The structure of the travel and tourism industry
...ff board activities than say a, “luxury cruise” operated by Cunard. Railtrack owns and operates the national rail infrastructure i.e. track, signalling etc. and directly manages fourteen major stations, transporting tourists all over the U.K. Britain has a network of motorways and roads which cover the whole of the Island. Car rental enables tourists, international and domestic to travel anywhere at a relatively low cost with no time restrictions or interruptions. Coach travel provides transport to a variety of different tourists. The traditional image of a coach-based holiday is of elderly tourists travelling to seaside resorts and historical places such as York and Chester. This image fails to cover the remainder of this market that is composed of city break and winter sports tourists not to mention package holidays for those unable to drive or fly. Tour operator Cosmos provide such holidays to Spain, France and Belgium with the convenience of courier assistance and added reassurance of no baggage or transfer problems. 2. pc (b) From construction of the first road networks in roman times, the industrial revolution and induction of railways, and the development of the jet aircraft in the 1950’s, the growth of travel and tourism has been synonymous with the developments in transportation. As the transportation sector constantly evolves with advances in aircraft developments, road improvements and high speed rail offering faster, comfortable, more convenient means of transportation, more and more people are utilising transport modes for tourism purposes. Over the last thirty years passengers transport expectations and habits have altered dramatically. With air travel providing business and leisure travellers the opportunity to travel to long haul destinations at a relatively low cost travel has become much more accessible, “London Heathrow alone handles more than 60 million passengers per year and is the worlds busiest airport”, Ray Youell, Travel and Tourism 2001. No longer is the tourist restrained by seasonability. Budget airlines have made a huge impact on the tourism industry, by landing aircrafts in small obscure airports with lower taxes and charges this has enabled these low cost airlines to reduce the cost of fares although, some tourists incur inconvenience and additional costs when travelling as the destinations they intend to visit are sometimes a long distance away from the arrival airport, for example, Glenrothes airport to Edinburgh City centre. Many people believe that the decline of rail travel in tourism is due to the rise of car ownership in the early 20th century and later, the induction of air travel however, U.K. government with its lack of investment and support, has also had a part to play in its demise. Private rail companies such as GNER and Virgin have recently introduced high speed trains which have improved safety features and comfort levels however, regardless of these new trains with such provisions, without the vital prerequisite of adequate transport infrastructure to support such trains then inevitably rail companies will fai...