TOURISM AND TRANSPORTATION Chapter - 1 INTRODUCTION 1

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TOURISM AND TRANSPORTATION

Chapter - 1

INTRODUCTION

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Chapter Objectives & Contents

• Global changes are affecting travel for tourism and critical role in modern society

• Oil, travel and transport• Tourism studies and tourist transport• The nature and scope of tourist transport:

modes of travel• Tourism and destination development:

a critical role for transportation

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Global changes affecting travel for tourism and critical role in modern society

• Since the late 1990s, the world has experienced many major trends affecting both the economic and social life of many countries and probably one of the most profound is the growing importance of globalization.

• Transport has been a key element in achieving the greater global interconnectedness of different areas and regions as transport connects different places and destinations: put simply, transport connects the origin and destination.

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Global changes affecting travel for tourism

• But in a globalised world where space and distance no longer act as the major constraint on economic activity, and repeated that in many subsequent geographical analyses of transport, technology and transport have had a profound impact on making our globalised world work effectively.

• This is particularly the case for tourism, as broadly speaking nowhere on the globe is more than 24 hours' travel from anywhere else and technology has enabled companies and people to interact on a global scale.

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Three eras of Globalisation can be discerned:

1. The first relates to when Columbus set sail in 1492 and ended in the early 1800s and is largely associated with growing exploration and discovery of other places.

2. The second dates from the early 1800s and is explained by the development of a critical mass of global trade so that companies expanded into global entities, often related to the Imperial ambitions of their host country to exploit underdeveloped resources as well as new markets.

3. The third dates from the late 1990s with the rise of web technologies to allow people and businesses to collaborate on a global scale.

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Several profound changes, events, trends or innovations that changed the world have had a major impact on the role of transport in relation to tourism, as the following points suggest;

• The rise of the personal computer, software and networks has allowed the technological connectedness to occur between people and countries. For example, the introduction of new technology has led to online booking, online check-in for air travel and other transportation means.

• Workflow software has allowed businesses to collaborate on a global scale and has meant global supply chains have emerged creating a greater international dimension to work activity generating a greater demand for international business travel.

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• Outsourcing has allowed organizations to manage business processes with technology at a distance irrespective of location. For example, this generated the demand for call centre location especially in India.

• The growth of China as a global economic power which has completely overtaken the tourism sector as a leading outbound market and destination, was reflected in the massive growth rates in the demand for air travel..

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• The rise of 'in-forming‘ via PC has created a generation which is web-enabled and more aware of how to access the opportunities to travel.

• The rise of the wireless society, where the desk of the worker now goes anywhere with them via the PC or laptop (or growing numbers of personal devices) so that workers are mobile and able to work while they travel, creating new opportunities for combining travel and work in a more flexible manner.

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These trends contributed to the flattening of the globe, meaning that as these trends / innovations converge (combine), there has been a revolution in the market for travel and tourism:• the rise of new industrialized countries has seen a

redefinition of the economic power base on a global scale.

• These new economic realities also shape the pattern of travel and tourism

• This has meant that globalization has made the world more open to more people to travel

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Oil, travel and transport

• Most forms of transport for tourism are dependent upon oil as the basis for energy and this has seen sharp rises and fluctuations in recent years to over US $100 a barrel (nowadays around $ 107).

• Much of the growth in in the post-war period in transport and tourism has been predicated on relatively cheap oil, since between 1947 and 2007, US$ 19.04 per barrel (average).

• However, in the period since 1970, prices averaged US $ 32 a barrel as demand increased from developing economies and due to a weak US dollar

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Oil, travel and transport• Consequently, with transport still largely dependent

upon fossil fuels for energy, there are potential concerns about the future provision of cheap transport, particularly air travel.

• So the previous growth in transport and tourism is not as readily assured as in the era of cheap travel, although the tourism sector is well known for its innovative behaviour to develop new models of production

• But energy is a dominant element for transportation.

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What do we understand by the term tourism?

• Even though tourism can be defined as both an industry and a service activity, it is widely recognized that tourism combines a broad range of economic activities and services designed to meet the needs of tourists.

• It is evident that the tourism sector is a broad, all-encompassing term which includes accommodation, catering, transport and ancillary services.

• tourism can tend to obscure (dark) the wider significance of the transport sector in tourist travel (Figure 1.1) Figure 1.1.tif.

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• Likewise, if one then considers the interrelationship between air transport and tourism from an economic perspective (Figure 1.2) (link) , the wider significance of direct tourist spending on transport and the indirect benefits in terms of employment and other spin-offs (by products) is self-evident.

• Consequently, transport provides the essential link between tourism origin and destination areas and facilitates the movement of holidaymakers, business travellers, people visiting friends and relatives and those undertaking educational and health tourism

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• Transport can also form the focal point for tourist activity in the case of cruising and holidays that contain a significant component of travel

• Here the mode of transport forms a context and controlled environment for tourists' movement between destinations and attractions, often through the medium of a 'tour'.

• Without transportation, most forms of tourism could not exist. • In some cases, the transportation experience is the tourism

experience itself (e.g. cruises, scenic and heritage rail trips, and motor coach, automobiles and bicycle tours).

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Tourism studies and tourist transport

The evolution of the transport-tourism research nexus (connection)• Travel and transport is a topic frequently cited in

relation to its role as a facilitator of the expansion of tourism, as new technology (e.g. the railway and jet engine) and novel forms of marketing and product developments (e.g. package holidays) have contributed to the development of tourism as a mass consumer product (Table 1.1).(link) (and Figure 1.6)

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Tourism studies and tourist transportThere are three needs to fulfill• transporting the tourist from the generating to

the host area (destination)

• transport between host destinations• transport within host destinationsTourist transport also classified on several bases as;• public or private sector transport• water/land/air transport• domestic and international transport and • mode of transport (Figure 1.3)Figure 1.3.tif.

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Tourism studies and tourist transport

The shrinking of distance by modern forms of international transport and four major phases can be realised in the evolution of transport technology:• the transition from horse and windpower

• the introduction of the steam engine

• the development of the combustion engine

• the use of the jet engine

Global shrinkage has occurred with reduced journey times, cost reductions and improved capacity

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The nature and scope of tourist transport: modes of travel

• During any recreational or tourist trip, tourists may encounter and use different forms of transport.

• Although this may seem self-evident, it is useful to briefly outline some of the key characteristics of tourist transport, which can be divided into a simple classification (Table 1.2). link

• Tourist transport is dependent upon the available disposable income to purchase travel options, which varies by social groups and in and between countries.

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The nature and scope of tourist transport: modes of travel

• Cost becomes a key factor in many travel choices and Table 1.2 (link) highlights how important the developed-less developed world differences are in tourist transport options, where income levels, affluence and patterns of consumption are markedly different.

• Competition between different forms of tourist transport is also important, which highlights the significance of substitutability in transport for tourism, where price, demand, supply and relative cost become critical components.

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Tourism and destination development: a critical role for transportation

• The issue of transport as a key element of destination development has a well established place in tourism studies dating back to 1939, on the evolution of resorts, in which transport and new technology (e.g. the railways) played a major part in expanding the accessibility of the destination (i.e. the place) to a wider population.

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• Tourist destinations are a mix of tourism products, experiences and other intangible items promoted to consumers.

• At a general level, this concept of a destination can be developed to represent geographically defined entities such as groups of countries, individual countries, regions in a country, a rural area, a resort or a wide range of experiences created by tourism marketers.

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From a tourist's perspective, a destination may usually be classified into: • conventional resorts• environmental destinations • business tourism centres • places one stops at en route to another place• a short-break destination and day-trip destinationsIn essence, destinations are places which tourists visit and stay at.

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There are six interrelated components which comprise a destination, often refereed to as an amalgam of the six As:• Available packages• Accessibility• Attractions & Amenities• Activities, and• Ancillary Services

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Leiper's (1990) arguments on a tourist transit route and flows;• as a focus of perceived and actual travel time to get to a

specific holiday destination• as a focus for transport networks which tourists use to

travel within the destination and provision of interconnections to travel onwards to other destinations;

• as a focus for inbound tourism, particularly for tourist arrivals by air.

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TOURISM AND TRANSPORTATION Chapter - 1 INTRODUCTION 1