Introduction the Travel and Tourism Industry Is Dynamic, Exciting and Provides a Challenging Working Environment
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Investigating 1travel and tourism Introduction The travel and tourism industry is dynamic, exciting and provides a challenging working environment. If you’re reading this book, it’s likely that you’re considering a career in travel and tourism and that you’re beginning your studies of the industry. This unit aims to give you a sound introduction to the industry so that you gain an overview of its various components and how they link together. You will also study the roles and responsibilities of travel and tourism organisations within the different sectors of the industry. You will learn about the development of the industry, particularly from the 1960s to the present day. You will find out how changes in demand, new travel and tourism products and changes in the distribution of products have affected the industry. You will also look at the factors which currently affect the travel and tourism industry and are likely to affect future trends in its development. After completing this unit you should be able to achieve the following outcomes: 1 Know the components of travel and tourism and how they interrelate 2 Know the roles and responsibilities of travel and tourism organisations within the different sectors 3 Understand how recent developments have shaped the present-day travel and tourism industry 4 Understand the trends and factors affecting the development of travel and tourism. [2] BTEC National | Travel & Tourism | Book 1 1.1 Investigating Thinking points You need to understand what is meant by the travel and tourism industry before you start your studies, and hopefully you will realise that it is not just about travel and tourism exotic holidays – although they are covered! Tourism is the provision of services to tourists. Everything that tourists do while they are away is considered part of the travel and tourism industry. Tourism is a significant contributor to the UK economy; many businesses depend on tourism, directly or indirectly. Many businesses in tourism are very small. Government figures show that the tourism industry consists of 127,000 businesses and that 80 per cent of these have a turnover of less than £250,000 per year. Five per cent of all people in employment work in tourism, that is 1.5 million people. The businesses which make up the travel industry are complex and diverse. In this section of the unit we will examine the various components which make up the industry. Who do you think make up the travel and tourism industry? How many travel and tourism organisations can you name? [3] 1: Investigating travel and tourism 1.1 Know the components of travel and tourism and how they interrelate By components of travel and tourism we mean the Inbound tourists are those coming in to visit a country different parts of the industry that provide travel which is not their country of residence, for the purposes and tourism products and services. None of these of tourism. If a tourist comes from the USA to the UK, components is able to work in isolation. Each one relies then they are inbound to the UK. This also means that on one or more of the other component parts to be able they are an outbound tourist from their own country. In to operate. the same way, you are an outbound tourist from the UK if you go to Spain on holiday. Inbound tourists to the UK spent about £14.25 Visitor attractions Accommodation billion in 2005. Domestic tourists are those people who are travelling within their own country Ancillary services Travel and tourism Transport for tourism purposes. People on day Industry trips are not officially tourists as they are not staying away from home. Statistics consider tourists to be people who stay Tourism development Tour operations Travel agents and promotion away for at least one night. However, as day trippers spend a lot of money in the tourism sector, particularly on travel Figure 1.1 Components of the travel and tourism industry and in the visitor attractions sector, it is important to measure the value of their spending. In England, this is measured in the Leisure Visits Survey. Day visitors spent almost £37.4 billion in 2005. Tourists There are many types of tourists, but for statistical Accommodation purposes they are categorised according to their purpose There are many different types of accommodation of travel, broadly as follows: available in the travel and tourism industry. We will look • leisure at the different types. Remember that accommodation • business can be serviced, which means that meals are on offer and • visiting friends and relatives (VFR). your room will be cleaned for you, or it can be non- serviced where you look after yourself and do your own Leisure travel includes travel for holidays, cultural cleaning, shopping and cooking. events, recreation, sports, religion and study. Business travel includes all travel for business reasons, such as meetings, conferences and exhibitions. Usually Hotels business travellers have their expenses paid by their Hotels may be independently owned or part of large company, which can make a difference to the services chains. The chains tend to be more impersonal, but they choose or have chosen on their behalf. they do provide consistency of quality throughout the VFR accounts for many trips, particularly within world. For example, if you were to stay in a Mercure the UK. hotel in London or in Paris, the room would offer In addition you should know about some other types of exactly the same facilities, and often the layout is tourists. exactly the same. [4] BTEC National | Travel & Tourism | Book 1 1.1 Activity Study each of the examples below. What kind of tourists are they? Note that some examples might fit into more than one category. Example Type of tourist Marianne is taking a holiday in the UK. She lives in Austria. Raj is going on holiday to Bournemouth. He lives in Leicester. Year 11 at Chichester Village College are going to visit Leeds Castle for the day. Sheena and Donald are going to Madrid for a weekend break. They live in Glasgow. Mary is a sales director. She is going to a sales conference in Barcelona. The Patel family are going on holiday to Disneyland, Paris. Jerry goes to visit his father in Dublin every Christmas. Mario is visiting the UK to undertake a language course. Many hotels are owned by international groups who encompass several chains within them, aiming at different types of customers. An example is InterContinental Hotels Group, a large international group that has 3500 hotels. They are not all owned outright – some are run on a franchise arrangement. This means that the owner pays for the right to use the hotel name, but in return must follow corporate policies. InterContinental Hotels brands are: • Crowne Plaza • Holiday Inn • Express by Holiday Inn • Holiday Inn Express • Staybridge Suites • Candlewood Suites. There are many more hotel groups, and you will be familiar with names like Best Western and Moat House. Hotels offer many products and services, catering for different customers, and the prestigous and more expensive hotels like Sofitel, offer greater luxury. In addition, hotels cater for both business and leisure customers so they need a range of products to suit each type. Conference customers may come for just a day and will need different services from that of the residents. Figure 1.2 Express by Holiday Inn is part of the InterContinental hotel group and aims to provide comfortable, modern accommodation at affordable prices 1: Investigating travel and tourism [] Assessment practice 1 List the hotels in your town or local area. Find out Self-catering which ones belong to which group. Are there any independent hotels? P1 Self-catering accommodation may be in holiday parks or in rented apartments or houses. Cooking facilities will 2 Choose one of the hotels in your area. Describe how the hotel appeals to different tourists. be provided. 3 Explain how your chosen hotel interrelates with other areas of travel and tourism, for example tour Youth hostels operators or transport providers. Make sure your examples include domestic, inbound and The Youth Hostel Association (YHA), which is a charity outbound tourism. P2 M1 serving the needs of young people, runs hostels in the UK. However, you do not have to be a young person to be a member. It is very cheap to join the YHA and some of the hostels are of a very high standard, almost like Grading tips hotels. There are 226 youth hostels in both city and rural To reach Pass level, you would need to describe the locations in the UK. The original aim of the YHA was to facilities of the hotel and say what type of tourist it promote love, care and understanding of the countryside appeals to. in principle and in practice. To reach Merit level, you would need to think about There is also an International Youth Hostel Federation, all the other organisations the hotel works with with 5000 hostels in 60 countries. The YHA provides not and how they are interdependent. You could draw only accommodation but a range of activity holidays. a diagram illustrating the relationships, along with explanatory notes. Campus accommodation Universities are keen to rent out their halls of residence outside term time. They encourage conference trade as Guest accommodation they can also offer meeting rooms and catering facilities. This includes bed and breakfast accommodation, This is an excellent means of using empty rooms and guesthouses and farmhouses. Homeowners who increasing revenue during students’ holidays. wish to capitalise on the extra space they might have available often run this type of accommodation.