Factors affecting tourist destination popularity and international travel

Popularity of Tourist Destinations

Tourism can be defined as travel by people for leisure or business purposes to any destination outside their usual environment (MAS, 2009). The international tourism industry churns out billions of dollars every year. Many countries develop their infrastructure and other political activities around building up their tourism industry in order to attract foreign remittances (OROZCO, Manuel, 2005). Success of a country's tourism industry provides it with an influx of foreign currency, becoming the backbone for any economy. In a perfect world, tourism should increase globally year on year. However, this is not the case, as it is not a perfect world. In the previous few years, the tourism industry has experienced a decline in the numbers of tourists visiting other countries (UNWTO, 2010).

There are several factors contributing to the decline in the tourism industry. These factors not only have to do with the prevailing global economic, political and social conditions but also the economic, political and social conditions prevailing in the destination/host country itself (KAREITHI, Samuel, 2003). These factors include political unrest, crime and violence, terrorism, natural disasters, changes in the climate, government regulations, economic and other social relations prevailing between countries, restrictions on the use of salt currency, issues of national security, and other cultural factors influence the movement of tourists from one destination country to another (INRO, TNO, 2002). Other than those, other factors such as the type of infrastructure, quality of culture and services offered by the host country.

Let us discuss these factors in detail. The political, social, economic and cultural factors impact a lot on the tourism that the country attracts. If a country is facing general political unrest, with riots and rallies every other day, and other obstructions in daily lives, it will be highly unlikely that tourists will choose that spot for their vacations (COHEN, Jeffrey H., 2007). It is often the case, that during conditions of political unrest, threats to the security of lives of the citizens of the country arise. No tourist shall be in the favor of visiting a country where their lives are in danger even if it offers amazing cultural heritage and other infrastructure. The ambiance of stress and tension created by political unrest in a country will dissuade tourists to plan their trips to a country as the purpose of most vacations planned by tourists is to escape from the stress already prevailing in their lives (FLEMING, Carrie-Ann, 2010), and not to land them in further stress that may also involve life endangerment. An example of this may be the decreased tourist flow into Egypt. The country went through a major revolution that lasted for over a year and half stretching from January 25, 2011 to June, 2013 (WAHBA, Khaled, 2011). There was a power struggle between the people of the country and their dictator government. This led to a sharp decline in tourism in the region. Revenues from Egypt tour packages offered by the country's government fell by 24% from 2010 $3.6 billion in 2011 from a staggering $4.46 billion (FAYED, Shaimaa, 2012). Since tourism industry contributes around 11% to Egypt's GDP, the economic consequences of the drop in tourism for the host country are detrimental along with the riots and social unrest swarming the country (CNBC, 2011). During the revolution, there were several Egypt tour packages and other tourism policies launched by President Mubarak, consisting to increased services and discounted prices that however, failed to attract more tourists into the country due to the tussle between the government and the people of the country. The tourism rate in Egypt will only pickup once the revolution has subsided and the government has sorted out its issues with the people. Unless and until the government of Egypt gains the trust of travelers around the globe that they are a safe region to visit, the country will be faced with a decline in their tourism industry. Other regions of North Africa, such as Mali, have also suffered the same fate as Egypt with regard to their tourism industries. Military coups in 2011 in the country led to Mali's famed tourist destinations into becoming void of any tourists at all (TAYLOR, Alan, 2012). However, unlike Egypt, they do not have the same level of cultural heritage to offer, so it is unlikely that the tourism industry will ever be what is was before the political unrest began. Part of political unrest is the terrorist activities that take place in a country. Terrorism is on the rise all over the world with regions in the Middle East, North Africa and South-East Asia being the most affected (ALI, Shazad, 2010). Same goes for the tourism industry in the Middle Eastern countries such as Palestine, Jordan, Bahrain, Syria and others that are prone to civil unrest and terrorist attacks (STEINER, Christian, 2010). With the terrorism activities getting worse year on year, and the governments not taking any actions to reinvigorate their tourism industry, there is no going back for these countries any more. Even high levels of crime and violence lead to tourists being reluctant to visit certain countries. This includes countries such as Mexico, Pakistan and the Honduras. The Honduras house the murder capital of the world, the city of San Pedro Sula, with highest murder rate in the world. In 2011, 1,143 of San Pedro Sula's 719,447 total population numbers were murdered (MORAN, Lee, 2012). Such places drop of a tourist's radar like flies. Although most of Mexico's tourist locations are safe, while the quarantined dangerous areas are often avoided by tourists that do visit country, the increase in the gang wars and drug violence moving into the "safe areas" are fast discouraging tourists from choosing Mexico as a holiday destination. Political factors also include the different types of government regulations governing the inflow, activities and outflow of tourism into and out of a country. Many countries have developed policies in order to attract tourism, and hence, more foreign remittances into the country, whereas some countries discourage the movement of too much tourists into their countries for purposes of maintaining national security. For example, the United States of America has developed very strict policies regarding the issuance of visit visas to tourists from countries that are considered to be going through social and political distress in order to protect its national security (LUCE, Edward, 2007). Such measures deter tourists from travelling to such locations. There are other restrictions that the government can pile up on tourists to make them rethink their decision on travelling to a particular region or a country. Such restrictions include the stringent visa regulations, luxury taxes and other tax policies placed specifically on tourists visiting from abroad will discourage the international travelers from visiting places of even strong tourist infrastructure and other attractive cultural heritage.

Apart from political factors, there are economic factors too that affect the tourists coming in and going out of a country. The economic factors are fairly simple to understand and can be divided into macro- and micro- economic factors. The world has been undergoing through an economic recession post-2008 (VERICK, Sher and Islam, Iyanatul, 2010). People tend to generally spend less on luxuries such as vacations, and tend to focus on necessities. Hence, the control on spending leads to lowering of the tourism all over the world. According to the UK Office for National Statistics, tourism declined in the United Kingdom by 7% after the recession took its toll (ONS, 2009). There was also a decline in tourism-related industries, i.e., the industries set up for the provision of goods and services for tourists, in the years post the 2008-2009 recession. As a result, due to a drop in the infrastructure available in the UK for tourists of different sorts, there was a lower tourist turn out. Although UK being a very popular tourist destination will always be ravaged with tourists especially when it comes to the city of London, it has seen a decline in the tourists that travel all over the UK, and prefer staying in inns and pubs as a part of the culture of the country, due to the closure of such places due to drop in tourists that travel with a budget in the recession era. There has been a resorted decline in the spending per guest on hospitality services. This includes restaurants, hotels, gift and souvenir shops etc. Apart from tourists travelling in leisure, there has also been a drop in corporate tourists, i.e., those visiting other countries for business purposes, as businesses started cutting costs and reducing international travel, substituting its need with technology wherever possible (BRANCATELLI, Joe, 2013). As a result of the drop in tourism as a result of economic factors, there prices in tourism related industries fell, but failed to attract any customers. Another aspect of the macroeconomic factors is the fluctuations in the currency prices. Changes or diminution in the value of currencies can have a negative effect of tourism and travel (DEPARTMENT, Policy, 2001). If the currency of the destination country appreciates against that of the tourist's country of origin, then tourists may adopt measures such as to postpone or curtail vacation plans to that destination country. Currency fluctuations tend to create instability and disrupt the planning activities of tourists. In times of an economic recession, there is normally a lot of fluctuation in the currencies. In the previous year, many currencies appreciated in value while some depreciated. The appreciation of Great Britain Pound and U.S. Dollar against currencies of other countries, such as third world countries, while the depreciation of the Pakistani Rupee, Indian Rupee and the Sri Lankan Rupee against the U.S. Dollar (REPORTER, Staff, 2012) made it less likely for the travelers located in such places to plan to visit countries, as expenditure on goods and services will be incurred in the appreciated currency of the destination country and will have to be supported by the depreciated home currency. This increased expenditure, especially in the times of an economic recession, is considered to be a luxury that needs to be overlooked, at least until the either the currency of the tourists home country strengthens against that of the destination country or the currency of the destination country depreciates against that of the tourists' home countries. This precarious balance of currency fluctuations governs the comings and goings of tourists to a particular holiday destination.

Other factors impacting the tourism on an international level depends upon the conditions prevailing in the destination country on a domestic level, environmental factors being some of them (COCCOSSIS, Harry and Parpairis, a, 2000). First and foremost, what tourists look for in a holiday destination is the weather and other climatic conditions of the region. They do not want it to rain all the time so that there is difficulty in exploring or stepping out of their hotels, nor do they want scorching heat to leave them thirsty and sun burnt every time they do step out. As of recent, there have been huge fluctuations in the temperature of several regions during the past few years that have left tourists avoiding certain countries as their preferred holiday spots. Unlike natural disasters and terrorist attacks, weather changes have long-lasting impressions and effects on tourism. Tourists are unlikely to forget the impacts of major environmental changes in the climate. For example, bookings in hotels in Florida, USA, dropped by 75% after hurricane Katrina struck (MANUEL PASTOR, Robert Bullard, James K.Boyce, Alice Fothergill, Rachel Morello-Frosch, and Beverly Wright, 2006). But then went back up once the threat of the hurricane had elapsed. On the other hand, worsening heat conditions in certain parts of South East Asia is making regions in the area quite unpleasant for visiting tourists, who are now avoiding such locations despite the infrastructure availability. An example of such a place would be Singapore. There is also an increased awareness regarding environmental concerns in tourists and the general population in the current era. Hence, all such tourist destinations that are being thought of as unsupportive of environmental protective regimes are being dumped by tourists, while those encouraging and applying environmentally friendly practices in their tourism activities, such as conservation and upgrade of its national parks and forests, are being favored by the general international travelers today.

Other concerns that plague the tourism industry today are the social and cultural factors that prevail in certain destination countries. The most important of these social factors are the health concerns. Many countries have outbreaks of diseases prevalent that are contagious, and sometimes detrimental to the health of a tourist that happens to come in contact with it. The spread of diseases such as SARS, H1N1 Flu, Malaria, Typhoid, and sometimes, HIV / AIDS can become of a source of curtailment of holiday plans to certain countries where these diseases tend to prevalent (GLAESSER, Dr. Dirk, 2011). This includes countries such as Mexico, Columbia, Panama, Uganda, Ecuador, and Jamaica. There are often outbreaks of epidemics in African countries which has pretty much obstructed tourists from visiting them on a permanent basis. Although there is a danger of tourists contracting diseases, and falling sick wherever they go due to the change in environment, but countries which are known for epidemics and pandemics are a sure "no" for international travelers.

Other factors that influence tourism are made up of social characteristics of the destination country. Many countries are famous for their hospitality and friendly culture. This includes such countries as China, Malaysia, Japan, Ireland, etc. Tourists will be more attracted to places where the culture is accepting and hospitable. Despite of the heavy advertisement by the Australian government, the country is famous for its racism against people of color and white supremacy (LITVIN, Stephen W., 1999). Neither would any tourists want to visit countries where there are discriminatory movements and activities occurring amongst the population itself such as in Pakistan, Somalia, Palestine, Bahrain and Lebanon. There are cultural factors to be kept in mind as well. Tourists mainly visit countries to experience their natural beauty and cultural heritage sites. With many countries, again with Pakistan being one of the examples, the cultural heritage is deteriorating day by day. The once tourist plagued hills of Murree are now vacant due to the law and order, and terrorism situation in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Many of the hill station located in the country have experienced a decline in the number of tourists visiting the region due to aforementioned reasons.

Part B

The tourism industry is one of the key contributors to the economy of a country. This industry brings along with it a vast amount of influx of foreign currency, which helps to positively increase the foreign exchange reserve in a country. It is the responsibility of a nation's government to promote its tourism industry by allowing incentives such as tax exemptions and levy on duties to establish a blooming tourism industry. Increase in the popularity of a tourist destination does not only attract the tourists from other places, but also investors. These investors bring in various benefits with them to the tourism industry. Such benefits include the development of infrastructure at a popular tourist destination to ensure increased attraction for the people. Apart from the inflow of foreign exchange by the investors, the economy of a country benefits by the creation of jobs in the tourism industry. Moreover, the tourism is also responsible for the promotion of the culture of a country.

The tourism industries of many countries around the globe have been successful in the recent years in promoting their country on a global scale as one of the top tourist destinations. Among these, the tourism sector of Thailand, a famous tourist destination in Asia, has been increasingly successful in ensuring that the country becomes one of the priority destinations for tourist from around the world. Thailand has been a famous and a growing tourist destination for many years and boasts to have three of its cities, including Bangkok (ranked six), Pattaya (ranked seventeen) and Phuket (ranked twenty four), as part of the top twenty five cities as major tourist destinations around the globe (GRANT, Michelle, 2013). The authority responsible for this success for Thailand as a popular tourist destination has been 'The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)', which was established in 1960 to be specifically responsible for the promotion of the tourism industry of Thailand, within and outside the country (TAT History, 2010). The tourism industry of Thailand has been a major contributor to the economy of the country and according to statistics this sector was responsible for an estimated contribution of 6.7% of the total GDP of Thailand in 2007 (TRAVELS, Diethelm, 2007). It has not been only the international arrivals that have made the tourism successful in Thailand, the domestic visitors have contributed in huge amounts as well in the recent years, contributing an estimated total of 7.8 billion Euros only in 2007 (TAT, 2008).

In contrast to many other countries, Thailand has been quite successful to reap benefits of the development it has done for the promotion of the tourism industry. An in-depth analysis of the various factors that has led to the success of Thailand in the tourism sector will aid in identifying the real causes of such progress and would benefit in determining the actions to be further taken to ensure increased growth and progress of tourism in Thailand. Such an analysis would be in the form of a SWOT analysis and would assist in thoroughly understanding the Thailand's tourism industry and how further it can be additionally developed to avail the full tourism potential of the country.

SWOT Analysis

2- Weaknesses

Although it has been there for some time now, the tourism industry of Thailand is still in a growing phase. The sector has still many weaknesses that refrains it from progressing at a fast paced rate. Thailand has vast natural resources with forests, coastal lines and rivers whose potential can be tapped to benefit the tourism sector. But the relevant bodies that are responsible for the planning of tourism and management lack proper knowledge and understanding on how to be able to manage the industry. Moreover, the Thai tourism authorities have engaged in the activity of increasing the quantity rather than quality tourism. Much tourism related organizations based on the provincial and local levels in Thailand have copied development plans from other localities without proper research and analyzing the impacts of their plan on the natural environment (SIVUNEN, Jari T., 2008). Without focusing on the quality, the tourism industry would only be harmed in the long-term perspective and could witness fall in visitors if the tourist attractions and destinations become less appealing due to lack of quality.

Furthermore, it has been witnessed in the past that tourism projects have been setup by the people who run them to support their personal agendas and to gain personal benefits rather than the sustainable development of the brand image of the country as a top tourist destination. Launching such projects that eventually fail to deliver to the sustainability of the brand image of Thailand could have a harmful effect and could ruin the hardly built image in the tourism market. Apart from this, Thailand has many tourist locations that can increase the number of visitors every year but are not able to do this because of the fact that the locations are not properly linked up with the main routes of transportation and lack the infrastructure, such as standardized lodging, required for these locations to become more popular and easily accessible. Tourist information services have been rather outdated and guides often do not possess the updated information that could have resulted in more visitors.

3- Opportunities

Evident from the solid strengths of the tourism industry of Thailand, it is clear that the country has a huge potential to grow and avail further benefits from the opportunities arising. In 2012, Thailand was selected as the country to host the Formula One Grand Prix race in 2014 (COOPER, Adam, 2012). This makes Thailand only the third country in the Southeast Asia region to be handed over the hosting rights to one of the biggest events of the world. Such an event is likely to considerably boost the arrivals of visitors to Thailand in the coming years. Moreover, this would bring in investment from abroad to develop the existing infrastructure and to construct new facilities to aid with the accommodation and transportation for the visitors to watch the Grand Prix. The tourism industry can benefit from this development by offering the visitors with chances to tour the country of Thailand along with visiting there for the Formula One race.

The opening of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport in 2006 (Bangkok's new airport opens to first commercial flights, 2006) in the city of Bangkok replaced the old Don Mueang International Airport as the primary and the largest airport of the country. The new airport has been a state of the art construction and has facilitated with increased runways and terminals to aid with increasing air traffic of the region. The airport has been the busiest airport in the country since its opening and has been a famous attraction for travelers from the across the region (Suvarnabhumi, Paragon top Instagram places list, 2012). The airport has become the major hub for the airlines in the country such as Thai Airways, Orient Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways. Moreover, smaller airlines have opened up as supportive government policies towards low air fare have been encouraging. These low cost airlines can carry flights to lesser known locations around the country, giving access to tourists to new tourist destinations. Moreover, the airport has become a main connecting point for many international airlines and is seen as s regional gateway, which gives the chances to the Thai tourism industry to reap from its benefits and opportunities.

The location of Thailand on the global map has blessed it with a mild tropical weather. Such climatic conditions are highly suitable and can support the tourism industry throughout the year. The government and relevant authorities should ensure that the image positioning of Thailand is done by promoting these factors as well. Moreover, the visitors who come to Thailand for medical treatments should be properly guided to relevant people to ensure that apart from receiving their treatments in Thailand, they visit the many tourist locations throughout the country.

4- Threats

Although it is blooming currently, the tourism industry faces several threats in the country of Thailand. Economically, the tourist industry has been a huge contributor to the GDP of the country, but environmentally, the tourism industry is slowly trending towards degradation of the natural environment. The increasing consumption and utilization of natural resources across the country has led to several environmental problems such as increase in pollution in many cities, making Bangkok the worst hit with this problem. The deforestation has also been on the rise and according to statistics Thailand has the second highest deforestation rate in all of Asia (KONTOGEORGOPOULOS, Nick, 1998). The environmental problems can highly influence in the drop of visitors to Thailand if this continues.

The establishment of a proper disaster management plan is still in progress. In the absence of such plans, the Thai tourism industry is vulnerable to the havoc brought by the natural disasters such as the Asian Tsunami in 2005 (MCGEOWN, Kate, 2005). Moreover, the increase in global fuel prices can pressurize the airline fuel industry to raise the prices of the air fuels, which would in turn lead to an increase of the air fares. This could impact on the tourism sector by reducing the number of tourists coming to Thailand. Other than that, the political situation in Thailand has been of turmoil by nature in recent years. Political instability can negatively affect the brand image of Thailand as a top tourist attraction.

Responses to weaknesses and threats

From the SWOT analysis, we have been able to determine the various weaknesses and threats that are faced by the tourism industry of Thailand. If steps are not taken to address to these problems then the image of Thailand as a top tourist destination might fall in a short period of time and could drastically affect the economy of the country. To counter the problems of mismanagement and incorrect planning, the government should establish training institutions that would provide training to the people involved in the tourism industry. These institutions would provide people in the industry with updated knowledge and understanding, so that mismanagement can be eradicated and proper development plans can be made for the growth and progress of the tourism industry.

Moreover, the related bodies should ensure that to avoid or minimize the destruction and havoc brought along by natural disasters by establishing proper disaster management systems that are updated and are proven effective. This way the damages caused by natural catastrophes can be reduced and steps can be taken to ensure avoidance of problems related to this factor. Apart from this, to avoid the degradation of the environment, the government can introduce strict policies that require adherence to guarantee that the problem of pollution and deforestation can be avoided so that no there is no drastic increase in the pollution levels around the country and no unnecessary and unplanned cutting down of forests is done. The local people should be educated with these problems so they avoid such practices that can lead to environmental problems. Organizations involved in degrading the environment should be heavily penalized so that the policies and regulations are followed strictly.

The government of Thailand should establish a sole body responsible for all the factors relating to the tourism industry. This body should ensure that regulations relating to tourism are followed properly. Moreover, this body should have the sole right to approve any development project based on complete research and analysis of the necessary factors and no project should be launched without prior permission taken from this body. This would ensure that tourism projects launched in different areas are efficiently planned, approved by relevant authorities and would be managed properly and would lead to decrease in setting up projects by people who seek to gain personal benefits from them.

One of the most important issues that the government of Thailand faces in terms of the success or failure of its tourism industry is the political and social condition of the country. In the last ten years, Thailand has witnessed changes of many governments that have been empowered to run the country. Such fluctuation can have negative impact on the global brand image of Thailand as a tourist destination. To tackle this problem, government of Thailand should take steps to ensure that since tourism is a major economic contributor for the nation, steps are to be taken to positively enhance the image of Thailand all around the world. This could include seminars in many countries for the purpose of promoting Thai tourism, setting up marketing campaigns that advertise the tourist locations of Thailand so that negative perceptions of the country due to its political issues can be entirely tackled.