HistoryBased on my perception, I would categorize the history of travel & tourism

industry in three different time bands as follows:

● Before 1945

● 1945-1979

● 1980 to current day

Before 1945

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In ancient times and approximately till the end of the 16th century people were

living in agricultural communities was stationary, seldom moving from the local

area and rural community. "Even with the beginning of the industrial revolution,

which was making a slow start in the 18th century in urban and factory

development, a richer 'elite' class alone enjoyed leisure and travel, while the

workers worked in situ. Indeed as industrialization got under way leisure time or

holidays where they existed tended to decrease" (Lickorish, Jenkins, 1997)

Prior to the 1950s, tourism was an industry which was inconsistent; hotels,

transport operators, tour operators, travel agents, all tended to work separately.

Hotels were mainly in the business to sell bed nights. Railways and airlines were

in the business to sell seats, Travel agents, were selling travel and holidays

however in each case they tended to work very much independently.

Up until 1946, i.e. the period between the world wars, much of international travel

was for the privileged, wealthy and elite groups in society.

"Thomas Cook introduced the first package tour in 1841, but in fact by that time

the railways (The first passenger railway (Liverpool and Manchester) opened in

1830) themselves were offering excursion trips, for a traffic which they had not

originally expected to carry. The first objective had been carriage of freight, and

secondly the provision of faster transport for the current stagecoach travelers at

far from cheap prices. The popularity of cheap excursion fares for special events

was not expected" (Lickorish, Jenkins, 1997)

1945-1979If we look at the year 1945 as the year in which the development of the main

growth in the tourism industry started, we can construct some general

explanation concerning to the changes which one can differentiate in the tourism

industry.

From the mid-1950s onwards, mainly in the UK, the development of tour

operators started changing the character of the industry from individual business

activities to more integrated activities. "Hotels, for example, were beginning to

see customers as wanting a range of services rather than simply buying

accommodation. So hotels began to develop shopping arcades and later to offer

secretarial centers in order to increase the spend of guests within the hotel

complex. Transport operators, particularly in the airline business, saw the sale of

transport services as being integral to a much wider need. Airlines offered

insurance and accommodation booking for travelers" (Lickorish, Jenkins, 1997)

From 1950 onwards a combination of factors, such as increase in free time

availability, increase in paid holidays, improvement of package tours, and growth

in air transport - all combined to offer a wider possible holiday-taking market. This

market was different regarding socioeconomic groups from the pre-1950 era.

1980 to current dayBy the 1980s several airlines were offering full travel services such as

arrangements for holidays, medical services, hiring car, etc.

By 1990 the formation of the tourism industry, especially in the United Kingdom

and Europe, was effected by the development of a number of very big

companies. "In the USA, American anti-trust laws discouraged, if not prohibited,

the development of large integrated companies". The experience of American in

operational tour has been very different from Europe, mainly compared with the

United Kingdom (Lickorish, Jenkins, 1997).

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Air travel improved even more rapidly. Nevertheless, this is only piece of the

story, as nonscheduled traffic (charter services) increased considerably as well.

"Making up an estimated 18 per cent of total movement by the 1980s and 50 per

cent or more on European routes, where the charter traffic took over the greater

part of the holiday movement, as tour operators developed their own services"

(Lickorish, Jenkins, 1997)

FutureThe tourism business is likely to make important help to global economic

development in the twenty first century. The cultural trade and understanding that

is brought about through tourism is causing a more peaceful and internationalized

universal society. Besides contributing to the expansion and renovation of local

economies and communities, tourism development is playing an important role in

both enhancing education and improving the position of the tourism business

aimed at nurturing the next generation of those ready to take on the tourism

business.

1.2

The structure of the Travel and Tourism industry consists of six components of

sectors.There is the TOURIST ATTRACTION, a location visited by the

tourist.Immediate examples called to mind are Blackpool beach or Alton

Towers.To arrive at the destination TRANSPORT is required.This could be by

train or car etc.ACCOMODATION has to be available for any visits extending

more than a day so there are hotels,guest houses caravans.TOUR OPERATORS

then combine these components into a package fulfilling all the customers'

requirements and then refer to the TRAVEL AGENT.Or if wishing to eliminate this

it is sold directly to the customer.Holidays are sold with brochures with the Travel

Agents earning a small commission for his/her services.TOURISM AND

DEVELOPMENT situated all over the country ensure that prospective visitors

learn of their location and all it has to offer by extensive advertising and

promotion work.

ATTRACTIONS are either natural in themselves or are man-made.It is easy to

think of natural attractions eg Lake District or Blackpool Beach that has some

6million visitors each year.Man-made attractions are constructed for tourists.Alton

Towers is a very famous theme park full of activities for the family originating as a

stately home.Other very famous attractions are the London Eye,Tower of

London,Eden Project Legoland Windsor.

TRANSPORT forms at least 25% of a tourist's outlay for a trip.With many ways of

getting around it forms a major role in the tourism industry.In order to get to their

destination it usually involves at least two forms of transport.The public in the UK

expect a high standard of service involving all forms of travel information.

The rail network has been extensively modernised with many private companies

competing with each other.Virgin,GNER and Eurostar.Over 5million passengers

travel each year with Eurostar through the channel tunnel.Train journeying has

declined somewhat but some services are paying their way.Coach travel has

always been an essential and popular form of transport enabling the public to

travel at very low cost including abroad.National Express and Eurolines carry

more than 12million passengers a year to over 1200 destinations.

Air travel may consist of scheduled flights flying to strict timetables.Especially

important for business people.And there are charter flights with planes hired for

certain journeys at no set time.Some large tour operators own their own charter

airlines.More than 75% of all package holidays use air travel.

The sea ferries have become very popular for visiting Ireland and France.There is

also hovercraft.Cruising around the Mediterranean has maintained its worth with

P&O.

Accomodation is naturally very important to the travel and tourism

industry.Consisting of hotels,B&B's with overall standards significantly

improved.Travel inns,campsites,caravans and self-catering villas all contribute to

the industry.Over recent years self-catering where you supply your own food and

meals has grown in popularity.Half-board offers you breakfast and tea with full-

board supplying everything.

TOUR OPERATORS produce holidays in the form of a package.A contract is

negotiated with accommodation and transport providers.Buying in bulk reduces

overhead costs and the holiday is presented as a brochure to the travel

agents.And then sold;either directly or via the agent.There are four types of tour

operators.Mass Market;examples are Thomas Cook,Thomson,First

Choice.Holidays offered would be an all-inclusive city break,the Lakes and

Mountains.Specialist Holidays for the special interests of the holidaymaker.18-30

Club;Seniors(Young at Heart).Domestic Holidays such as Butlins;Health

Spas.Holidays for overseas tourists visiting the country.Usually providing guides

for the history and culture of the UK.Catering mainly for the Americans and

Japanese.

TRAVEL AGENTS do their job of selling the brochures.This is the link between

tour operators and the public.They usually cater for specialist holidays.There are

multiple travel agents with agencies all around the UK.The most famous are

Going Places,Thomson and Lunn Poly.There are miniples consisting of about

twenty to thirty shops.Independent travel agents are small and family owned.Very

popular are Call Centres where the customer can book a holiday by phone.

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT Tourist boards offer information concerning the

region involved to prospective visitors.Clients can pop into a tourist information

centre to obtain literature and anything else concerning the area.The tourist

information board is concerned with promotion in any form.For advice and

information and to undertake research.Blue Badge Guides have very intensive

and specific training to provide tours of their respective regions for visitors.

The Travel and Tourism industry has changed dramatically as a result of the

amount of integration.Integration has both a positive and negative effect on the

industry.Vertical integration occurs when an organisation buys another at a

different level on the buying chain.An example is Thomson who bought Britannia

Airways together with Lunn Poly the travel agent.Britannia Airways is allowed by

the parent to offer lower fares.The tour operator makes more profit.But the travel

agent only receives a low rate of commission leaving most of the profit to the tour

operator.Integration is good if it permits the organisation to control pricing and

communicates well with every level of such a chain.

An organisation buys another that is on the same level of the buying chain. 'Go'

then owned by British Airways was bought out by EasyJet. This move resulted in

'power branding' where all logos of 'Go' became that of EasyJet.This occurred a

negative impact with customers.Prices were able to be controlled by EasyJet.But

the resultant for EasyJet is more market space for self-promotion.

Tour operators have a much larger market share than travel agents.Thus upon

integration with a tour operator the agent sells and promotes the services of the

operator.The rate of commission is in the control of the tour operator.

The independent travel agents are seriously affected by integration.The tour

operators and airlines will sell their products over the internet directly. 'Niche'

markets are developing to meet the needs of the customers in the high street and

prefer personal attention in such matters.

The airlines have also been affected by integration.British Airways tried to merge

with American Airlines but IATA said no,because such a pairing would dominate

completely transatlantic flights.

Horizontal and vertical integration has significantly reduced competition within the

industy.The demand from the public has set a pattern.Smaller companies are not

going to be able to cope.A large organisation can absorb failure impact if the

arrangement does not work.For a smalle company such failure would spell ruin.

3.1

Natural Disasters can have a big affect on tourism. For example the ash cloud in 2011 caused flights to be cancelled or delayed and many of the airlines were in trouble with covering all the travel insurances at the same time.

An underwater earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, struck 10km under the sea’s surface on the North coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The earthquake displaced tectonic plates on the sea floor, resulting in the tsunami. The tsunami had two main affects on tourism:

1.) Creating the image the area was unsafe2.)Physical damage to the area ( Leaving most tourist resorts in ruins.)

Tourism was of great importance to Thailand, it contributed to the economy of the country and local economy (tourism accounted for almost 6% of GDP in 2002 and the hotel and restaurant sector accounts for 3.8% of Thailand’s GDP). This is even more so in Phuket where tourism accounted for 42% of the area’s gross provisional product.

Also the Hurricane Sandy which hit east coast of the US had a big affect on transport. Public transport was suspended in the US capital, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. Amtrak has suspended passenger train services across the north-east, while nearly 14,000 flights were cancelled, according to Flightaware.com. So this means that passengers had to stay where they were and tourists would be deterred from visiting the area as they may be afraid of difficulties with transport in the area.

Terrorism

The London bombings of 7/7 2005 in particular, have made safety and security a key issue for tourists and those involved in managing the travel and tourism sector in the UK. Following 9/11, extra security measures were

introduced at airports across the world, while the London bombings led to heightened security at railway stations across the country. On September 11th 2001 there was a series of coordinated terrorist suicide attacks. Two United States airliners were hijacked and intentionally crashed into the World Trade Centre building in New York by terrorists acting under the command of the al-Qaeda terrorist group killing 2,972 people, 19 of those terrorists the rest civilians.

The attacks on the world trade centre in New York resulted in 4 million less international arrivals world wide in 2001 in comparison to the previous year. This obviously indicates an element of fear introduced and an unwillingness to fly particularly on transatlantic flights showing that the tourist industry was affected on a global scale not just in America. There was a decrease in international tourists in the UKwith a 12% decrease in visitor numbers to Westminster Abbey, 20% at the tower of London and 16% at the Tate Britain.However, American foreign travel to the USA was most affected with visits falling by 20%. In terms of the passenger numbers the short term affect was reasonably catastrophic for the airline companies. Both British Airways and American Airlines suffered losses as demand dropped especially in the full service scheduled market which left the market for new lower cost airlines to be more competitive. British Airways battled with Go, Easyjet, Ryanair and a decreased supply for their service.

Flights within the US were grounded because of the attacks, and incoming international flights were diverted to Canada. Services resumed within a few days but it took years for the market to recover.

Airport security procedures were shaken awake, slapped round the face and forced to undergo a rigorous transformation in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. And the authorities have been playing catch-up ever since,

updating and tweaking security screening measures to address subsequent attempted attacks on aircraft using shoes, liquids, printer cartridges and even underwear.

Responsibility for airport security screening in the USA was swiftly put into federal hands after 9/11, with the formation of the US Transportation Security Administration. Targets were set for all US airports to screen 100% of checked baggage for explosives; passengers were subjected to much more vigorous screening procedures - which continue to evolve; and watch lists were drawn up to prevent people suspected of having terrorist links from flying.

The latter culminated in the Secure Flight programme, which the TSA says now "conducts terrorist watch list matching of passengers on 100% of domestic and international airlines for flights within, inbound and outbound from the United States".Source: Flightglobal.com / Airport security/

BBC News How 9/11 changed America: In statistics

In 2009 there was also a terrorist who wanted to set a plane on fire.

Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was an international passenger flight fromAmsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, United States. The flight was the target of a failed al-Qaeda bombing attempt on Christmas Day, December 25, 2009, in which a passenger tried to set off plastic explosives sewn to his underwear. There were 290 people on board the plane, which was operated byNorthwest Airlines.The convicted bomber in the "Christmas Day bombing attempt" was 23-year-oldUmar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who had concealed plastic explosives in his underwear but failed to detonate them properly, resulting in flames and popping noises. A Dutch passenger, Jasper Schuringa, tackled and restrained him and put out the fire with the aid of others. Abdulmutallab was then handcuffed while the pilot safely landed the plane.

The most significant changes to British airport security since 2006 will see increased pat-down searches, more sniffer dogs in terminals and a step-up in hand luggage inspections after the government announced its response to the Detroit airline bombing incident.Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said that the UK would take "whatever action was necessary". The day after the attack, British police searched a family-owned flat where Abdulmutallab had lived while in London.

Decline in Sales

Struggling tour operator Thomas Cook has reportedly suffered a near 33% slump in summer bookings as its financial woes deter already cash-strapped holidaymakers.

According to a leisure industry monitor seen by the Financial Times, Thomas Cook saw bookings decline by as much as a third in the two weeks to 14 January – a key period for tour operators, when some 15% of summer bookings are taken.

The decline is more than double the industry average of a 15% drop and nearly three times the 11% fall at Thomson Holidays owner, Tui Travel.

However Thomas Cook has promised to go “back to basics” to revive its struggling and overly complex UK tour operation.

The tour operator revealed that its mainstream UK business made no profit during 2011 with its independent sector accounting for the UK’s entire £19.5 million operating profit. This was despite a UK turnover of £3.2 billion for the year to the end of September.

It is cutting 500 “under-performing” hotels for summer 2012 while also adding another 90 resorts – half of which are either exclusive in the UK or offer differentiated elements.

This chart shows financial data. You can see the decrease of bookings (source from www.digitallook.com Thomas Cook Charts)

BBC News- Struggling Thomas Cook reports quarterly loss

In a trading update, it said its underlying operating loss for the three months to 30 June was £26.5m, compared with a profit of £20.1m a year earlier.

Thomas Cook said it had been hit by "challenging" trading, but that sales in recent weeks had improved.

Its revenues for the three months were down 6% from a year ago.

'Difficult period' Harriet Green, who became Thomas Cook's new chief executive last month, said: "My initial focus is to review our businesses,

quickly establish priorities, and develop a clear plan to reinvigorate Thomas Cook.

"The group has been through a difficult period, but much has been achieved which has strengthened the balance sheet and improved liquidity."

She added: "The strength of the group's brands and the quality of its businesses and people provides a foundation from which to bring the business back to full strength."

During the quarter, Thomas Cook sold its HCV Hotels subsidiary in Spain for £58m, and agreed an aircraft sale and leaseback deal which raised £189m.

The company has struggled with high debt levels and the wider downturn in the global travel sector.

In May, Thomas Cook secured a £1.4bn refinancing and issued three profit warnings last year, and was forced to take an emergency £200m loan.

Its revenues for the six months ending 31 March totalled £3.52bn, up from £3.43bn a year earlier. This deal gives the company a further three years to repay its debts.