The growth of mass tourism as a global industry

Overview

Mass tourism, package holiday and how internet access has transformed the tourism industry.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is mass tourism?

   Model answer

   Mass tourism is the movement of very large numbers of people to the same destinations, usually travelling in organised groups or on standardised holidays, staying in purpose-built accommodation and concentrated into particular seasons and resorts. It is characterised by high volume, low unit price achieved through bulk purchasing, a largely standardised product, and dependence on a small number of tour operators and transport providers. It contrasts with independent, small-scale and specialist travel.

2. 2

   Explain how developments in transport have driven the growth of mass tourism.

   Model answer

   The jet airliner from the late 1950s, and the wide-bodied jet from 1970, cut journey times and, far more importantly, cut the cost per seat by carrying many more passengers per flight. Charter and later low-cost carriers reduced fares further by using secondary airports, single aircraft types and high utilisation. On the ground, rising car ownership and motorway building opened domestic and near-continental destinations, high-speed rail brought cities within a few hours of each other, and larger cruise ships turned the journey itself into the holiday. Each development converted places that were remote and expensive into places that were accessible and affordable.

3. 3

   Why does the cost of transport matter so much more to tourism than the distance itself?

   Model answer

   Because tourists respond to the time and money a journey costs, not to the kilometres. A destination four thousand kilometres away served by cheap direct flights is effectively closer, in the terms that matter to a holidaymaker, than one half that distance requiring several connections. This is why the introduction of a single new air route can transform a destination's visitor numbers with no change whatever in its physical position, and why airline route decisions are among the most powerful influences on the geography of tourism.

4. 4

   Explain how rising disposable income has contributed to mass tourism.

   Model answer

   Disposable income is what remains after tax and essential spending, and holidays are bought from it. Sustained real-wage growth in MEDCs after the Second World War, combined with statutory paid holiday entitlement, gave large sections of the population both money and time for an annual holiday for the first time. Smaller households and dual earnings increased spare income further, and pensioners with occupational pensions became a substantial off-peak market. More recently, growing middle classes in rapidly industrialising countries have added very large new source markets, so the industry's origin regions are no longer only in the MEDCs.

5. 5

   Why is tourism demand described as highly income-elastic, and what follows from that?

   Model answer

   Because a holiday is a discretionary purchase, so demand rises faster than income when incomes grow, and falls faster than income in a recession. What follows is that tourism is volatile: destinations dependent on it experience sharp swings in visitor numbers with the economic cycle in their source markets, over which they have no control. It also means that as incomes rise, spending shifts towards additional and longer-haul trips rather than simply more of the same, so demand changes in character as well as volume.

6. 6

   What is a package holiday, and how did it make foreign travel affordable?

   Model answer

   A package holiday is a single product combining transport, accommodation, transfers and often meals, sold at one price by a tour operator. It reduced cost because the operator bought seats and beds in bulk well in advance at heavily discounted rates, filled charter aircraft to capacity, and spread marketing and administration over large numbers. It also removed risk and effort for the customer, who needed no foreign language, no separate bookings and no knowledge of the destination, which brought in people who would never have organised a foreign trip themselves.

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