a travel agent contacts an airline to book Panday’s ticket to Australia, the travel agent is linked to the airline, as they book a ticket using the airline’s reservation system and get paid a commission by the airline for making the booking. Remember to add explanatory notes to make the different links clear.

Here is Panday’s list. Tick each item as it is dealt with.

To Do:

● Find out about Perth and Sydney to plan where to go and what to see

● Book a ticket from Sydney to Perth

● Research prices of air tickets to Sydney from London and book

● Visit Trailfinders to ask their advice on tickets

● Find out if there is any government advice about travelling to Australia

● Arrange to collect mail somewhere in Sydney

● Get a passport

● Get a visa

● Find out any medical requirements

● Arrange a place to stay for the first few nights in Sydney

● Get some Australian dollars and a pay-as-you go credit card

● Get insured

● Buy a rucksack

AS3 Profit or not?

Who does what?

Match up the organisations with the different sectors. Fill in the table below, listing whether the organisations shown are in the profit or not-for-profit sector.

Organisation Profit or not-for-profit

Brighton Tourist Information Centre

The National Trust

Department for Culture, Media and

Sport

TUI

Tourism Concern

East of England Development Agency

Holiday Inn

Ryanair

English Heritage

Travel Weekly

The National Portrait Gallery

Alton Towers

The Museum of the Moving Image

Civil Aviation Authority

Youth Hostel Association

12 © Pearson Education Ltd 2010. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. BTEC Level 3 National Travel and Tourism Unit 1 Investigating the travel and tourism sector

AS4 National Air Traffic Services (NATS)

Read the following extract from the NATS website.

NATS provides air traffic control services at 15 of the UK’s biggest airports, and ‘en route’ air traffic services for aircraft flying through UK airspace. This year we will handle more than 2 million flights carrying over 220 million passengers.

We compete for our business at the airports and have won all 15 of our contracts by being extremely good at what we do and the service we can offer. In 2005, we won our first overseas contract, for RAF Gibraltar.

We operate under licence from the Civil Aviation Authority. NATS currently provides ‘en route’ air traffic control services from four centres:

● London Area Control Centre at Swanwick, Hampshire ● London Terminal Control Centre at West Drayton, Middlesex ● Scottish Area Control Centre and Oceanic Area Control Centre at Prestwick, Ayrshire ● Manchester Area Control Centre located at Manchester Airport.

NATS’ long-term strategy is to rationalise its operations to two centres – the Swanwick Centre in Hampshire and a new Prestwick Centre alongside our existing centre in Ayrshire, opened in 2009.

NATS operates at all six BAA airports including Heathrow, the world’s busiest for international traffic. It also handles traffic at Gatwick, the world’s busiest single runway airport and other key regional gateways such as Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow and at developing airports such as London City, Luton, Southampton and Farnborough.

1. Find out the ownership of NATS and make notes.

2. Summarise the main role of NATS.

3. Find out if NATS offers any other services. If so, note what they are.

Stretch

NATS wins its contracts against other service providers. Who are they? Who else provides air traffic control services in the UK? Find out and see what their performance record is like.

AS7 Key travel and tourism organisations

Complete the following table with information about the roles and responsibilities of key travel and tourism organisations.

Organisation Website address Role and responsibility Examples of members Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO)

Federation of Tour Operators (FTO)

ABTA – The Travel Association

English Heritage

Passenger Shipping Association

The National Trust

Stretch

Using a range of resources such as newspapers, travel journals and the Internet, carry out research to find out what these organisations are currently up to.

14 © Pearson Education Ltd 2010. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. BTEC Level 3 National Travel and Tourism Unit 1 Investigating the travel and tourism sector

AS8 New developments in travel and tourism

What are the new developments?

Research some new developments in travel and tourism by reading current travel sections in the travel trade magazines and online. Look for examples of the use of new technology in transport, and the introduction of new destinations and the targeting of new markets by tour operators.

Look at the introduction of the Dreamliner. Look at the upcoming new destinations for 2019.

Transport development

Choose a current development in transport. Examples could be the introduction of a new aeroplane, a new high-speed rail link or a new runway or terminal at an airport. How will the new technology affect tourism?

AS9 Analysis and evaluation

The table below shows the number of passengers who travelled within the European Union from the UK, by ferry or through the Channel Tunnel.

Year Dover Other East Coast Channel Total (‘000s) Air (‘000s) seaports Channel ports (‘000s) Tunnel (‘000s) ports (‘000s) (‘000s) 1999 4,972 2,256 595 5,849 13,672 23,740 2000 4,674 1,960 605 5,732 12,971 26,307 2004 4,259 1,773 739 4,804 11,575 38,207 2007 4,082 1,461 624 4,637 10,804 42,600 2008 3,938 1,320 666 4,813 10,737 42,120

1. Concentrating on the Dover, other and East Coast seaports and Channel Tunnel data, identify any significant increase or decrease and explain possible reasons for them.

2. Compare the total data for all seaports and Channel Tunnel against the data for air travel and explain possible reasons for increases and decreases in either form of transport.

16 © Pearson Education Ltd 2010. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. BTEC Level 3 National Travel and Tourism Unit 1 Investigating the travel and tourism sector

AS12 UK residents’ visits abroad

Study the statistics shown in the table below.

Year Visits abroad by UK residents (thousands)

1982 20,611

1987 27,447

1992 33,836

1997 45,957

2002 59,377

2008 69,011

Source: International Passenger Survey. To obtain a secure link to this website, see the Hotlinks section on page viii.

Find some up-to-date statistics and then write some notes commenting on:

● the changes year to year ● the overall trend ● the impact of the trend on organisations in the UK travel and tourism sector.

AS13 Changes

Task 1: Lifestyles

Scenario: 1970 Frank Bratby is planning his annual family holiday with his wife, Margaret, and their two daughters. They go in June when their northern town has its annual two week ‘Wakes’ period. Then all the factories, shops and schools close and most people go away. The Bratby family have been to Blackpool several times, so Frank and Margaret decide to go to the south of England. They have made this long journey before, as Margaret has a sister who lives in Portsmouth. They used to travel by coach, but they now have a small car and will drive to their holiday. This year, they decide to go to Bournemouth and in January book two rooms in a guest house that has been recommended by a friend. They will share the bathroom with the other guests. They will have bed, breakfast and an evening meal, which is served at 6 p.m. sharp. During the day they will not have access to the guest house so they book a beach hut and they will spend all their days at the beach. In the evenings they will go for walks along the prom and go to a couple of shows. The journey to Bournemouth takes some route planning and will take about eight hours. They will stop on the way to eat the sandwiches they have prepared for the journey. In April, Margaret and the girls will plan their shopping to buy summer clothes for the holiday. They expect much better weather in the south.

Scenario: 2011 The King family are planning their holiday. It is the end of June and they want to book somewhere warm and sunny for the first week of the school holidays at the end of July. They have already had a skiing holiday at February half- term. Martha and Simon, the parents, have had two city breaks with friends. Their daughters, Marie and Sarah, have been on a school trip to the French battlefields. Marie and Sarah want to go to Egypt as they have been studying the history of Egypt and they saw a television programme about Nile cruises. Martha has been looking on the Internet to find good deals to anywhere sunny. She wants to fly from their local airport if possible as there is an easy train link from where they live. She said she might book directly with Thomson online as it is slightly cheaper. Simon told her not to buy insurance with the holiday as he was going to buy an annual policy that would cover all their trips. He also suggested that Martha look at websites and check prices of air tickets to Florida. They have been there twice and loved Disneyland! Martha said she wasn’t sure about going to the USA at the moment as security checks were taking so long. Simon replied that the sooner those passports with fingerprints were introduced the better!

Compare the two families’ holiday plans in the scenarios above, outlining the similarities and differences. Explain why these changes have come about over the intervening 30 years. What do you think will change in the next five years? Keep all your notes to contribute to a group discussion.

Task 2: What is a new destination?

Brochures or the trade press often advertise destinations as ‘new’. Travel trade magazines report when tour operators start to provide holidays to a ‘new’ destination. Answer the following questions about a new destination of your choice:

● Why is the destination described as new? ● Is it easy to access? ● Is it safe? ● Do the facilities support tourism? ● What kind of people go there?