Unit 8 - P3, M1 & D1

Introduction:

I will be explaining how factors affect travel to long-haul destinations. I will then review how travel factors affect travel to selected long haul destination and then finally analyse the impact of travel factors on selected long haul destinations. 

I have Chosen two long haul destinations for examples of the factors, the two destinations are Hawaii and New York. For the merit part of the assignment I will be expanding on all of the travel factors and providing more examples on how the factors are affecting long haul travel destinations.

A long haul travel destination is when the flight takes over six hours. 

Timezones and length of flight  

This factor affect people when flying to a long haul destination as you pass through many time zones. GMT (Greenwich meantime) was created in 1884, It is set in London at the royal observatory and the each area of the world is either behind or in front (+ or-) It is now more popularly known as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). 

For example New York is five hours ahead of London so the GMT is +5, Hawaii is 10 hours behind of London so the GMT is-10. 

When there is a long flight, people may become dehydrated, irritated due to being cramped in a tiny seat and a lack of sleep (may travel overnight). People may split their flight up by having either a few hour stop over, a night or stay for a few days. The flight time to New York is eight hours and the travelling time to Honolulu is 17 hours and 5 minutes. 

Timezones and length of the flight may stop people from travelling to places which have a long flight time. People many choose to not to travel to Orlando because the flight time is nine hours and the plane could have children on it and they may get restless causing other people onboard to be annoyed.

Seasonality and extreme climatic conditions 

Long haul destinations have particular times of the year for the best times to go and the worst times to go.Some long haul destinations have a rainy seasons and very high humidity which makes horrible conditions for a holiday. Quite often destinations in the Far East and the USA experience Monsoons, hurricanes and tropical storms = devastating. For New York, July is the hottest month  with temperatures of 25°C and has the most amount of sunshine (11 hours everyday). January is the month of the year with temperatures of  2°C and the wettest month is May. The best time to visit Hawaii is in August as it is the hottest month with daily averages of 27°C  or July when there is 11 hours of sunlight. The coldest month is January  with 23°C.  Many people try to avoid going in November as it is the wettest month.

The seasons and the weather affects tourism to long haul destinations in a positive and negative way. Many people visit Australia in the winter because out there it is their summertime and the winter season is the hottest three months of the year. People may not go to the USA in the summer holidays because of freak weather such as hurricanes and daily thunderstorms not to mention the high humidity levels.


Entry requirements and travel restrictions  
When entering a long haul destination you may need to apply for a visa in advance. Some places you need to have  vaccinations  and certificates may also be a requirement to proof you have had the vaccines done and gain entry. To travel to New York and Hawaii, you need to fill out an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) online and costs £9 per person. The form needs to be filled out before 72 hours of departure, but it is preferred to do it a month beforehand in case of any mistakes on the form or the first form gets rejected. The vaccines that people need to have before going to New York and Hawaii is Tetanus and Polio, but people should always check with their GP for the most up date vaccines needed. When the ESTA form came in, it affected travel as some people did not know you had to fill out online, other people may not have realised until they are arrived in the USA. This wouldn’t have cause tourism problems for months only the entry to the country  

Safety and security

Crime and unrest can be a problem, tourist police to ensure safety and security of visitors. Some destinations say tourists can’t go to certain places. Terrorism attacks make people aware of what is going on around them. People can find out if it is safe to visit the country by going on the FCO (Foreign Commonwealth Office)  travel website and they have up to date information. 

Because Hawaii and New York are in the USA, the FCO have the same advice. On the website it says there is a general threat of terrorism, so you have to be vigilant at all times and follow the advice of local authorities. In both places, local gangs target rental cars as they know tourists use them so the advice the website give is do not leave passports and anything valuable in the car and especially in the boot. Also, not many people do this but people should not make flippant remarks about bombs and terrorism on flights and especially when passing through US airports.    When the 9/11 terrorism attack happened it affected travel to and out of the USA for a few years, the first few months air travel dropped by half. The affect of the 9/11 created the first year of negative growth in 20 years. It was a negative thing but created positive tourism to  the European destinations as more people were visiting them as they decided tit wasn't a risky destination increasing the tourist arrivals. 

The Swine Flu pandemic affected not only Mexico but for business their shares are dropping , for example IHG shares fell by 5% because people were worried about how much the shares would be if tourism was extremely affected so pulled out whilst still got money.

Health issues 

DVT (Deep Vein thrombosis) is when there is a blood clot in the deep veins of the body. The clots are normally found in the leg in the muscle which runs through the muscle in the calf and thigh. Flights longer than eight hours increase the chance of getting DVT. To help prevent getting it people can buy flight socks to wear on the plane, wear loose and comfortable clothes that are not restricting any blood flow, foot exercises, not drinking any alcohol onboard and drink plenty of water instead. Do not take any sleeping aid tablets and walk around the plane a lot during the flight.  Adequate travel insurance is needed for all long haul travel destinations as medical bills in the USA is very dear for medical procedures and consultations. Some long haul developing  destinations HIV and diseases may be common so you will have to go to your GP, pop into a travel agency or go online to find out what extra vaccines you need to have. People who already have HIV may find it more awkward to travel because they have to declare their problems and insurance providers will charge them more money to be covered, if people with HIV do not take out insurance and end up in hospital (it doesn’t even have to be related to the original problem) but the hospital will not treat them until they pay up.

Social issues

When people go to developing destinations they may get a culture shock because they see poverty, diseases and malnutrition with their own eyes.  Travellers are advised to support the locals by buying local crafts and produce and going on appropriate trips that do not offend their religions and historic ways.New York does not have many social issues but Hawaii does. 

Hawaii depends heavily on tourism. There is an extreme divide between the rich and the poor. Most of the travellers do not see the poorer locals, as the rich and wealthy  live on/near the beach front and the more popular tourist areas, whereas the poorer areas are in the remote areas and they turn to pick pocketing the holidaymakers as they have a lot of money (to change up or already in the local currency). 

When women travel alone (without any males in the group) can cause problems when travelling to places like Turkey and Morocco and are treated like second class citizen. South America is also a very dangerous place. Reports also state that in India every twenty minutes a sexual assault has been reported. The most unsafe cities are Bogota, Mexico City and Lima for women to visit alone.  On the Women’s Travel Guide they state that females cannot enter the country without a male chaperone at all times. They even have to go to the Embassy in London to declare and sign forms stating who will be the male companion is.  

Distinction Work

In this part of the assignment I will be analysing the impact of the travel factors on long haul travel destinations within in the last five years.

Swine Flu Pandemic  

The virus was found in 2009. The pandemic cost Thomas Cook around £12.6 million as they had to cancel trips from UK and Germany to Mexico. The first week the virus being detected, bookings to Mexico dropped by 60%

around 330,000 people travel to Mexico from the UK every year.

The virus has left a significant dent in the country’s economy and lost $57 million dollars everyday for three months. In 2011 it was recorded that 6.6 million jobs are in the tourism industry which is 14.8% of the total employment in the country.  

Skyscanner has reported that there has been a 19% drop of flight searches to Mexico. 

Sousse Attacks 

On the 26th Of June this year there was a gun attack on a beach in Tunisia. 30 people of the 38 killed were British tourists.Also in 2015, on the 15th of March, Bardo National Museum was attacked by three terrorists. 22 people was killed, 21 were tourist and one person was a  policeman.Another attack happened in October last year when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a beach because his terror attack failed. 

Two weeks after the June attack. 1,155 people cancelled their holiday bookings to the country. This has affected the tourism industry because up to two million hotel nights are expected to be lost in the upcoming year and so far 23 hotels have already closed down. The terror attack has affected the locals as well because 400,000 people are employed in the tourism sector of Tunisia and contributes to 14.5% of the GDP. After the attack at the museum, visitors numbers have dropped by a million.

Bibliography

Tunisia tourism scares are resulting in declining passenger traffic (Online) available at:

http://www.anna.aero/2015/10/07/tunisia-tourism-scares-are-resulting-in-declining-passenger-traffic/ Last Accessed: 02/11/15

How travel is being affected by the swine flu outbreak (Online) available at:

http://www.skyscanner.net/news/updated-swine-flu-outbreak-how-travel-being-affected Last Accessed: 02/11/15

Tunisia: murder of holidaymakers could dent tourism but not hope (Online) available at:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/26/tunisia-attack-terrorism-tourism Last Accessed: 02/11/15

Tunisia's tourism industry plunges into crisis (Online) available at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-3158870/Tunisia-tourism-crippled-European-warnings.html Last Accessed: 02/11/15

Swine flu a further hit to Mexican tourism (Online) available at:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/apr/27/mexico-tourism-swine-flu Last Accessed:02/11/15