Contents
Contents..................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction............................................................................................................... 3
The Role of Tourism in the World’s Economy.......................................................... 3
Domestic Tourism...................................................................................................... 5
Incoming Tourism...................................................................................................... 7
Outbound Tourism..................................................................................................... 8
Government’s attitude............................................................................................... 9
Attendance at Tourist Attractions........................................................................... 10
Conclusion............................................................................................................... 12
Bibliography............................................................................................................. 13
Introduction
The United Kingdom, which territory is 244 000
square kilometres and population – 57.7 million people, comprises England,
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, plus the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man.
This area is the geographical base on which international tourism statistics
are collected. On the other hand, domestic tourism statistics relate only to
Great Britain. It is hard to compare the big, rich, well-developed United
Kingdom that has old democratic traditions and is a member of the European
Union and NATO with the small Latvia that got its independence only a 11 years
ago. We are not a developing country but our political and economical situation
is still relatively unstable.
Tourism in Great Britain and tourism in Latvia…
Are there only differences as it may seem at first sight or maybe it is
possible to find any common things as well? In this paper I’ll show statistics
and main facts which I was able to find and try to answer this question.
The Role of Tourism in the World’s Economy
Tourism is now the world’s largest industry
expanding at an exponential rate. It is of increasing importance to economic
development and cultural formation throughout Europe that actually enjoys some
60 per cent of international tourism – a business worth about USD 90 billion
each year. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), in 1999,
tourism earned $3.5 trillion of Gross Domestic Product across the world’s
economy alone!
The role of tourism as an economic activity has
been widely acknowledged to be especially important in supporting the economies
of less-favoured regions, which may benefit either because of their unspoiled
natural heritage or their historical and industrial traditions.
The general attitude towards tourism is
potentially favourable, especially if benefits of tourism are put in economic
terms. Perhaps it is noteworthy that some region, which used to be among the
poorest in Europe but which were among the first to welcome tourists in the 1960-ties,
have drastically improved their relative standing and gained considerable
prosperity. As a typical example I can mention here the Balearic Islands.
Tourism is also an extremely important sector
of economy as it substantially affects people’s income and standard of living,
the natural environment and the economical and social development of regions.
The tourism industry creates relatively more jobs than other sectors because of
many related ones. Jobs in tourism can be found in a variety of areas – travel
agencies, tour operators, meetings and conventions, airlines, rental car
agencies, cruise lines, hotels, motels, resorts and spas, restaurants, casinos
are only some parts of tourism industry offering career opportunities.
According to the WTTC, “the tourism industry currently employs over 262 million
people world-wide and will help to create over 5.5 million jobs per year over
the next decade”.
Finally, tourism makes a considerable
contribution to spreading knowledge about the cultural heritage of individual
countries and Europe as a whole, it plays an important role in encouraging
mutual understanding and friendship between nations and countries.
Tourism is no longer a luxury for a privileged
few. In the last few decades it has developed enormously and in Europe and
America has become a mass phenomenon, an important factor in the use of leisure
and hence in the quality of life.
As an example I can give the statistics that
shows that in 1996, 58 per cent of all adult population in Britain and 42 per
cent in Latvia took at least one long holiday of four or more nights away from
home. The number of long holidays taken by Britain residents was 54 million, of
which 31 million were taken in Europe.
People’s urge to enjoy unspoilt and wild
nature, to study Europe’s priceless artistic, cultural and historical heritage
and, more generally, to see the world has now become irrepressible.
Britain’s great number of historic towns
and cities and its scenic rural and coastal areas continue to have great appeal
for British and overseas tourists alike. There is a growing interest in
heritage, arts and culture; attractions include museums, art galleries,
historic buildings and monuments and theatres as well as shopping, sport and
business facilities. Domestic and foreign tourists play an important role in
supporting Britain’s cultural monuments and creative arts, in addition to the
large financial contribution they make to hotels, restaurants, shopkeepers,
cafes and bars, and public transport. Business travel is accounting for a
growing share of the tourism market; it includes attendance at conferences,
business exhibitions, trade fairs and other business-related sites. Activity
holiday – based on walking, canoeing, camping, mountain climbing and artistic
activities, for example – are becoming more and more popular.
Although the general view about tourism as a
developing economic sector is favourable, we can observe people’s fear of its
development and expansion and an opinion that tourism development ought to be
curtailed.
The main reason for such attitude is
belief held by many people that increased tourism, of any sort, will cause
unwanted environmental degradation. Local people of many regions have little
doubt that large-scale tourism developments are accompanied by negative
environmental impacts. However, they recognise that even their preferred
smaller scale versions of tourism development could cause environmental
degradation. People are particularly concerned about environmental impacts, for
example, on islands and areas close to national parks and conservancy areas.
As some examples, in an opinion poll carried
out by the Research Institute of Oxford University (www.ecotourism.about.com),
people have pointed out the following environmental negative effects:
1) conspicuous human waste associated
with relatively low impact camping on nature;
2) accumulations of garbage;
3) fouling of (drinking) water in-take
areas with effluent from boats;
4) loss of fish habitat when tourism
facilities are constructed in the shore zone, etc.
Local people are certain that tourism
developments ought not to despoil the beauty and integrity of a particular
region. Some of them think that any tourism development ought to be required to
undergo an environmental impact assessment; others are of an opinion that
tourism operators should be environmentally sensitive and responsible.
At all events, one thing is clear – in
spite of the numerous benefits and temptations, every state should be very
careful when working out its tourism policy and take into consideration
residents’ opinion.
Domestic Tourism
Great Britain has a long established domestic
market that has developed over more than a hundred years.
The basic geographical pattern of the
infrastructure for domestic tourism, e.g. seafronts, piers, hotels, road and
rail communications, was established in the 1960-ties. Most holiday facilities
were concentrated in the South of England (along the south coast and in the
south-west peninsula) where the best combinations of temperature and sunshine
are to be found. The coastal holiday development in other regions was clustered
near the densely populated industrial regions of the north, serving both their
holiday and day-trip needs, for example, Blackpool for the north-west, the
north Wales coast for Merseyside and Birmingham, and Scarborough for the
north-east.
Domestic holidays are strongly concentrated in
England. In 1991, 77 per cent of domestic holidays of four and more nights were
taken in England, 11 per cent – in Wales and 12 per cent – in Scotland: when
short breaks are included the concentration in the South is even more visible. (“Patterns of Tourism in the
World’s regions”, EIU International Tourism Reports) The same trend can be observed in
1998 (http://www.staruk.org.uk) where
England is still dominating, Scotland and Wales are in the second place and
Northern Ireland is the third.
Domestic
tourism was worth around £14,000 million in 1996, in 1998 slightly more money
were spent - £14,030 million. 38 per cent of those British residents who are
opting to take their main holiday in Britain choose a traditional seaside
destination. Short holiday breaks (1 to 3 nights) valued at £2600 million in
1996 and £2890 million in 1998 also make up an increasingly significant part of
the market.
In March 1997,
224 UK beaches were awarded Seaside Awards by the Tidy Britain Group: 21 more
than in 1996. The Seaside Awards reward clean beaches which provide proper
safety and first aid, access for the disabled, clean and well maintained
facilities, dog control and free public information. In addition, 38 resort
beaches flew the European Blue Flag in 1997, compared with 31 in 1996. Blue
Flags are awarded to resort beaches only. Unfortunately I failed to find
information about the Blue Flags in Latvia, I only know that Ventspils and Liepāja
beaches have them.
Statistics shows that domestic tourists
in Latvia make a remarkable part (approximately 55 per cent) of all tourists.
People in Latvia like travelling but for most of them expenses for going abroad
are too high. In 1996, 79 per cent of all residents of Latvia took short
holidays of two or three nights and only 21 per cent tool holidays of four and
more nights. On the contrary, in 1998, already 36 per cent of all domestic
holidays were of four and more nights (“Ceļotprieks”,
November, 1998). Lakes of Latgale, Gauja National Park, seaside and
Latvia’s biggest rivers like Gauja, Venta and Abava in summer and Vidzeme
Central Highland and Alūksne Highland in winter are usual destinations of
domestic holidays, as well as annual rock festival “Pūt vējiņi!” in Liepāja,
annual rock festival in Valmiera, opera music festival in Sigulda and other
music festivals and activities. People also like hiking and travelling by bikes
not very far from home for one or two nights. Recently hitch-hiking has become
an especially popular way of travelling, mostly used by young people.
There are many problems connected with
domestic tourism both in Latvia and Great Britain.
The number of traditional family summer
holidays of one or two weeks taken in Britain has fallen, leaving the British
resorts to cater for those who either do not wish or are unable to holiday
abroad. However, the nature of domestic tourist demand changed dramatically in
the 1970-ties and 1980-ties with new demands for more varied types of holidays
and business tourism. At the same time, higher standards of accommodation,
service and environmental quality are expected. While overseas destinations can
develop rapidly to meet new needs, the domestic scene has turned out to be
slower to adapt. The old British seaside resorts have been unable to compete
with the climate, cost and often more modern accommodation and better service
offered by overseas destinations.
Unfortunately, I have to say almost the
same in order to Latvian resorts, for example, Jūrmala that was one of the most
famous resorts in the whole territory of the former USSR for some 15 years but
now it is on the point of ruination and needs a lot of money for updating and
modernising facilities, coast and infrastructure, as well as to purify
environment and water.
Although Latvians are proud of their
unspoiled nature, often it is groundless because “the Baltic Sea is trice more
polluted as the North Sea, where oil is being extracted, and ten times more
polluted as the North Atlantic”. (A. Virdkeims
“Kas notiek ar Baltijas jūru, page 26)
“It is not allowed to swim in many of
resorts in the neighbourhood of Riga. The existing installations for water
purification are able to purify only less than a half of all Riga’s sewage
waters, the rest get to Riga’s Gulf unpurified.” (A. Andrušaitis “Rīgas līcis”, page 86)
In spite of economic problems and
comparatively low income, an increasing number both of British and Latvian
people have had holidays abroad, to take advantage of the hotter, sunnier and
more reliable climates of the Mediterranean, and now increasingly other
destinations further afield. Among Latvian people the most popular destinations
abroad are East European countries (e.g. Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary) and
Scandinavian countries, as well as USA, Thailand and Mexico.
Incoming Tourism
International tourism to Britain is on a
comparatively small scale (in terms of trips made) though of almost the same
monetary value (in terms of expenditure) as the domestic market. It is far more
geographically confined: the historic and cultural resources of the country
attract overseas tourists. They congregate in the urban areas of London,
Edinburg, Stratford, Oxford and Cambridge and a handful of other historic towns
while international business tourism is also confined to the conurbations. Very
few overseas visitors go to Britain’s coast or to the countryside.
The Channel Tunnel has improved access to
many of tourists’ attractions in Britain. It is also one of the reasons why
France has become the country sending the largest number of overseas tourists
to the United Kingdom.
Nearly 54 per
cent in 1996, and 65 per cent in 1998, of Britain’s overseas visitors came from
EU countries, 40 per cent of whom came on holiday and 26 per cent on business
trips. The North American market has always been important, though in 1980-ties
Britain became less reliant on these markets. In 1998, 25.7 million overseas
visitors came to Britain spending more than 12 billion. The British Tourist
Authority estimates that by the year 2003, overseas visitors will spend around
£18 billion a year in the UK, 44% more than in 1998 (http://www.staruk.org.uk). Overseas tourism to UK is basically
business, VFR and cultural tourism, so it is highly concentrated on towns, and
particularly on London, with 49 per cent of visits, 45 per cent of nights and
63 per cent of expenditure.
As regard Latvia, according to “The Report on the
Development of Latvian National Economy”, in 1997, the number of tourists
coming to Latvia has greatly decreased than year-on-year from such countries as
Lithuania (-10 per cent), Estonia ( -40 per cent) and Poland ( -42 per cent)
but increased from the USA ( +28 per cent), Sweden ( +119
per cent) and almost four times more tourists have come to Latvia from Denmark
( +256 per cent). The total number of tourists who have come to our state is
1,824,056, i.e. 5 per cent more in 1997 than year-on-year. In 1998,
unfortunately, the number fell again to 1.788 million but in 1999, it was even smaller
– 1,738 million tourists.
As
to length of stay, tourists from Russia are the champions – the average tourist
from Russian Federation has spent 8.7 days in Latvia. Visitors from the United
States of America are in the second place with on average 4.49 days but the
third are visitors from
Belarus who spend here on average 3.86 days.
(“Ceļotprieks”, August, 1999)
The most lavish are American tourists – they
spend 60.88 lats daily. Germans are little more prudent (39.74 lats daily) but
Finns, Swedes and Danes all spend around 36 lats per day. Tourists from Eastern
Europe have diminished their expenditures in our country, most of all –
Lithuanians (39.4 lats in 1996 and 18.83 lats in 1997 daily). (“Ceļotprieks”, August, 1999)
Outbound Tourism
Travel abroad from the United Kingdom has
grown rapidly since 1970-ties, and the majority of the trips (68 per cent in
1991, and 72 per cent in 1998) were for holidays. Although Britain has a wealth
of attractive beaches and varied countryside, the weather is so unreliable that
the British people prefer to travel abroad to a cost where the sunshine is
guaranteed. Visits abroad by the British substantially outnumber overseas trips
to Britain, this pattern was also set in the 1970-ties and has been maintained
into the 1990-ties.
Holidays taken by the British abroad are likely
to be twice as long as domestic visits, and expenditure per trip is
proportionally even higher: the average cost of a holiday of over four nights
in Britain was GPB 140 in 1992, while a comparative foreign holiday costs GBP
547 including the cost of travel.
Foreign holiday taking has steadily grown from
five million trips in the 1960-ties (with only a minor check in the 1970-ties)
to 33.8 million in 1992, while the domestic market has fluctuated mainly in the
range of 123 to 132 million trips since 1980.
Especially popular summer holiday destinations
among British residents are Spain, Portugal, Greece, Tunisia, Turkey (since
1987) and other Mediterranean countries with sunny and sandy beaches, hot
weather and modern hotels.
In the last decade traveling abroad has become
very popular among Latvian residents due to many reasons and, first of all,
because of the collapse of communistic regime. Now people are free to travel
from one state to another as far as their budget allows. In comparison with
1995, outbound tourism in Latvia has grown by 73 per cent in 1999. Now there
are 8 times more tourism firms and agencies as in the beginning of this decade.
They organize both domestic trips and abroad but the last ones make two thirds
of their job.
Totally in 1999, 2256 thousands and of travelers
from our country have departured to foreign countries. The biggest part of them
have been to Lithuania (844.8 thousands), Russia (333.6 thousands), Estonia
(270.7 thousands) and Belarus (204.3 thousands). About half of them have been
overnight travelers and stayed abroad more than 2 nights. The main purposes
were traveling and shopping, visiting friends and relatives and business but
people make also holidays, go in for sports or health treatment abroad (“Ceļotprieks”, August, 1999).
Although the biggest part of travellers
from Latvia departure for our neighbour countries, very popular as holiday
destinations for Latvian people are Eastern Europe countries, such as Slovakia,
Hungry and Czech Republic, Scandinavian countries and Spain. Very rarely
visited are African countries and the Far East.
Government’s attitude
In the United Kingdom the government encourages
tourism as a force for improving inner-city areas, and a number of major
projects which create a cultural and artistic focus for inner-city regeneration
have been undertaken. Examples include the development of the Royal Armories
Museum at Clarence Dock in Leeds, which was opened in 1996 at a cost of £40
million (http://education.leeds.ac.uk), and the International Convention Centre
in Birmingham. The English Tourist Board and regional tourist boards encourage
promotional activities in inner-city areas through local initiatives bringing
together tourist boards, local authorities, the private sector and other
agencies.
Unfortunately I have to say that Latvian
government does not care about tourism sector much, although it is one of a few
perspective industries in Latvia. There was not even the Law of Tourism till
autumn 1998 when it was finally passed. It states the basic principles of
tourism industry in Latvia, as well as tourists’ rights and regulations for
tourism firms and agencies.
The government attaches too small importance to
tourism and allocates too small financial resources for it. For example, in
1995, only LVL 9000 were allocated from the state budget for publicity campaign
in foreign countries. At the same time four times more would not be enough, if
we take into account the fact that Latvia got its independence recently and few
people in the world know even where it is situated.
One more thing that does not encourage the
development of tourism in Latvia is the state’s unstable political situation,
many changes of governments and MPs and the poor economical figures. The
legislation is very controversial and laws do not regulate all spheres. This
all neither makes a very attractive environment for investments nor welcomes
tourists. For example, many people from the former USSR republics refuse to go
to Latvia only because of the complicated procedure of receiving visas.
Therefore Latvia first of all should bring its legislation in order to develop
tourism industry.
And,
of course, in addition to all I have already said, money is one of the biggest
problems. Both in the United Kingdom and Latvia the domestic tourism industry
has been going through a painful period of response and adoption to new demands
generated by the fast changing structure of the domestic market. In the UK the
recently formed European Monetary Union creates not few problems, as the UK is
not a member state and therefore the currency exchange is still necessary. On
the contrary, Latvia aims to enter the European Union (and maybe the European Monetary Union as
well) and therefore our market must be re-oriented towards the West. Mountainous
investments are needed to modify and update infrastructure in both countries.
Although Great Britain is a well-developed state and its infrastructure is much
better than one in Latvia, its roads and resorts need modernisation, too, in
order to compensate for the country’s climatic disadvantage.
Attendance at Tourist Attractions
Here some additional information about
attendance at some English tourist attractions is shown. The information is
taken from “Britain 1997, an official handbook” prepared by the Office for
National Statistics in London in 1997.
1. Blackpool
Pleasure beach 7.5
(million people)
2. British Museum 6.8
3. National Gallery 5.0
4. Palace Pier, Brighton 4.3
5. Alton Towers 2.7
6. Madame Tussaud’s 2.7
7.Westminster Abbey 2.5
8. Tower of London 2.5
9. St. Paul’s Cathedral 2.0
(Plus Buckingham Palace, main
streets, etc. that do not record attendance)
In 1998, 10 top attractions in Great
Britain were as follows:
1. Alton Towers, Staffordshire 2,782
2. Madame Tussaud's, London 2,773
3. Tower of London 2,551
4. Natural History Museum, London 1,905
5. Chessington World of Adventures, Surrey 1,650
6. Legoland, Windsor 1,646
7. Science Museum, London 1,600
8. Canterbury Cathedral 1,500
9. Windsor Castle, Berkshire 1,495
10 Edinburgh Castle Blackpool Tower, Lancashire 1,219
In Latvia Foreign tourists like to
visit first of all Old Riga. Nowadays it is about 50 hectares of land – the
medieval part of Riga’s historic centre, inhabited since the 11th
century. Masonry constructions – since the beginning of the 13th
century.
Especially popular places of
interest in Latvia among foreign visitors are:
1. the Dome Church and the Monastery
2. St. Peter’s church
3. Rundale’s Palace
4. Ethnographic open-air museum
5. Sigulda
6. Monument to Freedom
7. The Brethen cemetery
8. The Saeima
Conclusion
As we see from the information above, it
is difficult to compare tourism industry in Great Britain and in Latvia due to
many reasons.
Firstly, there is a huge difference in
political situation in these countries. Great Britain has democracy and
political culture with old traditions while Latvia only breaks the ice in that
field. Thereby tourists feel mush safer In Great Britain.
Secondly, the state tourism policy in
Britain is much stronger than in Latvia. Recently adopted law on tourism makes
positive changes in the poor legislative background. The small funds allocated
by the government are not enough for publicity campaign in foreign countries,
infrastructure and ensuring a satisfactory quality of service.
Thirdly, there are a wide range of sites
of interest in both countries but in Latvia due to the lack of money they
cannot be taken care of properly to attract tourists.
Fourthly, a general cultural level also
plays a big role. Foreign visitors are often shocked by the quality of service
in Latvian public transport, shops, cafes, hotels and museums as well as by the
mannerless and even impolite behaviour of people in the streets.
And finally, the territory, population
and people’s income in these two countries differs a lot and therefore it
creates some difficulties to compare numbers unless we count them in per cent,
but even so it may be not correct.
However, we see that there are quite many
problems concerning tourism in Great Britain, too. One of them is the
unreliable climate, the other – The European Monetary Union, as well as ecology
and the undesirable dependence on USA market.
How the situation will go on? There are
some expectations but we cannot know it for sure. If Latvia enters the European
Union, things will be different from if it does not enter the EU. Will it be
better? In some aspects maybe, in some not, but that is another story. However, one thing is certain – we live in
information ages, transport and communications are developing and tourism
industry is continuing to grow. Let’s wait and see what things will be like
after a decade!
Bibliography
○ “Britain 1998, an Official Handbook”, the Office for
National Statistics, London, 1998
○ Ceļotprieks, June, 1998
○ Ceļotprieks, November, 1998
○ Ceļotprieks, August, 1999
○ “Kas notiek ar Baltijas jūru?”, A. Virdheims, Riga,
1995
○ “Rīgas līcis”, A. Andrušaitis, Riga, 1992
○ “Patterns of Tourism in the World’s regions”, EIU
International Tourism Reports, London, 1996
○ “The UK Longhaul market”, A. Beachey, No.1, 1990,
page 42-53
○ “Ziņojums par Latvijas tautsaimniecības attīstību”,
Rīga, 1997
○ “Ziņojums par Latvijas tautsaimniecības attīstību”,
Rīga, 1998
○ http://www.staruk.org.uk
○ http://www.csb.lv
○ http://www.wttc.org
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