Travel and tourism essay

IntroductionTravel and Tourism is the largest segment of the Hospitality Industry and is comprised of many different businesses. For example, businesses offering transportation, lodging, food and beverages, shopping, entertainment and recreation.

Each of these businesses makes a significant contribution to the hospitality industry that ensures that the industry succeeds at the end of the day. It is not possible to draw a complete and successful picture of the travel and tourism segment of the hospitality if any of these sectors is left out. The various approaches suggested by different scholars on how the hospitality industry is to be run have indeed stressed the crucial aspect of perfecting each of these areas of the hospitality industry. Transportation, lodging, food and beverages, shopping, entertainment, and recreation cover the greater part of what is required to get tourists moving from their usual residence to the designated tourist destination, have the tourists housed, entertained and provided with facilities for recreation. In order to meet the expectations of the tourist, who in this case is the customer, these elements must be of a particular quality as specified by international standards and spelt out in the operational rules of the various organizations that provide these services.

To start with, transportation is very important to the success of the area of travel and tourism in the hospitality industry. In fact, it is possible that without this factor no travel and therefore tourism will occur. Transportation ensures that people who are out to engage in tourism are able to move from their home areas or usual places of stay to the new areas that they intend to view.

It is also through transportation that these people we call tourists are able to return to their homes after completion of the whole venture of viewing new places and experiencing new perspectives in life in new places. Then there is the idea of luggage whereby the belongings that are carried by tourists are also accorded transport to the area where the tourists want to tour. Tourists are always advised to carry necessities only so as to avoid the hardships associated with the transportation of bulky luggage. The various modes of transport include air transport and road transport. There is also transport by railway whereby trains are the carriers and sea transport which is done by means of boats and ships moving on water.

The various modes of transport listed above have their advantages and disadvantages and the tourists pick the mode of transport depending on the nature of the place that is their destination. In general, the means of transport selected by the tourist or provided by members of the hospitality industry under travel and tourism must meet the following requirements: The means of transport must be safe. The security of the tourists and their luggage is always of major concern. Thus the mode of transport that is used to move the tourist from home to the destination must be able to ensure that the tourist is not attacked by wild animals and hostile people. Tourists must also be safe from accidents while traveling to the destination.

Means of transport that put the safety and security of the tourists and that of their luggage in jeopardy must be avoided at all costs. For providers of this vital element of the travel and tourism under the hospitality industry, it is always advised that tourists are accorded the most secure means of transport as this will ultimately lead to more confidence on the organization providing this service and this has the effect of repeated utilization and more customers. Insecure means of transport makes the tourists take another alternative the next time they travel. Affordability is also crucial in that the traveler should be in a position to afford the cost of the transportation.

Leaving the above aside, lodging is another key ingredient in the travel and tourism industry. Lodging refers to the accommodation that is provided to tourists while on the tour mission. Lodging is needed for rest, shelter from the elements of the weather such as rain, wind, and hot sun, safety, sleep, access to the usual household routine practices and storage of luggage. Lodging can be gotten in guest houses, tents for the case of campers especially in the wild, vacation rentals, hotels, relatives’ and friends homes and hostels. Sometimes some means of transport are used as lodging facilities. A comprehensive list of the various types of lodging available in the hospitality industry include airport, airplane, apartment hotel, barracks, bed and breakfast, bungalow, bus, boarding house, cave, caravan parks, igloo, condominium, dormitory, farm stay, extended stay hotel, flat share or shared housing, flop house, guest house, inn, log cabin, love hotel, mini dorm, motel, and nursing homes. There are also no tell-motels, palaces, public houses, resorts, armadas, and sleeping cars.

Depending on the nature of the place where the tourism is to be done, the lodging chosen must be safe. Attacks on the tourists by wild animals and hostile groups of people will harm the commercial area of hospitality as hurt clients will never come to a dangerous lodging next time. Then there is the aspect of comfort whereby the dweller of the type of lodging chosen must be comfortable. Warm dwellings are ideal for cold places while open and fully aerated dwellings are meant for hot areas (Anton and Graham, 1982). Besides safety and comfort, the type of lodging or accommodation picked has to be of reasonable pricing.

This means that it has to be low enough to be afforded by the tourist and high enough to earn the person proving it a modest profit. Far from transportation and lodging, foods and beverages is a key component of the travel and tourism segment of the hospitality industry. It touches on the health of the tourist and therefore must be taken seriously. The different people in the world take different foods and take different beverages. Some take similar types of meals but with a different mode of preparation. This therefore means that if the food and the beverages that are meant for tourist are to be of nay meaning, they must meet the needs of the tourist in more ways than one. Food and beverages is an extremely sensitive area in travel and tourism in particular and hospitality in general and it requires nothing other than utter seriousness.

For food and beverages to qualify as satisfactory in the hospitality industry, it must meet some basic requirements. Quantity is an important aspect of food and beverages. Provision of enough food for the tourists is appropriate for purposes of good health and strength. Small amounts of food will leave them unsatisfied or hungry and this can lead to problems such as stomach ulcers. The presence of enough varieties of food is also vital. For instance, a tourist traveling from the United States of America to East Africa may not feel like taking tilapia fish which is in plenty in East Africa but instead likes shrimp. In this case, it is only fair that the providers of the service of food and beverages in the hospitality industry in East Africa look for shrimp and have it as part of their food so that their American visitor is not subjected to starvation. The significance of Cleanliness in food and beverages cannot be overemphasized in this essay.

It is so crucial such that if it is not considered keenly, things get nasty. Food and beverages served in an unhygienic environment always cause serious cases of food poisoning most of which are usually fatal. Other aspects of food that are supposed to be taken into account are freshness of the food in that it is necessary for it to be fresh, the pricing whereby it has to be affordable and the requirements of a balanced diet wherein the  food must meet the cardinal rule of a balanced diet (Fick and Ritchie, 1991). For beverages, variety and affordability should be considered for factory produced drinks whereas cleanliness as well as price and variety are crucial for locally prepared and hot beverages that are served to clients (Dale and Olive, 2005). Leaving the above aside, shopping is another key area of travel and tourism. It is always a practice of tourists that they do shopping of unique commodities when they tour new places. For example, it is not uncommon to find tourists from Europe purchasing African traditional clothing whenever they visit African countries like Kenya or Uganda. This whole action of shopping as carried out by tourists is supposed to be carried out in a way that is meant to make the tourists enjoy their tour.

For this to happen, the exercise of shopping has to meet such standards as security and safety. Tourists must be able to buy whatever that they want to buy without loosing their money and losing what they will have purchased. They should also be exposed to variety so as to enable them access as many products as possible. It is always advised that in cases where the needed products are sold at far away places, a means of transport be availed to the tourists to the market place and back so as to enable them transport back to their places of stay the purchased goods in readiness for transport home when the period of touring comes to an end. Apart from that, entertainment and recreation are vital to the entire field of travel and tourism.

Provision of all the other requirements as explained above without entertainment and recreation will leave the tourists tired and bored. The breaking of monotony and the reduction of boredom comes with entertainment. Entertainment and recreation also help reduce stress and depression. Factors to consider when providing entertainment and recreation to tourists include safety, security, affordability, effectiveness, and variety. Under safety, it is necessary that recreation facilities like gyms have full time staff whose duty is to guide the new users.

This will assist avoid accidents for new tourist who are not used to the facility. Entertainment spots like clubs and pubs need to be located in safe and secure areas where the tourists will not be exposed to thugs and other hooligans. Places routinely patrolled by law enforcement officers are ideal for tourists. Advising of the guests on how to behave and the time to leave town is very necessary so as to avoid wrong brushes with the law in a foreign land. Affordability simply means that the pricing on the usage of the facilities should be low enough to be payable by the customers. Effectiveness refers top the ability of a certain recreation facility to deal with a certain condition. For example, the gym should be appropriate for fatigue. Variety refers to the existence of more than one type of recreational facility and more than one entertainment spot.

A swimming pool in addition to a gym is a good thing just like a jazz club is an ideal addition to a pop music club. ConclusionWe can infer from the above that travel and tourism is the largest segment of the hospitality industry and is comprised of many different businesses. The businesses include offering transportation, lodging, food and beverages, shopping, entertainment, and recreation.

Transport is vital as it moves the tourists and their luggage to their destination and back. For it to be satisfactory; it has to be secure, affordable and reliable. Lodging is equally vital as it provides the resting place for the tourists and must be safe and comfortable as well as affordable. Food and beverages also have significant value and must be prepared and handled under extreme cleanliness and their prices must be conducive. Shopping must be safe while entertainment and recreation must have variety and must be safe for the clients or customers, who are also supposed to make safe choices.    References: Anton, G. & Graham, H.

, (1982); The World Triangle: A History of the World Youth Hostel Movement. Dale, G. & Oliver, H.

, (2005); BTEC National Travel and Tourism –Book 2. ISBN-13: 978-0435446451Fick, G. R. & Ritchie, B.

(1991); Journal of Travel Research: Measuring Service Quality in the Travel and Tourism Industry. Vol. 30, No. Issue No. 2, 2-9 (1991).