Transport Accessibility in Business Travel–a Case Study

Question: Describe about the Transport Accessibility in Business Travel for a Case Study? Answer: Explaining key development in travel industry (AC 1.1) Travel industry is a service industry, which provides a vast service packages regarding transportation, hotels and other related services. From the beginning, the tourism industry is taking care of arranging travel services (Ziegler, Dearden and Rollins 2012). In recent days, the demand of tourism industry is very high and people are relying upon the travel agents for availing doorstep services. Previously, demand of tourism industry was not so high; however, lifestyle of society has changed a lot, which influences people to avail these services. The reason behind this change of trend is high working pressure and low social communication (Shuai and Long 2013). Apart from that, many other factors are influencing the growth of this industry. For an example, economic, social and environmental factors of a particular country can influence people to avail this kind of services. The revolution of technology in tourism industry has begun since 1952. In this era, many airlines companies have adopted advanced technologies for strengthening their service quality (Cabiddu, Lui and Piccoli 2013). This technological innovation has benefited the tourism sector, as they can reduce their cost for increasing profitability. In this time, the University of Toronto and Trans Canada Airline collaboratively introduced the first computerized system of reservation. This revelation was effectively benefited people, as they can avail the services without visiting the place physically (Han and Hyun 2015). Furthermore, Microsoft has shown interest in this field has introduced Expedia, which helps people in booking online for hotel, air tickets, car rentals and many more services. After that, the technology has shown a rapid innovation and now the entire travel industry in relying upon technological innovation for achieving competitive advantage. Explaining structure of tourism industry with examples (AC 1.2) There are five different components of tourism industry such as Tourism Attraction, Transport, Accommodation, Tour Operators and Travel Agent. Accumulating these components represent the overall structure of tourism industry (Morrison and Pickering 2013). Following is the explanation of this particular structure with suitable examples. Tourism Attraction: In order to influence interest of people, the first component is the tour destination. The destination should be attractive by nature for attracting the visitors. For example, Machu Picchu, Tikal, The Pyramids at Giza and Angkor Wat are the top historical destination of world (Sigala and Chalkiti 2014). People are willing to visit these places for fulfilling some specific requirements. Apart from historical places, there are many destinations, which are facilitating people with natural attractiveness. Now, in order to visit these places, the most important factor is transportation (Sigala and Chalkiti 2014). Thus, the next component of tourism industry is transport, which is explained below. Transport: Transport is the major element, which facilitates people in reaching to the desired destination. There are different kinds of transport facilities such as air travel and rail transport (Dwyer et al. 2013). In case of National Express and Eurolines, there are over 12 million passengers are availing service for reaching more than 1200 destinations within a year. Airlines companies are providing quality service to the consumers and therefore, 75% of travel packages are relying upon air travel (Mitrokostas and Apostolakis 2013). It also reduces time requirement for people in an effective manner. Tour Operators: Tour operators are the travel agents, those works in collaboration with the accommodation and transport providers. These agencies are arranging travel packages including travel and accommodation (Ponting and O'Brien 2014). These companies are responsible for taking care of the entire tour including the related services such as food services and hospitality service. Moreover, these agents are buying the travel and accommodation packages at bulk rate and directly selling these to the consumers. Travel Agents: These agents are selling the service packages to the consumers. The word agent refers to the bridge between the tour operators and the consumers. These agencies are directly communicative with the consumers for knowing their changing needs and demands. For example, Thomson and Lunn Poly is the most famous travel agency of UK market (Nguyen, Nguyen and Nguyen 2014). Understanding influence of national and local government and international agencies on travel sector Analyzing the functionality of governments and international agencies on travel sector Government of different countries has implemented different policies for maintaining the stability in tourism business. The role of government in tourism industry is very vast and complex as well (Cohen-Hattab and Shoval 2014). In current days, tourism industry has dramatically improved over the past decades. People of different country and culture are visiting a particular destination and therefore, government is responsible for accommodating people them safely. Tourism companies are bound to follow the implemented policies for conducting sustainable business (Shani and Arad 2014). These policies are effective for monitoring unethical practices of the companies. Government tourism policy is aiming to improve the growth of tourism industry in global market. There are different policies implemented by the government for reducing barriers for the tourism industry. The responsibility of government is to strengthen the tourism industry for improving economical position of a particular de stination (Slocum, Kline and Holden 2015). For example, if tourists are randomly visiting one destination, then it is obvious that income growth of the local merchandise will increase. Moreover, the role of government, government sponsored bodies and the international agencies are to promote sustainability development and high quality tourism service for strengthening the overall tourism industry (Cohen-Hattab 2013). Moreover, government is also providing opportunity to the companies in expanding globally. Therefore, companies are able to expand their business in international market. Influence of local and national economical policies on tourism industry The term economical policy refers to the activities taken by government, which influences economy of a particular country. For example, Switzerland is the most attractive tourism destination and therefore, government is implementing different policies for improving the infrastructure of this country (Char-lee et al. 2014). In order to improve the economical aspect, government of this country has initiated different projects for improving the accommodation for tourist. This activity has effectively increase scope for the tourist companies to enhance their business profitability by attracting more visitors. These kinds of activities are generally taken by the local government, which is also known as the local economical policies (Ragab and Meis 2016). On the other hand, internal policies such as improving the transportation process within the countries are influencing the visitors to get access of various tourism destinations. Now, considering the components of tourism structure, it ca n be said that the local and international economical policies are increasing scope for the tourist companies. Tourist companies are being able to attract more visitors in that particular destination, where government has implemented various policies for improving the current economy. In addition, The World Travel Tourism Council (WTTC) is implementing many strategies for increasing awareness regarding the negative impacts of high amount of tax for the travelers (Holliday et al. 2015). It helps to reduce taxes for air travel, which actually help the travel company in reducing their service cost. Implications of political change on travel industry in different countries Political change within a country is having huge impact on the travel and tourism industry. Different countries are having different policies and procedures and therefore, relationship between two countries is the most important aspect, which needs to be monitored frequently for improving the growth of tourism industry (Cerovic et al. 2015). For example, if one country is maintaining healthy relationship with another country, then the visitors will feel free to choose the destination for traveling. However, if there is problem between these two countries, then visitors will be unable to get access to the destination, which can hamper the business growth of tourism industry (Chiabai, Platt and Strielkowski 2014). Apart from that, the changing policies of government are having huge impact on the tourism industry. Government of different countries is changing their policies according to the global requirements. Therefore, the changing regulations for travel and tourism are influencing the tourism companies to change their internal policies accordingly. For an example, the cost requirement for traveling internationally depends upon government and therefore, the cost of travel will increase accordingly to the amended rate of government (Kadar 2013). The political change can affect a countys tourism industry either positively or negatively. The factor is, whether the political change is making the country stable or unstable. If the country is encountering political issues, then possibly there is lots of instability within the country. In this particular situation, visitors will avoid that particular destination, which actually negatively affect the tourism industry of that country (KirÄÂ ¾ov 2015). On the other hand, if the political change is stabilizing the political issues of a destination, then it will increase the scope for the tourism industry to attract more visitors. Understanding effects of demand and supply on tourism sector Factors affecting tourism demands There are different factors of a country, which influences the overall demand of this industry. However, some of the factors are not controllable by the companies. The factors influencing demand of this industry are Income level, cultural aspects, and cost of complementary goods (Dumbrovsk and Fialov 2014). Following is the explanation of each factors regarding how these factors are affecting demand of tourism in Jerusalem. Income level: Income level of people is an important factor, which affect demand of tourism services within a country. For example, if income of individual people of a country is high, then it will influence the people to avail tourism services in frequent manner. However, if income level of people is low, then the growth of tourism industry will be hampered drastically (Borodako and Rudnicki 2014). In case of Jerusalem, the average income of people is high in contrast with other countries and therefore, the demand of tourism industry is very high. However, an economical recession can hamper the current demand of tourism services in this country. Cultural aspects: Cultural aspects represent the cultural preference of people. In case of tourism industry, this factor is influencing people in choosing destinations according to their desire. For an example, some people are interested in visiting historical destination and some other people are interested in adventure tourism (Ilie 2014). These are depending on the desire of people and apart from that, some consumers are interested in availing high quality service and some other are interested in availing the services at low cost. In case of Jerusalem, people are seeking for quality services and therefore, the scope for the tourism company is very high. Apart from that, people are diversified in terms of destination selection (Ziegler, Dearden and Rollins 2012). Thus, the cultural aspect of this country is influencing the people to avail tourism services. Cost of complementary goods: Travel cost is the most important complementary goods in tourism industry. If the cost of travel increases, then it will reduce the scope for tourism industry. On the other hand, if the cost of travel decreases, then it will increase interest of people in an effective manner (Ziegler, Dearden and Rollins 2012). In case of Jerusalem, communication is the most important strength for the country. There are many possibilities and alternatives in terms of traveling. People can chose the cost effective process for traveling to this country. Therefore, it affects the tourism industry of this country in a positive manner. Apart from travel, foods, accommodation and other expenses are also falling under complementary goods (Cabiddu, Lui and Piccoli 2013). It is highly important to provide these goods at low cost for influencing consumers to visit the country randomly. The economical condition of Jerusalem is showing that the economical condition of this country is stable and therefore, cost o f goods is satisfactory for the international and local buyers. Analyzing how supply has changed for fulfilling demands In this competitive era, various tourism companies are satisfying consumers with different strategies. As a result, the companies have dramatically improved their internal procedures in past few years. The changing needs and requirements of consumers in prominently demanding high quality service within desired time (Han and Hyun 2015). In order to fulfill the high demand of consumers, companies are straightening their supply chain and process design. There are different companies are providing services, which are relevant with travel and tourism (Morrison and Pickering 2013). 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