The travel and tourism
industry is vulnerable to the state of the economy - as the economy recovers
and people have more money to spend on holidays the industry is predicted to
grow again.
Business travel too has
suffered with those needing to travel during the recession seeking out cheaper
deals and budget airline routes.
Jobs in travel and
tourism are expected to have modest growth of about 60 thousand jobs by 2017 as
the UK comes out of the recession.
The larger budget
airlines continue to expand and develop routes outside Europe - although some
have not managed to survive the recession. For example the Scottish Budget
airline group' FlyGlobespan' , the 'XL Leisure group' airline and 'Sky Europe'
were all smaller airlines that have not survived the loss of income from lower
passenger numbers.
Large travel
conglomerations, such as the international UK based TUI group, are set to
continue to dominate the industry - as they can take advantage of significant
changes in the travel and tourist markets that the smaller groups may not be
able to do so. For example air transport and tourism is forecast to grow
substantially as a result of strong demand from the Asian market but companies
would need a foothold in Asia to benefit from this.
The UK is limited in
the level of future growth it will be able to achieve in air travel as airports
reach their full capacity. There are plans to expand some airports and
discussions about for example bringing Coventry airport back into operation if
it can get planning permission to develop. It is argued that if UK airports
increase capacity, air transport will continue to grow but there are also
environmental pressure groups who argue that air capacity should not increase.
Online booking and
automated check in has affected the number of administration and airport
services staff and this trend is likely to continue.
Travel agency retail
outlets are set to continue the trend of becoming fewer in number but bigger.
TIU have recently opened a new 'walk-in holiday experience' in Coventry - a
holiday superstore where staff offer more individual specialist advice and
access to multi-media information for example being able to watch a DVD about a
cruise. Specialist staff will be able to give advice about and book weddings
and honeymoons for example. TIU plan to open more of these outlets across the
UK.
