Investigating travel and tourism

Domestic tourism- domestic tourism is when tourists live in the UK and take holiday in the UK this is usually one night or more, it can also be day trips. An example of domestic tour operators is: Haven and Butlins. Travel companies in the UK are companies such as National express coach services, Great western railway.

Inbound tourism- inbound tourism is when tourists live outside of the UK and travel to the UK. Inbound tour operators include All European travel, Marriot hotel. Travel services include Span air, Evan’s tours.

Outbound tourism- outbound tourism is when tourists live in the UK and travel areas outside of the UK. Examples of outbound companies are Thomson, Thomas Cook, and First Choice. Travel companies include Easyjet, Flybe, Monarch and P&O cruises.

Components of Travel and Tourism

The components of Travel and Tourism come together to provide business and leisure holidays for customers in the travel and tourism industry.

Accommodation

For many people to make full use of their leisure and business travel they use accommodation. There are different types of accommodation, which can either be serviced or non-services. Serviced accommodation includes hotels which then depending on the hotel they can provide different services, fully inclusive, full board or half board. Fully inclusive includes everything such as meals, drinks etc. Half board includes two meals usually breakfast and an evening meal.

Non-serviced accommodation is accommodation such as a caravan, camping, villa or apartments. Non-services accommodation doesn’t include any meals and is usually referred to as self-catering; in apartments there is usually a basic kitchen provided.

Transport

Transport is an important component of travel and tourism, as all tourists need to travel to get to their selected destination.

There are four types of travel these are: air, sea, rail and road.

Air is usually most popular when travelling out of the country although it is used within the country to get to different cities; therefore it is used as inbound, outbound and domestic tourism. There are 3 different types of air transport: charter flights, scheduled flights and independent flights. Companies such as Thomas Cook and JMC use charter flights for package holiday customer. Scheduled flights are timetables to fun throughout the year and are generally used by independent travellers. Independent flights are mainly used by business travellers and are relatively small aircrafts.

Types of sea travel include ferries, catamarans and cruises. They are used in inbound and outbound tourism. Brittany ferries and P&O ferries are examples of companies within sea travel. Ferries can be used by passenger on foot or they can take their vehicle on board.

Cruises travel throughout areas of the world such as the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, the ships dock and allow passengers to go on excursions on the chosen stopping point. Passengers then rejoin the boat and travel to a new destination.

Rail is used by inbound, outbound and domestic tourists mainly popular with domestic tourists. Great western railway is an example of a domestic railway company as it only provides services throughout the West of the UK whereas a company such as the Eurostar train travels throughout Europe.

Road is used by Domestic tourists to travel from one part of the country to another. National Express is a main coach company that provide travel throughout the UK.

Privately owned cars are a main source of domestic travel in the UK to go on day trips or camping holidays.

Attraction and Events

Attractions and events attract people to particular locations and they will need service provided by different components especially transport and accommodation.

Different attractions can include, natural, heritage, purpose-built and events.

Natural attractions can be caves, beaches, forests and lakes etc. These attract many different tourists for many reasons. Tourists may be visiting on a domestic holiday as part of a day trip, or inbound tourists. Natural attractions in the UK are places such as Cheddar caves, beaches such as Bournemouth, Cornwall. Rivers are usually visited for waterfalls or to take part in activities that include water.

Heritage places include historic places such as castles like Edinburgh,

Chepstow. Stately homes also bring a lot of tourism to places such as Longleat safari park, London tower. Tourists usually visit these sites for educational visits and to learn something about the history of the building or place.

Purpose built attractions attract many inbound outbound and domestic tourists. Purpose built attractions is places such as Alton tower, Lego land, Zoos, Butlins, Centre parks. Tourists visit these sites throughout the year; they attract a lot of tourists from the UK that are on domestic holidays. People visit these places for a good time and for a little break from their usual lifestyles.

Events cause a lot of tourists to travel to different places and even stay overnight. A lot of event will be domestic tourists but many people do travel to different countries for big events. Events include music festivals which occur all over the world, music festivals mean that people have to use some sort of transport to get to the situated place and some even stay over night in local accommodation.

Other events include sporting events such as Wimbledon, the Grand prix and international football matches.

Tour operators

Tour operators provide the holiday. Once your holiday has been booked then it is in the hands of the tour operators. They provide tourists with flights, transfers from the airport, hotels and the entertainment within the hotel.

Tour operators are companies such as First Choice, Thomson, Thomas Cook, Exodus, and Cycling for softies.