Strategic management in the tourism industry - Essay Example

However other airports in London like Heathrow and Gatwick which have a much wider passenger base have much more advanced communication systems built by the likes of Siemens. (Businesswire, 2001). Another strength that is available to Luton over all other airports is its geographic location. It is situated in London which is not only the centre for business in the UK, but also one of the major tourist attractions that is offered by the European Union. People who are either on vacations or on business tend to visit London throughout the year.

Therefore the number of passengers arriving in London based airports is fixed and sees a constant gradual increase every other year. But considering in London, there are four other airports, Luton strives to compete with the traffic generated throughout London (Greater and the City). Each of these airports caters to a different market and a different geographic segment thus each airport remains competitive and unique. The airport boasts of having a spacious parking lot where passengers can leave their automobiles over short or long periods of time.

The valet parking system frees the owners of having to find their own parking space and provides the assurance of security to the owners who can have peace of mind while they are on their trip. In comparison, Heathrow and Gatwick which caters to a much higher number of passengers and parking area is unable to accommodate passengers who want to leave their cars in walking distance from the airport. (Luton-Airport, 2008)Another major strength of Luton airport which can be noted is the number of destinations which Luton airport passengers get to go to.

Luton airport forwards passengers to 85 destinations worldwide. Being the 5th largest airport in UK, its passenger base has been increasing by 5% for a few years now. Compared to Gatwick's growth by 2.5% and Stansted's growth by 10%, one can say that Luton's growth has been average yet steady. Weaknesses of Luton AirportDue to the fore mentioned strengths, Luton has a large passenger turnover rate. Thus more passengers equate to more luggage and baggage being brought into and sent out of the airport.

The sheer amount of baggage being transferred results in quite a few cases of lost baggage over time. Luton does not yet have sufficient resources to fully manage the problem of the handling of luggage and is facing problems in this regard. But even with the best technology and hi-fi RFID systems implemented by Heathrow airport to track the luggage, the first day at the opening of the new Terminal 5 saw a great deal of problems. In