Increased frequency of holidays
As people become more wealthy, they are able to take more frequent holidays. This had led to the popularity of the short break, often to a city.
The traditional pattern of holiday is a two week summer break, often to the Mediterranean resort. Richer families often add a winter ski break as well. According to a 208 Mintel report, an estimated 7 million UK resident adults take two or more European holidays and an estimated 1.7 million take two or more long-haul trips annually.
The trend had turned in 209 with UK residents making fewer outbound trips. This is because of the credit crunch. According to the International Passenger Survey, trips abroad fell by 17 per cent, which meant a decline in he visitor numbers.
The effect of a decline in visitor numbers has included jobs in destinations being reduced and tour operators cutting capacity. Airlines also cut capacity, which means they are operating fewer flights.
Holiday home ownership
There has been an upward trend in UK residents owning second homes. Although some can be explained by higher divorce rates and people having second homes for work, it is acknowledged that about 50 per cent are holiday homes.
About 235,000 second homes are owned abroad by British citizens. Growth in these numbers can be attributed to the rapid growth of low-cost airlines, which allow cheaper access to holiday homes. Another factor is people from immigrant backgrounds. This is countries such as India, Pakistan, South Africa and the Caribbean, wishing to own properties back in their countries of origin.
Many second homeowners abroad have their home in Spain. Recently , some of the developments of new holiday homes have been halted in order to allow for a reduction in the number of people buying holiday homes abroad during the recession. In some places, like Madrid, Dubai, some buildings have been left half-finished until funding to continue the work can be found.
Greater flexibility of booking
As people become more confident about travel and more used to travelling abroad, seeing different cultures, they are able to book the component parts of their holiday themselves rather than go to a travel agent. This is most likely to happen for more frequent lower-priced trips. When people are going on more expensive holidays, for example on a wedding or a cruise, they would more than likely book it through a travel agent. This is because they are able to get expert advice from the agent instead of guessing on line.
More and more people are getting access to the internet at home and are able to carry out research into travel and destinations and make their own decision and make their own bookings online. Expedia for example have profited from internet growth by providing the ability to make up holiday packages, including flights and accommodation as desired.
The effect of more people booking independently is that there is no longer big demand of travel agency services. Web-based companies are able to compete more easily with large tour operators.
Terrorism
The impact of '9/11' has been long-term. Security is now a high priority at airports. In December 2009, a 23 year old Nigerian man attempted to set off an explosion on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. The attack failed but the American government put even stricter security screening measures in place following the incident.
In 2006 international travellers were stopped overnight from carrying liquids onto planes. Strict restrictions are still in place today. Liquids must be carried in a see-through plastic bag and each container must not exceed 100 milliliters. These restrictions cause delay and disruption as passengers struggle on what is allowed.
Terrorist attacks in destinations also impact tourism. Recent years have seen explosions in Egypt, Bali and Majorca. We should expect tight security and threats of terrorist attacks into the foreseeable future. Every incident brings more security checks and more difficulty for air passengers to travel freely. This makes people un-confident to travel because of risk of terrorism.
World recession
The recession in 2008-2010 has had a big impact on tourism, even creating a new term in UK, the 'staycation'. A holiday staying the UK rather than going abroad.
As people took fewer holidays in during the recession, companies started to struggle and some went bankrupt. An example of this is SKY Europe, a low-cost airline operating from Eastern Europe. Those people still employed during the recession could find lots of bargain holidays. However, even the employed are still more reluctant to travel as they might feel insecure about keeping their jobs.
This had a big effect on tourism as people could not afford to go on holiday thus making agents and hotels abroad and also airlines struggle to keep going as there wasn't no tourist willing to travel. But as the economy improves, the tourist numbers should start to increase.
Cost of travel
Travel is relatively cheap nowadays, especially air travel, and is no longer available only to the elite. The advert for low-cost airlines has brought down the cost of air travel. Long-haul travel prices are more fluid, but there are often bargains to be had off peak. Air travel is likely to become more expensive if proposed air passenger taxes introduced.
Rail travel is expensive in the UK but advance booking can result in favorable prices.
This means that it is easier and cheaper for people to travel, they are able to book in advance and aslo get money off. Meaning that the tourism industry would rise because of this.
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