In this section I'm going to talk about the development of the tourism industry and the changes that effected travelling.
Boeing 707 was introduced in the 50's , the first aircraft to be commercially successful, and was credited as ushering in the Jet Age. Due to its good features it can take 141 passengers up to 4000 miles as it has a big fuel capacity so it is very ideal for longer distances. By introducing boeing 707 more people started to travel by plane for longer journeys.
APD is an excise duty which is due on chargeable passengers being carried from a UK airport on chargeable aircraft. It was introduced in 1994. APD has been increased a number of times. APD doubled in 2007, followed by a move to a four band structure, and more rises in 2009 and 2010. The Government froze APD for one year in 2011, but re-introduced rises in 2012 with an 8% increase. Most of the people think that APD should be removed because it's destroying leisure and business tourism, “strangling” the jobs market, and keeping foreign investors away because it's making travel by air more expensive ...
Better technology made it easier for people to buy their flight tickets online and other features of their holidays such as accommodation or ancillaries. Now people don't need to go to travel agents to book a holiday, they can book it online at home. By introducing better technology more people felt confident to book online. Booking flights through the Internet means that people have greater access to flight schedules.Purchasing the ticket online means customers can check out many airlines before making their choice. This is led to a number of travel agents closing because there's less sales and profit for them.
The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, was born virtually and in 2002 notes and coins began to circulate. The euro is the single currency shared by (currently) 17 of the European Union's Member States, which together make up the euro area. The introduction of the euro in 1999 was a major step in European integration. It has also been one of its major successes: around 330 million EU citizens now use it as their currency and enjoy its benefits, which will spread even more widely as other EU countries adopt the euro. It's made travelling easier because there's no need to change currencies and people seemed to understand the value of the euro.
Package Travel Regulations (PTR) was introduced in 1992 to provide greater protection to purchasers of package holidays.The Regulations set out how the parties to the contract may be identified and goes onto deal with what information should be provided to the customer at the beginning of the contract. This makes people to feel more secure when they are purchasing their holidays. Also it helps travel agents because they could encourage more people to buy their holidays from them.
Tui Thomson and First Choice merged in 2007 and they fly over six million customers each year to over 80 destinations worldwide from 26 UK airports. The merge was necessary because there were travel agents shutting down but now they are making more profit because they share their costs. Since the two separate organisations became one they are now offering more holidays and there are more options for consumers. Tui and First Choice are merged at the same level this means they are horizontally integrated.
The Channel Tunnel is a world-famous underground tunnel stretching from the coast of England to the coast France, spanning the depths of the English Channel. It was built in 1987, and it was finished in 1993. It opened in 1994. This made transport easier for people who are often travelling between England and France. It's a very fast and economical method of transport. Also people don't need to catch a ferry because they can take their cars.
easyJet was established on the 9th of March, 1992, starting operations one month
later with two wet-leased Boeing 737-200s that operated from London Luton Airport to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Now they are operating on over 600 routes across 30 countries. EasyJet has seen rapid expansion since its establishment in 1995, having grown through combination of achievements and base openings fuelled by consumer demand for low-cost air travel. easyJet was the first cheap airline and now there are many more low cost airlines such as Ryan Air, Jet2.. They are offering cheap basic travel, more established airlines such as British Airways have changed the level of service they offer to compete with the budget airlines and offer low priced fares.
later with two wet-leased Boeing 737-200s that operated from London Luton Airport to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Now they are operating on over 600 routes across 30 countries. EasyJet has seen rapid expansion since its establishment in 1995, having grown through combination of achievements and base openings fuelled by consumer demand for low-cost air travel. easyJet was the first cheap airline and now there are many more low cost airlines such as Ryan Air, Jet2.. They are offering cheap basic travel, more established airlines such as British Airways have changed the level of service they offer to compete with the budget airlines and offer low priced fares.
The privatisation of British Rail occured between 1994 and 1997 when this single organisation was broken up into a myriad of individual companies and privatised. The fares increased and most people says since the British Rail privatised it introduced high cost and poor performance as passengers face delays every day because of track and signal failures. Now there are many different rail companies such as First Group, Virgin Trains, Arriva Trains, East Coast.. This is meant to offer competition and a choice for travellers.
The first high-speed rail lines in Europe, built in the 1980s and 1990s, improved travel times on intra-national corridors. Since then, several countries have built extensive high-speed networks, and there are now several cross-border high-speed rail links. It generates social benefits, which stem from time savings, increase in reliability, comfort and safety, as well as the reduction of congestion and accidents in alternative modes. In Britain there are no high-speed rails but they are hoping to built HS2 line between London and Birmingham and this will reduce the travelling times between the two destinations to 49 minutes from the current 89 minutes. Also they are hoping to extend it to Manchester and Leeds. In Europe it makes it easier for travellers to travel faster.