Unit 3 – The UK as a destination

Unit outcomes:

1. Be able to locate UK gateways, tourist destinations and geographical features
2. Know the needs of inbound and domestic visitors to UK tourist destinations 
3. Know the features and facilities that attract visitors to UK destinations 
4. Understand how UK inbound and domestic tourism is affected by internal and external factors

Keywords:

• Topography – The arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area 
• Incoming visitors – the number of visitors coming to a country 
• Domestic visitors – People travelling in their own country for tourism purposes 
• Inbound visitors – People who visit a country which is not their country of residence for the purposes of tourism
• Day visitors – People going on an excursion and not staying overnight 
• Tourism generator – The amount of money visitors spends on tourism in a country 
• Receipts – A country from where visitors originate 
• Visitor Flow – The number of visitors coming in and going out of a country 
• Arrivals – The number of visitors coming into a country 
• Tourism receiver – A country that is a destination for tourists 
• Outbound tourists – Tourists leaving their country of residence to visit another country
• Business visitors – Visitors travelling for the purposes of business 
• Leisure tourists – Tourists going on a holiday
• VFR – Visitors travelling to visit a friend or relative 

UK attractions:

• Seaside’s and UK islands – Blackpool and the Isle of Wight 
• Historical and Cultural – Stratford-upon-Avon and York 
• National Parks and Bodies of water – South Downs and Loch Ness
• Woodland Areas and main sea ports – Epping Forest and Dover
• Capital Cities and major airports – London and Gatwick 
• Mountain ranges and rivers – Snowdonia and The Thames

What are the needs of visitors to the UK? 

• Access to information – Internet can help travellers plan holidays 
• Language – Important to welcome people in their own language 
• Accommodation – Inbound tourist expectations are high
• Accessibility – tourist attractions and facilities should be available to all 
• Transport – tourists arrive at airports to find information desks and car hire 
• Car – not many inbound tourists drive in the UK 
• Public transport – overseas visitors depend on public transport 
• Customer service – all tourists have a right to expect a high standard 
• Value of money – Value is good if tourists have received a good quality and service

Location 

Roads in the UK have a great network and its easy to reach destinations except in Scotland

Roads

73% of domestic trips are made by car	Very busy and congested in holiday seasons
Extensive road network with few tolls	Fuel is expensive
Easy to find petrol and service stations	Inbound tourists find it hard driving on the left
Roads are well sign posted
No baggage allowance

Coach trips

Many services from all major towns and cities	Takes a long time to get to destinations
Much cheaper than other forms of transport

Rail 

Comfort and can be very fast	Expensive if not booked in advance
Most towns have a railway	Pricing strategies confusing for

Domestic air travel 

Often cheap	Onward connections are also needed
Journey is fast	Airport check in and travel to and from the airport adds time to the journey
Safest mode of transport

Natural features 

• Appeal to inbound and domestic tourists who want to appreciate the worlds wonders 
• Every tourist area will have some kind of natural attraction, in or near, to the destination that can be promoted to tourists 
• Certain features of Topography – will appeal to different types of visitors 

Local natural attraction example: Epping Forest

Activities: Horse riding, Walking, Bike Riding, Fishing, Hunting, Camping and Hiking 

Seasonal: In the summer, Domestic tourists visit the forests and have picnics and BBQ’s. But during the winter, less people visit, only people who walk their dogs and those who want to get some exercise. There is only one business operation in the forest which is a log company that chop trees from a certain height. 

Internal factors affecting the tourism market 

Health, Safety and Security within the UK:

• People behave differently on holiday and are not aware of difficult situations 
• Domestic tourists maybe more vulnerable vising a part of the country they are not used to 
• Activities which deter visitors to London: Bombings and Riots 

Health and Safety Advice:

• The UK has expert heath and safety laws so tourists can expect to be as safe, or safer than in their home countries 
• You should check the metropolitan police service and the Foreign Commonwealth websites for up to date advice for tourists 

Recession and the strength of the pound:

• Strong pound = less visitors
• Weak pound = more pounds for their money, so UK is cheaper 

Quality of goods and services 

• Consumers these days care a lot more about the quality of the products and services they spend their money on. 
• Visit Britain no only markets accommodation that has been quality assessed which means it has met certain standards

External factors affecting the tourism market

• Exchange rate – The exchange influences the number of visitors in the UK.  Rates to watch are Sterling to Dollar and Sterling to Euro 

Travel restrictions 

• Security related restrictions – 2006 plot to blow up plane, extra hand baggage rules 
• Customs restrictions – These relate to alcohol, tobacco and gifts
• Immigration restrictions – UK has seen huge increase of inbound tourism from Europe 

• Emergent’s of new markets – New group of tourists are heading to the UK. Asia, The Middle East and Africa are the faster growing visitors to the UK. China is another important market

• Weather – Plays a huge part in determining where tourists go. A poor summer here leads to more people booking holidays abroad. Inbound tourists do not come to the UK for the weather, they come for our heritage and other attractions 

1. Campaign - the VisitBritain have a campaign to gain more tourists via many projects 
2. Information - tourist boards give information to tourists
3. Environment - airline companies are trying to more eco-friendly 
4. Alternative - there are many alternative attractions for tourists to visits while in the UK; purpose built, historical and cultural 
5. Determined - people were determined to get tickets for the 2012 olympics
6. Appealing - the royal wedding was appealing to many tourists as many countries don't have a royal family 
7. Generating - inbound tourists helps the GDP by generating income 
8. Restrictions - the 2012 olympics had no restrictions as it was accessible for all 
9. Recession - in 2009 there was a recession which had a knock on effect on tourism in the UK
10. Weather - plays a big part on tourism as if the royal wedding had bad weather, there may not of been as big a turnout as there was