ANALYSES OF TOURISM IN OXFORD AND MEASURES TAKEN TO RESPOND TO DEMAND

Tourism in Oxford

Oxford has a large population that is complimented by the nearly nine million visitors who come in each year for tourism. It is a major tourism destination because of its beautiful scenarios and heritage sites for which it is most famous for like the Oxford castle among others. Notably, Oxford is an old city that hubs the Oxford University which has a population of 3200 students (Oxford, n.d).

 Sub-sectors of tourism vary from travelling site seeing to tourist attractions. In this paper, we shall focus on Tourist attractions in oxford. This Sub-sector is incredibly stocked with eye catching sites and scenes that are breath taking. Some of these include; Museums, Galleries, Gardens, and Heritage sites that are famous for their uniqueness such as; the Batsford Arboretum, Bill Spectre’s Ghost Trail, concerts at SJE Arts, Oxford Castle Unlocked, and the North Gate Saxon Tower.

Determinants of Tourism Demand in Oxford

In this section, the paper focuses on issues that affect the demand of tourism both locally and internationally. These factors are important to note because they are the items that are studied by policy makers in this case the County Council of Oxford when they want to assess or forecast tourism trends. Alterations or fixing of these factors results in the change of entire tourism industry. For instance since a ticket for travelling to the UK can only be purchased on its own unlike its neighboring countries whose tickets can be bought jointly, the changing of this system can see Britain receive more tourists. Some of the factors that determine this demand for tourism are listed and discussed below.

Surrounding Circumstances

            Oxford city is one of the oldest civilizations that still exist and this makes it a great site for tourists to visit. Its extensive variety of tourist attractions makes it one of the most frequented regions in the world placing Europe at large as the number one tourist attraction site with figures rising well over a couple of millions. Some monumental structures that exist include the Oxford Museum, University and extensive galleries existing alone an others coupled into other attractions such as galleries inside of University of Oxford (University of Oxford, 2015). The natural setting of these sites is what brings out the aesthetic beauty. Hence, it is not only the structures  that matters, but also the setting

Housing

The high number of visitors and locals in this area has created a situation where housing is a problem leaving some people with no hopes of ever climbing that housing step (Falk, 2014; Holgate, 2014). The locals are overcrowded in the town even without the complementation of the tourists. This is a local determinant of tourism as available housing facilities are very poor in condition with Oxford having the cheapest housing facilities in the UK (Falk, 2014). Tourists who visit this town are dismayed by the congestion that is present and sometimes have to share living quotas just because there is insufficient room for them to accommodate their own chambers. This problem sees the shortage of tourism in some parts of the year while they weather out the crowded period and try make up the trips on their own at a convenient time when the crowding is down. This kind of situation creates an environment where young ones cannot be travelled with without proper supervision or otherwise a pre-booked accommodation.

Transportation

This is an increasingly alarming issue that is both the result of population growth and a developed tourism sector (Falk, 2014). However, the high traffic rates in the roads possess a greater disadvantage than it does advantages. All major museums in Oxford are concentrated in the town within short distances not more than 20 miles apart making access to them difficult with the high congestion (Oxford City Guide, 2015; British Finest, 2015). This issue must be addressed by the County Council of the town in order to eliminate delays in the transportation of touring individuals, and cyclists among others. Oxford being the home of the inventors of Park and Ride, the issue is bound to be resolved once placed under agendas of the town. The county Council has tried to come up with regulations to driving in the town but the matter needs to be taken seriously and proper strategies set in place for the comfort of the locals and the tourists.

            Apart from the above mentioned determinants, there are other factors such the price of stay in hotels or the expenditure frustrations of spending in Oxford. These frustrations are majorly brought about from the expensive accommodations available and transportations.

Response of Local Institutions to Demand in the Tourist Sector

Accommodation is a factor that has previously been addressed and the need for more of it has been shown. In response to this demand, the local restaurants and lodges have increased their staff and set up of expansion structures such as has been granted by local authorities. More and more people are hired into this sector to meet the growing demand in hotels as more tourists pour in for their adventures requiring attention and services (Bicester advertiser, 2014). This initiative not only helps promote the tourist industry but also the local industries specifically the employment industry which sees thousands of people get hired primarily into the hotel and accommodation sector. Most accommodation facilities are situated near major tourist attraction sites for instance Vanbrugh house hotel near the Ashmolean Museum. The museums are the source of ‘input’ agents in the hotels and sometimes own these facilities (Vanbrug House Hotel, 2015).    

Following up on the sub-sector of tourist attractions, museums and other similar institutions such as the galleries have taken forward measures that ensure satisfaction of their clients. They have increasing artifacts collection and purchasing for the sole purpose of provide to tourists who wish to have souvenirs at a small cost such as the Pitt Rivers Museum (Hicks & Petraglia, 2013 ). Collection of such items creates an opportunity for the locals to showcase their unique culture to the world. In galleries and museums, copies are made promoting local talents thus raising their living standards and effectively popularizing the region.

The environment is a major concern for major tourist attraction sites and Oxford is no different. Hosted by local group, Cotswold, business self assessment has become a major indicator of the development of the region to a time when they care about the way their surroundings are utilized. These assessments entail a business filling out a questionnaire that indicates the dedication towards environmental safeguarding by taking initiatives such as car free tourism (The Oxfordshire Cotswolds, 2015). These assessments are aimed at conserving national parks, Gardens of aesthetic value to tourism and other tourist attractions. Therefore, by creating such a forum, a business is able to evaluate itself and monitor its activities thus limiting the amount of pollution done to the environment and increasing activities that help maintain a good environment.

The local authorities have drawn strategies and plans that will see the protection of the natural environment and the landscapes plus the tourist attractions that define the history of Oxford . The local county council owns most of the national heritage sites such as the Oxford Castle thus acting as the organizational framework for tourist attraction (Oxford Preservation Trust, 2015). The creation of policies can be viewed as measure taken to match up to the demands of the tourist sector. They have done this by creating environmental policies that conserve the environment. Some of the policies are strict like forcing moving of large commercialized businesses into towns while others are posed as personal initiatives such as building of small business towns rather than country sides (Vale of white Horse Local P’, 2006). The four spires hotel (2015) has created initiatives on how everyone should take responsibilities for their environment, being green. By doing this, the population is held at one geographical area where the environment can be controlled. Tourism is sometimes associated with a lot of waste items that if left uncontrolled will pollute the countryside with nylon, polythene papers/wrappers, bottles and other items that are left behind. In the town, the cleanup crew has an easy time tracking down the wastes and properly disposing them.

Banbury Museum used cash won from Arts Council’s Museum Resilience Fund to fund projects that look into building of its sideline businesses of accommodation and café they can be improved to meet customer needs (The Oxford Times, 2015). Their concern was majorly to respond to the demand for accommodation. Perhaps what should be mentioned in the conclusion of this section is that all the above is only possible after careful analyses of the market’s demand of the tourist industry in general. This is an important step towards finding exactly what is demanded in order to identify how to respond. In a way, this is a response to the need tourist demand.

Conclusion

The tourism sector can be categorized as a service delivery business where client satisfaction is the only objective. In the first section of this paper, we have looked at some local and international determinants of demand for tourism in Oxford. These factors have been discussed in a detailed manner generally and then focused on our case of Oxford. It is imperative to identify these factors in an industry so that necessary improvements or reinforcements are made to increase efficiency in the industry. The second part has focused on what some organizations on the ground have done to capture the opportunity gap presented by the demand in this sector as well as policies employed to satisfy the tourists.

This report has shed light on the growing tourism industry in Oxford and some factors that control the demand of for tourism in this region. This information is important for policy makers to who upon studying it can modify or create new policies that capture the entity of the industry as has been portrayed.

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