Tourist Destinations

TASK 1

A) Analysis of visitor’s number and income generation

he city which has been selected as the world's leading destination is Barcelona. This city is the capital of Spain's Catalonia region which is defined by the art and architecture, vibrant street life and mouth watering food (Chi and Qu, 2008). It is the fourth European city with the most tourist arrival each year. In some studies, it has been analyzed that tourists in Barcelona grew by 7% in 2013 and it is hosting 7.44 million tourists in the hotel of this city. The reason behind world's leading tourist destination is that the city consists of rich cultural heritage and house a great number of museum, art and architecture, works of Antoni Gaudi, etc.

On the other hand, Greenwich is one among the four World's Heritage Sites. After becoming the Royal Borough of Greenwich in 2012, the tourist numbers got increase eventually. The Maritime Greenwich represents Great Britain's maritime history along with architectural excellence. This attracts a diverse range of tourists. As per the studies conducted, in 2007, number of international tourist in 2007 was 15.33 million and visitors did the expenditure of 8.2 billion. In 2009, the number of visitors rose by 2.3 billion.

B) Present and future destination trends in visitor’s number and profile

The comparison has been made on Barcelona and Royal Borough of Greenwich in the previous question. Thus, present assessment of the destination trends has been done and it is found that over the last few years, Barcelona has reached to the top of international destination. In 2012, Barcelona hosted 27 million tourists in its hotels and then in 2013, the numbers rose to more than 16 million overnight stays.

Study concluded that there is a growth in overnight visitor’s number but decrease in day visitor’s number and their expenditure grew from 2012. There were 17.22 million visitors in 2013 and total expenditure done by them is £64 million.

After going through the present data of Barcelona and Royal Borough of Greenwich, the future trends of these cities can be assessed. In Barcelona, it is expected that in future, 7.6 million visitors are estimated and significant growth will be there in the income generation by these visitors. In Royal Borough of Greenwich, revenue of the city will get increased up to £309.9 million.

However, there are some factor that affect the tourism in the selected destination. For example there was a suicide bomb attacks in central London in the year 2005 that has significant affects the number of tourist in that destination. Furthermore, it has targeted civilians using the public transport system during the morning rush hour (2005: Bomb attacks on London, 2015). In a similar series, in  2004 Madrid train bombings, also known as Spain Bomb attack has affected transportation system. This has affected the number of tourist in the country. For a recent example, there was a serious bomb attract in France on 13-14 November 2015  in which the music venue, sports stadium and several bar and restaurant terraces wee targeted.  In addition to that climatic conditions of the county is affected which is going to take a long time to recover. It can be seen that mostly the tourist areas were targeted that has created a terror among tourists for visiting  tourist destination. The tourism industry of France is going to be affected by this activity in future.

Read Also: Hospitality provision in travel tourism sector

TASK 2

A) Identification of cultural, social and physical features of Royal Borough of Greenwich

The cultural, social and physical features of Royal Borough of Greenwich are as follows:

Cultural Features: It is recognized as a place that is rich in culture, arts and entertainment. Various events are organized here which attract a large pool of visitors. Some of the events are Greenwich Music Festival, Royal Greenwich Tall Ships Festivals, Parkfest and Greenwich World Cultural Festival. Also, Royal Borough of Greenwich offers a mix cultural, entertainment and arts events. Greenwich is a house of heritage culture as it is one of the four leading World Heritage Sites (Connell and Page, 2006). The city is a home of royalty as it was in the hands of Danes and also other royal people. It consists of naval history of Tudor palace, Royal Naval Hospital, Royal Courts, Queen's house, etc.

Social Features: The society of Greenwich is welcomes the tourist and gives a voice who cares about past, present and future. Social relationship among people are very strong. It was also assessed that in 21st century inequality in the society of Greenwich have aroused which had led to the controversial issues in contemporary societies. This can become the factor for decrease in visitors due to discriminatory society.

Physical Features: Greenwich is located at the place where hemispheres meets (Pegas and Castley, 2014). It also has various locations and physical attributes which attract the tourist destination such as glaciers, Archur Peninsula, Guesalaga Peninsula, Parvomay Neck, range of Islands, etc. These destinations are natures beauty which help in attracting the pool of tourists. Also some historical monuments such as Anglo-Saxon barrow cemetery, Conduit or Standard House, etc. which are built of rich architectural designs and it depicts the culture of Ancient times. There are also some of the museums which contains huge history and details about contemporary cultural heritage.

B) Comparing the cultural, social and physical features with Barcelona

For comparing the features of Barcelona with Greenwich, it is necessary to identify the cultural, social and physical features of Barcelona. The features are discussed as follows:

1.Cultural Features: The city is defined by the art and architecture. It is consist of rich cultural heritage and has become an important culture centre in contemporary society. Those people who are fond of culture heritage must visit the Barcelona. There are great number of museums which covers the major part of culture diversity. Some museums explains the Roman history, some contains the art and especially Romanesque art, contemporary art, etc. this proves to be the best tourist attracting feature of Barcelona. As because of this reason people get visit to Barcelona as it has rich culture diversity (Cohen, 2004).

2. Social Features: Social life in Barcelona is most important feature. While meeting with the new people Spaniards behave in an informal manner. The people who visit their would not find him/herself new because people their do not let the visitors feel strangers.  The nightlife of Barcelona is remarkable and this attract large people around the globe and the hospitality sector is one of the vibrant sector which leads to the attraction of many visitors. Barcelona's society is expert in pleasing the big majority.

3.Physical Features: The physical features of Barcelona is beautifully build. There are many things which attract the tourist form overseas. It has rich cultured museums, architectural monuments, imaginative food and vibrant street life. There are beautiful beaches, great architecture, great modern art. As it have become the fourth destination of World Heritage Sites (Fuchs and Reichel, 2006). This have helped the tourism sector of Barcelona to attract lot more tourist from all over the world.

After identifying these factors of Barcelona, comparison can be made that cultural, social and physical features of Barcelona are more better than that of Greenwich. It is because the social feature of Barcelona is very strongly build, unlike Greenwich where society have become unequal and discriminatory (Waite, 2014).

Comparison can be made in the cultural feature and physical feature. Both the cities are rich in culture and physical features in both cities have long history behind them (Leask and Fyall, 2006). Monuments and museum are consist of arts and architecture. Thus, it can be inferred that Barcelona have all the vibrant features whereas in Greenwich, social feature are not that strong. So Barcelona have more potential in attracting the tourists in future.

TASK 3

A) Investigating and analyzing the economic and political characteristics of Royal Borough of Greenwich

It has been identified that Greenwich is the prettiest destination of London and leading tourist attraction (Goel, 2007). Thereafter, the Barcelona is a famous tourist place situated in Spain. Both the places are famous for its natural beauty, culture, traditions, art and architecture. However, the political and economic environment of both the cities have serious impact on its tourism industry. The tourism is important source of income for Greenwich and Barcelona therefore, it is significant for both the cities to understand the political and economic environment. The analysis is as follows:

Economic and political characteristics of Barcelona: It represents the economic and political environment of Spain. These factors have direct impact on the working of tourist industry. The economic environment of Spain is not stable which affects the tourism of country. Thereafter, the  economic crisis prevailing in the country has directly affected the tourism (Heriot and et.al, 2008). Therefore, the number of tourist visiting Barcelona and parts of Spain has reduced. Thereafter, the increasing inflation is  also a serious threat for tourist as the prices of products are increasingly and therefore, the purchasing power of tourist is reducing (Giaoutzi and Nijkamp, 2013). The reduction in tourism also affect the occupation of local people whose business is suffering. Thereafter, the political factors also play an important role in functioning of Barcelona. The major objective of political parties of Spain is to increase the tourism of city which will also improve the government funds. In addition to this aspect, all the tourism service provider will pay tax to government also the tourist will purchase products from local market and pay VAT. Therefore, government take effective steps to increase the tourism like, building infrastructure, introducing low cost public transport facility etc.
Economic and political characteristics of Greenwich: The economic environment of UK is more stable as compared to Spain. Therefore, the number of tourist are increasing in Greenwich. The increase in the household income of the people of UK is causing increase in domestic tourist. The current political factors have positive impact on the tourism of Greenwich . The O2 arena and the organizing of Olympics in 2012 has also increased the tourist to large extent. Thereafter, the government is again planning to organize some sports and cultural events at global level to increase tourism. The UK government also supports tourism for this aspect, it encourages the travel companies and service providers by giving discount (Tour Operators, 2014).

B) Critically evaluating the effect of external factors on appeal to tourists

There are several internal and external factors which affect the appeal of tourism in Greenwich. This lucrative place of London has rich culture where number of visitors from different culture are invited for learning as well as visiting purpose. It enables them to visit the specific location and meet expectations of them in an effectual manner. On the contrary, discriminatory policies of this location has negative impact on the tourism. This is because most of the residents gives importance to several factors like religion, caste and nationality (Wongkit and McKercher, 2015). All these factors has direct impact on the tourism of Greenwich. This is because most of the people who like to live free life will generally avoid to visit such kind of city. For example, African will not like visit such kind of place just because of discrimination in context of personal factors.

On the other hand, economic situation of country is quite good and this is the reason number of people are getting good job in tourism sector (Shafii-Muhammad and Usman, 2010). In this regard, development are also taking place at rapid speed which facilitates to increase visitors base in Greenwich. Similarly, physical factors consist of attractive destinations like Greenwich park, National Maritime Museum and Old Royal Observatory and Flamsteed House. All these factors contribute towards long run growth of tourism sector of UK. Apart from this physical attraction as Firepower, Greenwich Market and The O2 are the most famous places which leads to increase attention of visitors. In addition to this, political changes in the party of country may have negative impact on the performance of tourism sector of Greenwich (Ibrahim and Gill, 2005). For example, in case of presence of strong political party there will be good policy for safety of visitors from terrorism otherwise there can be drastic decline in the number of visitors in the city. Owing to this, all these factors have both positive and negative impact of number of tourism at Greenwich A) Investigating and analyzing the economic and political characteristics of Royal Borough of Greenwich

It has been identified that Greenwich is the prettiest destination of London and leading tourist attraction (Goel, 2007). Thereafter, the Barcelona is a famous tourist place situated in Spain. Both the places are famous for its natural beauty, culture, traditions, art and architecture. However, the political and economic environment of both the cities have serious impact on its tourism industry. The tourism is important source of income for Greenwich and Barcelona therefore, it is significant for both the cities to understand the political and economic environment. The analysis is as follows:

Economic and political characteristics of Barcelona: It represents the economic and political environment of Spain. These factors have direct impact on the working of tourist industry. The economic environment of Spain is not stable which affects the tourism of country. Thereafter, the  economic crisis prevailing in the country has directly affected the tourism (Heriot and et.al, 2008). Therefore, the number of tourist visiting Barcelona and parts of Spain has reduced. Thereafter, the increasing inflation is  also a serious threat for tourist as the prices of products are increasingly and therefore, the purchasing power of tourist is reducing (Giaoutzi and Nijkamp, 2013). The reduction in tourism also affect the occupation of local people whose business is suffering. Thereafter, the political factors also play an important role in functioning of Barcelona. The major objective of political parties of Spain is to increase the tourism of city which will also improve the government funds. In addition to this aspect, all the tourism service provider will pay tax to government also the tourist will purchase products from local market and pay VAT. Therefore, government take effective steps to increase the tourism like, building infrastructure, introducing low cost public transport facility etc.

Economic and political characteristics of Greenwich: The economic environment of UK is more stable as compared to Spain. Therefore, the number of tourist are increasing in Greenwich. The increase in the household income of the people of UK is causing increase in domestic tourist. The current political factors have positive impact on the tourism of Greenwich . The O2 arena and the organizing of Olympics in 2012 has also increased the tourist to large extent. Thereafter, the government is again planning to organize some sports and cultural events at global level to increase tourism. The UK government also supports tourism for this aspect, it encourages the travel companies and service providers by giving discount (Tour Operators, 2014).

TASK 4

A) Issues affecting popularity of Royal Borough of Greenwich and its comparison with Barcelona

There are many issues prevailing in the present scenario which can affect the popularity of Royal Borough of Greenwich. Out of which three issues are discussed as follows:

1.Global Warming: The environmental changes and global warming has impacted every aspect of the world and it has also impacted the tourism sector and tourist destinations. One of the World Heritage Site of UK is Royal Borough of Greenwich which have been affected by this environmental change. Due to global warming the old and ancient monuments of the city are getting damaged and for them tourism industry get negative feedback from visitors. Thus, popularity is getting reduced. Also any time, the weather of Greenwich gets change and thus, tourist resist to visit the place due to bad and adverse weather (Hsu, Tsai and Wu, 2009). Similarly, Barcelona is also facing the same issue and it has impacted the tourist appeal. But the Tourism Board is taking extra care to maintain the historical monuments and also the carbon emission has been reduced by the city to protect the environment.

2.Economic Crisis: Due to economy downturn and recession in UK economy have lead to decrease in visitors number. This has affected badly the popularity of Royal Borough Greenwich. As the visit have become very expensive so tourist are resisting (Zhang, Fu and  Lu, 2014). Barcelona is affected by this issue in a wider concept because there is a gradual decrease in visitors number from home country itself. The purchasing power of people have become low and market are not offering variety of things. Thus, popularity is highly affected.

3.Security Issue: This is the main issue which is affecting the popularity of Royal Greenwich Borough. The recent issues of terrorism has a greater impact on tourism and thus, visitors are highly concerned about the security. This may impact for long term on the minds of visitors. UK government has taken due care for the security of visitors. Barcelona is also affected by this issue but Tourism Board have taken responsibilities for the security of visitors (Ferreira Custódio, 2014).

Thus, it can be concluded that Global warming and security issues have less impacted the popularity of Barcelona whereas economic crisis in Europe have a major impact on Barcelona than Greenwich.

B) How Royal Borough of Greenwich could sustain its appeal as a destination

Royal Borough of Greenwich is a destination in the London that mainly focuses on the contemporary architecture. In the competitive environment with the increasing tourist destination places as customers now a days mainly prefer to visits the destination in the holidays so that they can spend leisure time. However, with an emphasis on responsible tourism Royal Borough of Greenwich could sustain its position and appeal as the destination so that customers prefer to visits the place. The main aim of responsible tourism is that to cut down the harmful consequences of tourism on the UK economy and social life (Oppewal, Huybers and Crouch, 2015). However, the responsible tourism will also outcome in reducing the destructive effect of the economic, political, environmental and social factors. So, that the tourism can result in benefiting the individuals those who are residing in the destination as well as it also raise standard of living of the society.

With the help of responsible tourism Royal Borough of Greenwich also raise the economy that will finally outcome in conserving the natural resources and different attractive places that are considered as eye of attraction to the destination place. However, there are different ways that could help Royal Borough Greenwich in sustaining its appeal as a destination include; focusing on the Eco-tourism.

Eco-tourism is another form of responsible tourism that mainly result in conserving and preserving the natural resources and natural places because in the contemporary environment customers get attracted towards the environmental element (Lohmann, Albers and Pavlovich, 2009). Therefore, as a responsible tourism they may appeal the destination by highlighting the range of natural places, diversified range of flora and fauna etc. Therefore, leading towards the responsible tourism and to sustain its appeal as the destination the foremost aim is to promote the natural beauty of the destination.

CONCLUSION

The aforementioned report concludes that several factors like social and physical features affect the growth of tourism in UK for particular city or town. Furthermore, political and economic characteristics also affect number of visitors for Greenwich. This is because visitors need their security and want to access quality as well as affordable services. It can also be said that, economic crisis and global warming are also the potential issues which affect appeal to tourism. In addition to this, Eco-toursim can also be promoted in order to ensure sustainable growth of the tourism sector for the selected location. Apart from this, responsible tourism is the positive indicator to increase the number of visitors as it reduces the impact of political factors.

REFERENCES

• Gautam, P. B., 2008. Tourism Financing: A Study on Demand and Supply; Status, Structure, Composition and Effectiveness of Tourism Financing in Nepal.Universal-Publishers.
• Hsu, T. K., Tsai, Y. F. and Wu, H. H., 2009. The preference analysis for tourist choice of destination: A case study of Taiwan. Tourism Management. 30(2). pp 288-297.
• Ibrahim, E. E. and Gill, J., 2005. A positioning strategy for a tourist destination, based on analysis of customers' perceptions and satisfactions. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 23(2). pp. 172-188.
• Leask, A. and Fyall, A., 2006. Managing world heritage sites. Routledge.
• Lohmann, G., Albers, S. and Pavlovich, K., 2009. From hub to tourist destination–An explorative study of Singapore and Dubai's aviation-based transformation. Journal of Air Transport Management. 15(5). pp. 205-211.
• Oppewal, H., Huybers, T. and Crouch, G. I., 2015. Tourist destination and experience choice: A choice experimental analysis of decision sequence effects. Tourism Management. 48. pp.467-476.
• Pegas, F. D. V. and Castley, J. G., 2014. Ecotourism as a conservation tool and its adoption by private protected areas in Brazil. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 22(4).pp. 604-625.
• Wongkit, M. and McKercher, B., 2015. Desired Attributes of Medical Treatment and Medical Service Providers: A Case Study of Medical Tourism in Thailand. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing.pp. 1-14.
• Zhang, H., Fu, X., Cai, L. A., and  Lu, L., 2014. Destination image and tourist loyalty: A meta-analysis. Tourism Management. 40.pp. 213-223.
• Goel, A., 2007. Fleet Telematics: Real-time management and planning of commercial vehicle operations. Springer Science and Business Media.
• Heriot, K. C. and et.al., 2008. The use of student consulting projects as an active learning pedagogy: A case study in a production/operations management course. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. 6(2). pp. 463-481.

UPTO56%

Avail The Benefit Today!

To View this & another 50000+ free

Enter Email

Submit