International Tourism Policy and Practice - Essay Example

 Tourism is a service sector industry and today the world’s largest industry. Tourism is vital to the global economy as several allied businesses fall under this industry. This includes hotels, restaurants, theatres, monuments, fairs and festivals, pubs and bars, aviation and transport, tour operators, and ground handlers. Conferences, seminars and incentive tours have contributed to the growth and development of the industry. Tourism generates income, job and is a valuable foreign exchange earner. Globalization has affected every aspect of life and tourism is no exception. In fact, tourism faces new challenges everyday. All these amply show the significance of tourism as an industry. Tourism has become a global phenomenon with socio-cultural, environmental and economic impacts. There are several stakeholders in the tourism industry and the governments have to play a key role in policy making and implementation process. The local government takes certain remedial measures from time to time to ascertain the impact and curtail certain activities that may not be necessary. The international tourism market is challenging as both new markets and new destinations are rapidly emerging. Different tourist destinations have their own strategies and policies for the successful implementation although not all strategies may be purposeful. UK and Germany are two important tourist destinations in Europe and each country has its own policy for tourism in their country. The UK is one of the most popular destinations for international leisure and business travellers. In the UK, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible for supporting the tourism industry at the national level (DCMS, n.d.). It also puts the regional and local support for the sector into a strategic context. DCMS established VisitBritain as a strategic, marketing-focussed body in April 2003. This brought together the former English Tourism Council and the British Tourist Authority. The Tourism Alliance was established in 2001 which represents the sector’s views and concerns effectively to the government. In addition, People 1st was launched in 2004 as the new Sector Skills Council for tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors. The DCMS and its key partners agreed to formulate, implement and monitor areas like marketing and e-tourism, workforce skills, product quality, improved data and Advocacy across Government. The implementation of the Licensing Act 2003 is reforming the alcohol and entertainment licensing laws of England and Wales. The culture infrastructure has improved due to National Lottery. The DCMS has placed emphasis in developing local areas or individual cities as centres of sport and culture. For example, Manchester hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games and Liverpool secured the nomination for European Capital of Culture for 2008. Tourist boards and regulatory government authorities are necessary to control, providing marketing and serve as a platform to voice issues affecting the industry. As such, there are four Tourist Boards in the UK and they report to a government department. VisitBritain reports to the Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS), VisitScotland to Scottish Executive, Northern Ireland Tourist Board is a part of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for Northern Ireland (DETINI) and the Wales Tourist Board reports to National Assembly for Wales. VisitBritain has the major responsibility to market Britain overseas. It is also accountable to the UK Parliament. Apart from these, Department for Transport (DfT) is in charge of railways, aviation, road and the London Underground. Tourism in the UK accounts for 2.7% of UK Gross Value Added and was worth approximately £86.3 billion in 2007 which includes spending by both domestic and overseas tourists (Tourism Trade, 2008). DCMS has the necessary data available to assess the needs of the UK tourism sector. DCMS recognizes the deficiencies of the sources of the data base but nevertheless it provides as a starting point. Approximately 2.4 million people work in the tourism industry (TTT, n.d.). It is recognized that internet has changed the way people extract information, make their bookings and travel. VisitBritain recognizes this and they have responded with sophisticated marketing efforts both at home and across nations. VisitBritain focuses on short-term tactical approaches and long-term brand building strategies and has been able to create positive overseas perceptions of Britain. They cater to the overseas market through regional hubs that provide greater focus and expertise. They have taken strategic steps in marketing in different countries. For instance, for China and Korea emphasis is laid on effective and compelling content for websites and broadband. To promote the country for domestic markets they have started EnglandNet which enables the small businesses to present their products via the electronic media in a coordinated way. The England Marketing Advisory Board (EMAB) advises VisitBritain in coordinating the domestic marketing. Thus the UK tourism administration has been devised systematically but it remains to be seen how effective they are in achieving the goals. Each of the administrative body requires real time data on the changing demands and needs of the industry but the authorities do not have any systematic and organized system to collect and compile data. Even the data on the contribution of tourism to the overall economy is patchy and insufficient. There are various factors that have been influencing the growth of tourism in UK, and are expected to contribute further to the growth of this industry. These factors include ageing population, changes in work schedules, short-breaks popularity, and higher disposable income (TourismNetwork, n.d.). VisitBritain envisages that the tourism industry will grow to £100 billion by 2010. The government has been trying to impress people with statistics and the figures but the fact is that the growth rate in the tourism industry is far below the global average. Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland (2005) records the Tourism Minister as stating that there is gap between what the UK residents spend abroad and what the visitors spend in UK. Caterer & HotelKeeper (2006) reports that according to DCMS, the difference in tourist spending in the UK and what UK residents spend abroad has grown from £ 4.6 billion in 1997 to £ 17.9 billion in 2005. Britons spend £ 15 billion a year more. This deficit is expected to increase by 2010 and even though the inbound figure is expected to grow by 3.1% or 3.2%, it is below the global growth. The standard of accommodation also needs improvement. Better co-ordination between the industry and the government is also needed. Even though tourism is crucial to the economy of UK, the deficit has worsened since 1997. The tourism sector is totally dependent on the service delivery and hence needs qualified and enthusiastic people in its fold. This has always been a major challenge for the UK as the local people are not too keen to serve in this sector because of the low wage and low career perception that the sector has. There is a huge shortage in the hospitality sector and it is estimated that the industry will require 30000-35000 trained people by 2010 at the management and supervisory level to fill the gap (Tourism Trade, 2008). The government has made little effort to attract talented and skilled people in the sector. Development strategies and high quality training programs are essential. People 1st is responsible for working closely with the government and the industry to attract talent. The tourism sector employs over 2.1 million people but it has not been able to attract the domestic workers. Employment is at an all time low, the economy is buoyant, yet the recruitment and retention issues are crippling the industry. People 1st (Campbell, 2005) report that as per British Hospitality Association, at any point of time there are 100,000 vacancies in the hospitality sector. This has promoted the sector to employ people from overseas. Between May 2004 and March 2005, 42,000 overseas workers have registered with the Home Department. This in turn increases the burden on the government as migration community increases. The highest number of people comes from Poland. UK has not been able to attract the domestic workers because of the low wages prevalent in the industry apart from the irregular hours of work, seasonal demand, and insecurity of job. Innovative changes in the industry alone can attract the native worker and the minimum wages have to be granted. The sector is characterized by high degree of part-time working (almost 60 percent undertake part-time work). Even though some changes have been made but the tourism sector continues to face challenges in recruitment and retention (LowPay, 2005). This is one of the primary reasons that overseas recruitment becomes inevitable. The UK Government has to devise strategy to attract the local talent. Since the unemployment levels in the UK are low, the Government has not been very active on this front. This is an industry that is linked to so many different and diverse products and services (Amoah & Baum, 1997). It is a labour intensive industry and depends largely on the skilled manpower. Tourism education has increased as the demand has increased but nevertheless a framework has to be developed in close association with the policy framers. Without policy guidance, the tourism department and the education providers will each seek to satisfy their own aim. Policies should be formulated so that they can provide a focus and direction to the future of tourism education. This would benefit the industry as local people would receive incentive to take up jobs in the sector. Tourism has great social, environmental and economic benefits but these can be achieved only when proper funding support is provided by the government. VisitBritain has not been receiving such necessary funds to carry on its activities. Tourism is the least favoured by the DCMS (Davies, 2007). Because of paucity of funds VisitBritain is unable to invest in the long established markets. This is adversely affecting the industry when special promotional campaigns are needed at the time of recession and with staging of Olympics in just three years. According to Blitz (2008) the Government should take advantage of the pound’s weakness which has made Britain as cheap as it was a decade ago. The value of the visitor economy has been under estimated. If the recession continues it would lead to reduced domestic travel resulting in job losses as well. In the face of international competition, UK is neither prioritising tourism nor developing what it is offering the prospective visitors. The UK tourism sector appears to be a network of organizations trying to help each other leaving the common tourist struggling for help. The sector has not segmented the market as should be done to enhance its marketing efforts. Even though the Government recognizes the importance of tourism to the economy, no efforts have been made to allocate substantial budgets for the promotional activities. The Government knows that the sector is a job creator and at any given time, the sector has vacancies running into thousands, but no efforts are made by the Government to attract and retain local talent. The Department that is responsible for the industry does not even carry the word ‘tourism’ in its name – Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS). Tourism has definite advantages in every region- it generates employment and improves the local infrastructure but in some areas in the UK its perception is negative. This outcome is possible with ineffective management of the sector which allows the local authorities to react negatively to the changes in the circumstances as the industry grows. Overall, UK tourism sector is suffering from market failures, lack of information, lack of marketing effort by the private sector, and skills gap. Germany too attracts a lot of international visitors and the local people chose to holiday in Germany as well. Earlier retirement, falling pension contributions, rising life expectancy and the resulting prolongation the pension-drawing period during retirement are the causes of the already serious threat to the social security systems (TAB, 2005). This means that in Germany the tourist market segment compromising of senior citizen will grow as life expectancy has increased. This will drive up the costs for health care and nursing and hence tourist packages that combine health care with nursing will be popular. Tourism is a success story for the German economy. This industry creates and maintains a large number of jobs. Because of tourism, it has also become a popular choice for business. Trade fairs are very often held in Germany, which is a major boost to the economy. Members of the EU travel a lot to Germany and hotels are in high demand. For 60 years the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) has worked with the federal government to promote tourism (Germany 2008). The objective of GNTB is to promote tourism, to enhance the image of Germany as a destination, both at home and abroad. It develops marketing strategies with specific themes, events, and festivals. GNTB takes up marketing activities on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour. GNTB has 29 offices worldwide either through its representative offices or as sales agents. It associates with the Alpine Tourist Commission and the Danube Tourist Commission to promote tourism in Germany. It associates with tour operators and travel agents as sales partners. GNTB also produces and distributes catalogues of packages. Besides, it initiates sales campaign. Unlike DMCS of the UK, GNTB does not rely solely on the data collected from its own sources. Apart from its own market research, its own market research, GNTB analyzes and studies data supplied by German Federal Statistical Office, findings of the World Travel Monitor and the German Travel Monitor and studies by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). The GNTB is proactive in the sector. Its promotional activities include providing information, training the travel agents. It also has e-learning programs for the travel fraternity. It works in close cooperation with the tour operators to promote sales. It supplies attractive posters to the travel agents for display at their offices. It realizes the importance and support needed from the travel agents and extend support in all directions. To fund its campaigns, GNTB receives grants from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor, from the Federal States and contributions from its members. Tourism is considered an important policy in Germany. This is conducted in close cooperation with other departments like the Federal Government, State Government and the industry (OECD, n.d.). Germany has made itself popular by being attached to different international tourism association and institutions. For instance it has associated itself with WTO, the WTTC and the CSD (Commission on Sustainable Development) on issues of tourism (TAB, 1999). It conducts seminars from time to time to explore the possibilities of enhancing the economy through tourism. It hence is able to keep itself abreast of the latest development in world tourism. Germany is also a member of the United Nations Environmental Program UNEP) an International organization concerned with the growth of tourism in the world. Apart from this Germany is an active participant in the council of Europe and NATO. It is an observer of OAS and a permanent member of WTO. It is a member of the European Travel Commission (ETC), ‘The Danube’ – international marketing association, Baltic Sea Tourism Commission (BTC), and the Alpine Tourism Commission (ATC). The GNTB has formulated its international tourism policy and with the cooperation of various bodies carries out its activities. Socially responsible tourism has not yet emerged in Germany. Germans want low impact tourism as tourists disturb the community activities. They are willing to pay a price for guaranteed environmentally and socially acceptable offers. Germany has had a negative image in the field of tourism. GNTB has been playing a very important role in boosting tourism in the country. Apart from Berlin and Cologne, Nuremberg, Baden-Baden will also get exposure as summer destinations (TTGazette, 2006). Tourism is an accepted challenge in Germany. GNTB has always partnered with the private sector and they receive mutually beneficial support from 57 members including tourism companies, regional marketing organisations, associations and cooperative marketing ventures (Germany, 2007). To position “Destination Germany” round the world, this private partnering has been considered vital. Their overseas representatives have thorough market and product knowledge and GNTB acts as an advisor and point of contact. It involves its partners in promotions and activities based on its themes. GNTB also conducts information tour for its partners and they stop at each of the 16 federal states. They have regional marketing offices in each state and in cooperation with these offices, GNTB proposes to initiate sales activities. GNTB’s domestic marketing activities are financed by the federal states and their marketing organizations (Germany, 2007a). They have seven different holiday themes and information on each of their breaks are available on their website at www.kurz-nah-weg.de. They had accompanying advertising campaigns in travel publications and the travel agents are given a set of promotional material for the campaigns. They keep changing their break plans each year and to supplement it they have matching campaigns and promotional launches. The travel agents are well equipped with all information at every stage. Germany is the second most popular culture destinations of the world, second only to France (Germany 2007b). Germany got a new image after the World Cup 2006. To compete against stiff international markets, they came up with a new corporate design in 2007. They have a different marketing theme for the different market segments. GNTB adopts unique marketing concepts every year. Every year a new theme is used to promote sales. It is also responsible for ‘Destination Germany’, within Germany. In 2007, GNTB proposes to focus on Art and Culture in Germany; in 2008 on Parks and Palaces. It promotes Events and Market Specific Campaigns. They have developed the themes for the next four years and they position the theme with the partner organizations. GNTB recognizes its responsibility towards the stakeholders and has ensured that sustainable tourism is practiced. It recognizes how domestic and international tourism affect the environment and GNTB is taking remedial and corrective action. Domestic tourism adds to greenhouse gas emissions, loss of sand dunes and threat to animals and plants demonstrate threat to biodiversity (Oko Institute, 2001). Loss of land is not significant from tourism but the waste generated places heavy demand on the transport and storage resources. Heavy water consumption and sewage disposal also pose a problem. In addition, holiday makers pose a problem to the noise pollution. The demand for travel is expected to increase by 25% from 1999 by the year 2010. This will increase pressures on the environment. Air transportation causes the main greenhouse gas emissions and has to be contained. The German federal government is aware of these problems and has been proactive in bringing about changes. All the German tour operators have declared their support for an environmentally sound form of tourism. The UK conducts seminars and studies to understand the impact of tourism on the environment. They have been making attempts to promote eco-tourism as they realize that the overseas visitors contribute only 20% and hence concentration has to be laid on domestic tourism to reduce the impact on the environment (Otoadese, 2007). The studies conducted in the UK too found that air travel has the maximum greenhouse gas emissions in the environment. Germany, unlike the UK, does not have a central tourism database (TAB, 1999). Germany suffered badly from its inexpensive image but due to lack of personnel and the desired service level in other countries, it capitalized on the quality and service offered, thereby making a niche place for itself in the global tourism market. GNTB regularly engages in market research so that its partners are well equipped with a set of analysis that point the way forward for a professional marketing strategy. They indulge in advance planning to the extent that even the themes for the next 2-3 years are decided in advance. They conduct a systematic study of the ten key source markets for Germany in a 5 year cycle – with a combined image and efficiency study. They identify target groups and potential markets and study these specifically which helps in planning the marketing activities. In Germany private travel is dominated by domestic travel and Germany as a destination for international tourists has been recognized lately. The UK has for long promoted itself as the most important destination. Domestic tourism in both the countries is high but as far as attracting international tourists is concerned Germany has entered this market only recently. So far the world had a negative image of Germany as a destination but due to the efforts in marketing itself, the country now has a place in the international travel destinations. Any nation, any organization or for that matter any business has responsibility towards the stakeholders. As far as tourism is concerned, the government has responsibility towards the tourists – both domestic and overseas, towards the trade partners like tour operators, travel agents and other bodies that assist it, towards the employees, and towards the government itself. The responsibility towards the tourists implies providing the necessary information timely and accurately. This has been found to be lacking in the UK while Germany has a very systematic approach to it. In the UK the entire system seems to be a network of bodies where the information seeker will get confused and lost. They have been making efforts to channelize the activities but have not been successful. Security and safety are the other concerns of a tourist and this too is not addressed by the UK tourism. The research and marketing activities are professionally managed in the Germany while it is ineffectively handled in the UK. Germany is proactive and relies on extensive research of its own as well as that of other groups. Based on the data collected through the research it then plans its marketing. Both GNTB and VisitBritain have their own as well as representative bodies overseas but GNTB provides full support to the travel fraternity. The travel agents and tour operators work as partners without which the tourist authority in any country can do nothing. To that extent GNTB is very active and even have a platform online for the travel agency staff. They take suggestions and recommendation from their partners and incorporate them in their strategy. Tourism Alliance in the UK also functions as the voice of the people but it ends up in confusion. GNTB is well organized as the people are adequately trained to work in the department. Even their overseas representatives have the necessary product information and knowledge. In the UK there is information gap and communication gap between different bodies and between the authorities and the tourists. Human resource is ill-managed in the UK and there is a perpetual shortage of staff. They have a lot of migrant community employed in the tourism industry which is not so in Germany. Both the countries have associations and affiliation with the world tourism organization and address their concerns through these platforms. In nutshell, even though the UK has been in the international tourism market for a longer period than Germany, the GNTB is much better organized. It plans years in advance and has a well-defined strategy. They attend to the concerns of all of their stakeholders including the employees, the travel agents and tour operators and the tourists. They have their strategy for safety and security in place as well. Germany is not yet practicing socially responsible tourism but has started on this as well. Funds are adequately available to the GNTB whereas VisitBritain’s funding has been curtailed by the DCMS. Having the right funding allows any organization to plan its activities and promotional material in advance. This has permitted GNTB to engage in advance planning. DCMS has too many sub-divisions and sub-departments and bureaucracy at every level hampers the progress of work. This causes delay in the information flow which consequently affects the productivity. Thus the strategy of VisitBritain has to be redefined to reduce the number of levels in the hierarchy. GNTB in a short time has been able to change the negative perception of the country to a positive one and has been making progress in the growth of tourism. Since tourism has been recognized globally as an important industry contributing to the GDP, it is essential that every country should have a strategy that is conducive to the growth of the sector. Reference: Amoah, VA & Baum, T 1997, 'Tourism education: policy versus practice', International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 9, no. 1. pp. 5-12. Blitz, R 2008, 'Tourism slump could cost £11bn', Leisure Industries Correspondent, retrieved online 10 January 2009, from http://www.visitbritain.com/en/Images/Financial%20Times%20Article_tcm12-149489.pdf Campbell , 2005, 'International Workers', People 1st, retrieved online 10 January 2009, from http://www.people1st.co.uk/webfiles/En%20Passant%20Articles/2005/August/International%20Workers.pdf Caterer & Hotelkeeper, 2006, 'Blair slammed for rise in UK tourism deficit', (Feb 16, 2006) British Council Journals Database. Thomson Gale. 09 Jan 2009 Davies, P 2007, 'Tourism Society joins criticism of VisitBritain cuts', retrieved online 10 January 2009, from http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1123585.php DCMS, n.d, 'tourism policy', retrieved online 09 January 2009, from http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/tourism/4249.aspx/ Germany 2007, 'Public-private partnerships', retrieved online 10 January 2009, from http://www.germany-tourism.de/pdf/jb_2007_eng_04_public_partners.pdf Germany 2007a, 'Nationwide domestic marketing', retrieved online 10 January 2009, from http://www.germany-tourism.de/pdf/jb_2007_eng_07_domestic_marketing.pdf Germany 2007b. 'International sales and marketing', retrieved online 10 January 2009, from http://www.germany-tourism.de/pdf/jb_2007_eng_03_international_marketing.pdf Germany 2008, ' The Tasks of the GNTB', retrieved online 10 January 2009, from http://www.germany-tourism.de/ENG/about_us/about_us.htm Low Pay Commission Report, National Minimum Wage (2005), 12th January 2006 OECD n.d., 'Centre for Entrepreneurship', SMEs and Local Development, retrieved online 09 January 2009, from http://www.oecd.org/document/35/0,2340,en_2649_33956792_1888803_1_1_1_1,00.html Oko Institute, 2001, 'Environment and Tourism A basic scientific report for the German federal government', retrieved online 10 January 2009, from http://www.oeko.de/oekodoc/193/2001-019-en.pdf Otoadese, J 2007, 'UK Tourism in a Low Carbon World', retrieved online 10 January 2009, from http://www.ukerc.ac.uk/Downloads/PDF/071123UKTourismReport_execsummarypdf.pdf TAB 1999, 'Development and consequences of tourism', retrieved online 09 January 2009, from http://www.tab.fzk.de/en/projekt/zusammenfassung/ab59.htm TAB 2005, 'Future Trends in Tourism', Summary of TAB working report No. 101, retrieved online 09 January 2009, from http://www.tab.fzk.de/en/projekt/zusammenfassung/ab101.htm The Tourism Network, n.d., retrieved online 09 January 2009, from http://www.tourismknowledge.com/Tourism_Network_Intro_Guide_to_Tourism.pdf Tourism Trade, 2008, 'Key Tourism Facts', retrieved online 09 January 2009, from http://www.tourismtrade.org.uk/MarketIntelligenceResearch/KeyTourismFacts.asp Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland, 2006, 'GERMANY WORLD CUP', British Council Journals Database. Thomson Gale. 09 January 2009 TTT, n.d., 'Tomorrow’s Tourism Today', retrieved online 09 January 2009, from http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/TomorrowsTourismToday.pdf Read More