Uk best tourist destinations with statistics

Report on Best Tourist Destinations in UK HND Travel and Tourism Assignment Travel and Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the UK. This report tells about the best destination based on the stats like number of tourists, services, management , ratings and much more

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HND Assignment Help | UK’s Best Travel and Tourism Destinations 2

LO1 Understand the scope of key UK and worldwide tourist

destinations

P1.1 analyse main tourist destinations and generators of the world in terms of

visitor numbers and income generation

Travel and Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the UK. Tourism can be

basically considered as going out of the usual environment, travelling to new places, staying

at new location less than a year. It is observed that the day visitors make the major

contribution to the tourism industry. In UK, the statistics for day visits and overnight stays

are maintained separately. The tourists who are making day visits spend more in the tourism

industry and help the economy. In UK, this is considered separately and is measured by Day

Visit Surveys. We can define the day visits as visits which lasts for few hours and which is

not done on regular basis. According to a survey these group of people spent around £30

billion in 2003 which was even more than that done by the overnight tourists. Also according

to the analysis done by the Department of Culture, Sport and Media, the total revenue from

this sector in UK for the financial year 2002-2003 was around £91.8 billion. Around the

world, it is observed that it is one of the fastest growing industries and contributes a major

part in the economic development. It helps in bringing in foreign exchange to the country and

creating a lot of jobs for the people of the country. Jobs are created in tourism as well as

related industries like construction. It is also observed that the tourism is being developed in

the developing country which is helping in strengthening the economy of the country.

There are different types of tourists Leisure tourists, Business tourists, tourists vising friend

and family, inbound tourists, domestic tourists, package holiday tourists, independent

tourists, outgoing tourists, adventure tourists.

There many tourist attraction in the UK for tourists coming to UK. A survey is conducted by

the national tourist boards to understand the popularity of these tourist destinations in terms

of the number of visitors or the revenue generated forms these tourist destinations. In the

UK, there are various national tourist boards like England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales who

monitor the trends. There are many attractions which attract the tourists to these locations

which include natural attractions and the manmade attractions. The natural attraction

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includes national parks, heritage sites beaches, landscapes lakes, etc. and the manmade

attractions include historic monuments, museums, galleries, etc. Some of the examples are

Tate and the Tate Modern, the Victoria and the Albert Museum consisting of moving images

(Kozak, 1999). These are the ones which are there in London. There are some famous theme

parks also for example the Thorpe Park. To name a few most popular attractions are British

Airway London Eye, Tower of London, Eden Project, Flamingo land theme park and zoo,

Windermere lake cruises, Legoland Windsor, New MetroLand, Chester Zoo, Kew gardens,

Canterbury Cathedral, etc. These are the paid admission attraction of UK; there are others

which are free admission attractions also. These include the Blackpool Pleasure Beach,

British Museum, National Gallery Tate Modern, National history Museum, Science Museum,

Victoria and Albert museum, Pleasure Theme Park, Eastbourne Pier, Pleasure Beach, etc.

(Beddoe, 2004).

P1.2 Analyse statistics to determine tourism destination trends and predict

future trends

Let us now discuss the trends in the tourism industry by taking few examples. Considering

the inbound tourism trend we can draw graphs to understand the number of visitors to the

country in the last few months, the trend of the visitors depending in the purpose of visit like

holiday, business, VFR, miscellaneous. Let us take the example of Britain and develop these

graphs to understand the trends.

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In the above chart we can see that the annual trends of the number of visitors visiting Britain

every year. As we can see the graph we can say that the number of visitors visiting Britain is

increasing every year since mid-year 2010 and according to this trend we also predict that the

number of visitors visiting Britain in the coming future will be increasing and will help the

economy to a large extent. This is also supported by the fact that the technology has

improved and it has become cheap and easy for the tourists to visit Britain (Leiper, 1979).

We can also study the trend in the spending of the tourists toward the tourist destinations in

Britain with the help of following graph:

The above graph also shows that the spending of the tourists coming to Britain has increased

by leaps and bounds in the last few years and is expected to rise in similar fashion in the

coming years (Moutinho, 2000).

Another chart on the number of visitors to Britain depending on the type of visit cans be

shown as follows:


From these charts we can see that value and volume of inbound tourism to Britain is

increasing at a very rapid rate. All the market sentiments are positive towards the growth of

the tourism industry in Britain. These trends also help the economy and the tourism industry

to industry that where they have to focus and which segment needs more attention or have

more potential to grow.

Apart from UK also we can discuss about the one of the worldwide tourist destination which

is very famous. Let us take the example of Uniter States of America. There are many famous

tourist destinations like New York, Miami Beach, San Francisco, Statue of Liberty, Las

Vegas, LA and many more. There are also one of the most famous tourist destinations which

also acknowledge a large number of tourists every year.

The future trends in the UK tourism shows that the tourism industry is going to grow very

fast in the coming year with the advent of better services, more tour operators, better

packages and all. Let us one of the trend lines for the tourism in the world.

LO2 Understand the cultural, social and physical features

of tourist destinations

P2.1 Analyse the cultural, social and physical features of the worldwide tourist

destinations

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A tourist destination is a boon not only to the tourists who are visiting the destination but

also to the people who are living in those places. Apart from the people who reside in the

tourist destinations, it’s the whole country and the country’s economy which gains from the

tourism. Other than adding natural beauty and value to the destination, a tourist spot has

many more aspects towards it. There are many more features attached to tourism like

Cultural, Social, Economic and Physical. Also Read Marketing in travel and tourism.

Cultural Features:

Tourism directly reflects its effects on the culture of the place. It might be both good and bad

for the people living in that area. For example, the huge amount of overseas tourists, who

contribute to 50%, and may be more in a few cases, bring with them their own culture and

their own beliefs. The good aspect of this is that it leads to a very healthy social and cultural

development of the society. People living in that area get exposed to multiple new cultures

which they would have just read or heard about. But, a flip side to it might be that the culture

which was being preserved by a group of people since century or may be longer got changes

and modified. London, which has always been known for its tourist attractions as, always

invited tourists from all over the world. It has become one of the world’s leading cultural

centres.

Social Features:

The social features can be explained as those features which will affect the holiday decision

for a customer. For example, a doctor goes to Bahamas for medical research and a student

will go to venire for holiday depending on the social feature of the tourist destinations. The

society of the tourist destination is mainly a consideration point for a customer to go to a

particular tourist destination.

Economic Features:

Tourism adds tremendously towards any nation’s economy. There are examples of

economies which are based on tourism. People from all the different areas of the world visit

a particular destination and also at times show interest in investing as they start connecting

emotionally towards it. For example, London is having a good economic condition. The

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visitors do get so emotionally attached to the tourist destinations in London during their visit

that they do end up making contributions.

Physical Features:

The physical aspect to a particular tourist destination is again multi facet. It has both pros and

cons. The good part is that the local government pays extra attention towards the physical

maintenance of its tourist destinations and are thus always in their priority as compared to

other places of the country. The not so good part of the physical aspect of a tourist

destination is that due to a huge amount of human interference adversely affects the physical

balance of the land. The worst part is when this uninvited human interference is not noticed

by the responsible authority and the value of the tourist destination slowly keeps decreasing.

To elaborate with an example, London has been very inviting for tourists from all over. Also,

there has been a lot of in flush of people as it is the commercial capital of the UK. This has

resulted in the government showing concerns and taking required steps towards maintaining

the physical aspects of the city intact (Botterill, 2002).

P2.2 Compare features of a destination in a developing country and a leading

tourist destination.

As economy plays a major role in developing and making a potential tourist destination into

a good tourist destination, there are visible differences in the tourist destinations of a

developing country and of a developed country. The financial attention which a developed

country can give towards the protection and maintenance of its tourist destination is far more

as compared to that by the developed economy. Also, the number of tourist which prefer

visiting a developed country is more than the other as they are other opportunities which they

can seek after in a developed country. Also, this adds to their experience. To add to it, the

society of a developed country is much more developed and mature and welcoming than

that of a developing country. It might not be the same case with culture, due to comparatively

less external interference from other countries, the culture of a developing country might

be stronger than that of a developed country which would have evolved with time. So, a

developing country will definitely invite more tourists who are interested to know about the

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culture of the country and how it has changed with time This concept might also vary with

time and places. Thus we can say that a developed country might be a more sought after

destination if society, economy and physical feature of the place is concerned as compared to

a developing country.

LO3 Understand how the characteristics of destinations

affect their appeal to tourists.

P3.1 Compare the appeal of leading tourist destinations with that of currently

developing destinations

The characteristics of the tourist destinations impact the tours and travel in a major way.

There are different characteristics of the destinations like economic characteristics, physical

characteristics, social characteristics, political characteristics, etc.

It’s the characteristic of the destination that determines the volume and type of tourists it

attracts. Various characteristics have their own advantages and disadvantages to attract

tourists in their own way. Features like culture and physical aspect attract both local and

overseas tourists.

To compare a leading tourist destination and a developing tourist destination, the best

example of a leading tourist destination will be Paris and that of a developing tourist

destination will be Mauritius. Paris has a very strong and beautifully emerged society. The

social values and norms in Paris support the tourism to a great extent. Also, the huge

amounts of people who visit Paris annually contribute in the overall social development of

the place as well. On the other hand, Mauritius is not socially developed as compared to

Paris. There are still majority of the people living below poverty line and maintaining less

than average standard of living. There are still people who are working on daily wages in

Mauritius. On the grounds of culture, Paris which was had art, music and theatre dominated

culture, has now evolved into a fashion and media dominated culture. This is a reason that a

lot of tourists with various interests want to visit Paris. The same does not apply to

Mauritius.

P3.2 Evaluate how characteristics of a tourist destination affect its appeal


The people of Mauritius are multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. People over there know more

than 1 language like English, French, Creole and Asian languages. The government is based

on the Westminster parliamentary system. Mauritius is known for democracy and

political freedom.

It is like one stop shop for many people. Also, it is a priority for all type of age groups as it

has Disney Land which is loved by both young and elderly crowd. Eiffel tower is symbolized

as a romantic destination and thus attracts couples. On the other hand, Mauritius is just

known for its beautiful scenic beauty and not so developed and evolved culture. Thus, it

attracts mostly couples and not families. The appeal also varies with the type of economies

the destinations are. Paris is considered as one of the strongest economies in Europe. It has

seen a lot of growth in the recent past as far as the economy of the city is concerned. There

are many investors who love to and are willing to invest in the city. Part of which is also due

to the great tourist destination it is and the other is due to a great economy it has proved to

be. On the other hand, Mauritius is not a very fast and sound developing economy. This is

the reason it does not attract tourists of a particular category. Other than economical, there

are other factors like political stability as well which determines tourism in the country.

Tourists will definitely not want to visit the destinations which are politically not stable and

sound. There are possible situations of unrest and terrorism as well in such destinations. This

again affects the tourism in any destination. The beauty of the country Iran goes unseen and

unnoticed by everyone when it comes to tourism just because of the political instability in

that country. Physical aspects of any destination play a key role in determining the tourist in

flow towards it. Not only its aesthetic value and beauty of the place, but its geographical

locations and weather conditions deeply determine the tourism for that place.

Read all our Travel and Tourism Management Assignments.

LO4 Understand issues likely to affect the popularity of

tourists’ destination

P4.1 Analyse the issues that affect the popularity of tourist destinations.

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Currency fluctuation: Tourism is nothing but a form of export from the economy

point of view. This means the people coming to UK and spending here is compared

with the process of selling goods and services produced in UK to other countries and

receiving money from them as it is providing the same benefits. With the same logic,

when people from UK travel to other countries and spend money over there is same

as UK buying imported goods from other countries. The government of UK tries to

promote domestic tourism for the benefit of its own economy by encouraging people

to go for holidays within the country and spend.

The compared value of one currency with other currency affects the tourism industry to a

large extent. The currency exchange rate of a country directly has an impact on the cost of

going to a destination in that country. In case of UK, when value of a pound against another

currency is weak, tourists are more favourable to come to UK as when they will exchange

their money they will receive more pounds. Similarly, when the value of pound is strong

comparatively, then the visitors will be less likely to visit UK as they will be getting less

pounds in exchange of their money. In the past few years the value of pound is strong as

compared to the value of dollar. This means it was more likely for UK tourists to visit USA

and not likely for US tourists to visit UK. The fluctuations in currency rate also have other

effects to the tourism industry. The operators of the tourism business will face the direct

consequences of these exchange rates. They will have to pay accordingly to the hotel

operators and the transport operators with whom they get into an agreement beforehand. So

if the currency fluctuates, what they agreed to pay increases or decreases. Same is the effect

on the fuel prices.

Climate: The tourism industry is badly affected by occurrence of any climatic

disaster. They even damage or destroy the tourist destinations. If we quote famous

examples then it will include the hurricane which occurred in the year 2003 which

had a very bad effect on Grenada. We can also take example of the tsunami which

occurred in 2004 which completely devastated South East Asia. In this event, millions

of people died across 12 countries. Apart from them, those who survived even have to

face the consequences as their survival becomes difficult. This is because the


infrastructure gets affected as well the tourists don’t intent to come to such places

again. Not just these disasters life threatening disasters but also the minor changes in

the climate can affect tourism. For example if a particular summer in UK is hot, then

this will affect in the increase of domestic tourism.

Terrorist attack: Terrorist attack is yet another major event which has a direct

impact on tourism. If any such even occurs in a particular region people will always

feel unsafe to go to such destinations out of fear of it repeating again. The best

example is the 9/11 terrorist attack. This attack which happened in US has affected

the tourism not only in US but also in UK or rather worldwide. After that event,

people feel unsafe to travel by flights and always have a fear in mind. This has

specially affected the American tourists and make them insecure while flight travel.

This has resulted in the decrease of people visiting Britain and a restricted people

travelling all over the world for leisure or business. Another example was the

bombing at a resort in Bali in the year 2002. This completely ruined the tourism

industry in that place and could become stable only after suffering for 2 years.

There are other examples of bombing events in Kenya, Madrid and Istanbul in the last few

years. Each of these events affected the tourism of that place suffer huge losses until the

tourists began to travel back to these places (Hall, 2012).

Economic situation: This is also a very important factor affecting tourism. This can

be explained by the fact that a country with a strong economy can happily invest in

the tourism sector. They can develop new infrastructure for the tourists and support

the industry through public sector. They can also invest in the promotional campaigns

to attract more customers. One of the examples is campaigns of VisitBritain. Also as

we have already discussed that a strong economy means that the currency will be

strong which will have a direct impact on the affordability of tourists to visit those

destinations.

Legislation: These are several legislations that have directly impacted tourism. Some

of them are:


1. Development of Tourism Act 1969: This act was aimed at uniting all the

organizations of the tourism industry. This made the merger of the British Tourist

Authority and the English Tourist Council to form a united entity named as

VisitBritain.

2. Transports Act 1980 and 1985: The 1980 act brought an end to licensing

regulations. This greatly affected the express couch routes. It resulted into a

competition between the public transport and private transport system. The 1985

Transport Act came up as a boon for the private transport companies as it gave them

the freedom to operate on any route.

3. Package Travel, Holiday and Tours Regulations 1992: This made the tour

operators come under the regulation of Package Travel regulation since 1992. This set

up certain guidelines which the tour operators have to mandatorily follow to satisfy

their tourists. If this is not followed the customers could charge them with

incompliance. A recent example of a legislation affecting tourism was banning people

on smoking in public places.

Apart from US there are other tourist destinations which are facing problems due to some or

the other reasons. Suppose that we are taking the example of Nepal. Nepal is not so

developed because the tourists are scared of the weather of Nepal. Also it is a hilly region

which is mostly covered by mountains which is another reason. Also one other reason here is

the touristy facilities are not so good if we compare the same with London or Paris.

P4.2 Discuss the potential for Responsible Tourism to enhance the host

community

These days, there is a lot of noise about the term “responsible” in the context of international

tourism. This is gaining so much importance because of the increasing potential problems

with tourism. These problems are creating a lot of discomfort for the local population. These

tourism activities adversely affect the environment, the local community. These are often

linked to the processes which are not easy to control. There are even cases where most of the

income which comes from tourism do not stay back at the tourist destination but are

channelized to the foreign investors. This is also a very serious threat to the local economy


which needs a lot of focus from the prospective of responsible tourism. The other problem

also includes an increase in the cost of living and in the level of crime in the local

communities. All these can be controlled to a certain extent if the tourism industry becomes

more responsible and sustainable. Responsible tourism in nothing but tourism combined with

ethical values. In easier terms we can explain it with the idea of tourism combined with

sustainability development. Read about Finance and Funding in Travel and Tourism Sector.

The issues with responsible tourism are that, the local people may not be having such skills

and talent to be hired. The tourism industry also does not much support from the government

do some activities for developing the local region, etc.

As one of the fastest growing industries in the world, this will create a lot of stress on the

biological diverse habitats and culture. There are many problems associated with the tourism

like depletion of natural resources like atmosphere, fuel, food, water, biodiversity,

ecosystems, etc. which further creates a lot of problems for the local community. It is the

responsibility of the tourism industry to not to create any problems for the local community

and to enhance the host community.

Within UK, the countries like Britain and Scotland have taken the first step in formulating

strategies and plans for promoting and achieving sustainable development in tourism. The

tourist unit of Scotland names as VisitScotland focuses on achieving the balance in

sustainable tourism. Some of these initiatives are:

Economic prosperity: creating prospects for long term tourism business with prosperity, to

improve the quality of employment opportunities in the tourism sector for the local

community which will include proper pay and improved working conditions. This is one of

the most underpaid segments of the businesses.

Social equality: The tourism also has the responsibility of improving the quality of life the

local community is leading. These are the people who are involved in the management of the

tourism activities, safe and satisfactory visit of the tourists. Hence they are the key part of the

tourism industry; hence it calls for a great responsibility toward them (Miller, 2003).

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Environmental and Cultural protection: It is also the responsibility of the tourism industry to

make sure that they contribute least to the environmental disorder. They have to make sure

that they play a key role in reduced pollution degradation of the local environment. It is the

responsibility of the tourism industry to maintain and strengthen the natural beauty of the

local community. It is also important to protect and enrich the culture of that community

which must be unique and diverse.

This calls for the tourism stakeholders in Britain to make equal participation in the

environmental debates, help in formulating laws which will be a win-win situation for both

the travel industry and the local community and the government.

There can be various strategies prepared and worked on to make tourism more sustainable.

These strategies can involve increasing awareness of responsible tourism within the country,

action plan to decrease the demand in particular seasons and distribute it proportionately,

taking proper remedial steps towards the negative impact of tourism transport, making sure

to minimize the use of natural resources and promotion of reuse and recycle, taking care of

the natural and cultural heritage, improving the quality of life of the local communities and

also improving the condition of tourism jobs.

References

Kozak, M., & Rimmington, M. 1999. Measuring tourist destination competitiveness:

conceptual considerations and empirical findings. International Journal of Hospitality

Management, 18(3), 273-283.

Beddoe, C. 2004. Labour standards, social responsibility and tourism.Tourism

Concern, UK.

Botterill, D. 2002. Tourism studies and research quality assessment in UK

universities. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 1(2), 72-75.

Miller, G. A. 2003. Consumerism in sustainable tourism: A survey of UK

consumers. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 11(1), 17-39.

Leiper, N. 1979. The framework of tourism: Towards a definition of tourism, tourist,

and the tourist industry. Annals of tourism research, 6(4), 390-407.

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Uk best tourist destinations with statistics