Tourist Destination

TASK 1

Visitor Profiles and Income Generation of Peak District and Khao Yai

The activities regarding the economy in the Peak District are vast. The economy is most apparently dependent on farming, management of land, manufacturing, accommodation, and retail sectors. Most of the businesses within the premises of the national park directly or indirectly benefit to economy due to their beautiful location and connection with the landscape. The below data, inclusive of facts are figures that were found to be a result of the Visitor Survey 2014 of the Peak District National Park (Vedeld and et.al., 2012).

People from all age groups seem to visit the Peak District and they were recognised to be a broad representation of the British population. Almost half of the visitors were employed and 1% of all the visitors stated that they were unemployed. 90% of the total visitors were identified as White British in 2014. 8 in every 10 visitors visited in day daytime. Half of all the visitors were interested in visiting the national park because of the beautiful scenery and because they had been to the place prior. One-third of recorded visitors stated that they have been visiting as they reside locally and they could have easy access to the Peak District. Almost 83% of visitors used to reach the area by car (Xiang and Pan, 2011). 7% of all the visitors were first-timers and the rest had visited the place before. 98% of total visitors were positive about having a good time while at the national park. Between the years of 2009 and 2013, the tourist impact of the overall economy increased by 19%. In 2013, it was noted that the total economic impact of the Peak District National Park and its areas of influence is £540 million (Usakli and Baloglu, 2011).

As per Department of National Parks in Thailand, which is the responsible body for the management of Khao Yai National Park, states that they have risen to a total number of 1.2 million visitors in the financial year of 2016. The current data on income generated by KYNP has not yet been disclosed by its management, but it can be definitely made that there has been a significant rise in a number of visitors at the national park. A number of visitors can give an estimate regarding the annual income of the location. A general ticket for entry is 400 baht which costs 9.107 British Pound.

Analysis of Statistics to Realise Tourist Destination Trends

The statistics of visitors who have been visiting the Peak District National Park in the last 16 years classified according to the months show us that the visitors are more interested in visiting the location in month of August rather than any other month. There were a total number of 55,750 visitors in the month of August 2016, and the numbers have always crossed 50,000 and sometimes touched 60,000 in years ranging from 2001 to 2015. The month with the least visitors is March and it has been as low as 20,000 to the range of 30,000, but it touched 41,000 in the year of 2005. This clearly makes it visible that visitors are aware of the season in which they can enjoy the views and activities that are made available to them in the best weather within their compounds. The visitors are more interested in spending their time and engaging their money in acquiring tourist services according to seasons in which they could best have the joy of certain tourist destinations. The trends of tourist destinations have been distributed in terms of seasons, or rather call it a range of months in which tourists could have their ultimate mind of having access to the best of tourist destinations and services they are provided with at the locations of tourist attraction (Suggitt and et.al., 2011).

In the case of Khao Yai National Park, geographical area and weather conditions may be comfortable for visitors in months of November, December, January, and February, which is classified as winter season. This season is most appropriate for the visitors to enjoy their visit to KYNP as it will make available a clear and sunny sky with a temperature below 22 degrees Celsius during the daytime and falls down near to 10 degrees Celsius at night. Other seasons, inclusive of the rainy season from May to October and the summer season from March to April will prove much humid for the visitors as the temperature will be above 27 degrees Celsius in the day and fall to 13 to 17 degrees Celsius at night. Tourists are interested in visiting Khao Yai National Park and nearby locations in the winter more than any other season because of the favorable climate and weather conditions in that particular geographical area (Rotherham, 2013). Seasons according to the economic and geographical climate are subject to the trends in the tourism sector.

TASK 2

Cultural, Social, and Physical Features of Peak District and Khao Yai

The Peak District National Park is globally popular for being iconic in natural beauty. Culturally, they have been maintaining an evergreen relationship between people and the natural environment. The existence of this natural beauty being a national park is the result of the pure influence of centuries of intervention of human and their management. Human activities in the past and current eras have been stretching to feel the elements of nature within these boundaries. Even though there have been developments on the base of technologies and spontaneous lifestyles, those factors of development have brought capabilities to enhance the environmental elements and appearances of natural landscapes (Robinson, Heitmann, and Dieke, 2011). This part of the developing culture and society has been helping to create a better physical presentation of the location.

Peak District also considers the conservation and enhancement of the location's natural beauty as a part of the wildlife and cultural heritage of the nation, and for the same reason, the geographical boundaries are well protected from manipulation and exploitation or any sources that could bring in any of them to the beautiful location. The soils are mandatory to be healthy for replenishing natural systems and wildlife. The fertility and stability of soils within their physically available space are also ensured in a way that would resist compaction and erosion up to a major level. They maintain the soils in such a way that they can support diverse vegetation and proper amounts of organic matter for proper storage of sufficient carbon. There are also rivers and streams in the geographical boundaries of Peak District National Park and they are also well protected from various pollutants and other elements that could be harmful to the conservation of components of nature (Pongkijvorasin and Chotiyaputta, 2013).

In the case of Khao Yai National Park of Thailand, where there is the existence of more than 800 species of fauna. It is spread over a geographical area of 615,500 hectares of totally protected land where KYNP is attached to Thap Lan National Park, Pang Sida National Park, Ta Phraya National Park, and Dong Yai Wildlife Sanctuary. The biodiversity found in that geographical area is given importance internationally and it conserves most of the globally threatened and endangered animals, of all, mammal, bird, and reptile species (Pan and et.al., 2011). Siamese crocodile is one of those species that are critically endangered, but their conservation is done here in Khao Yai. Similarly, endangered species named Asian Elephant, Tiger, Banteng, and Leopard Cats are also present in the list of conserved species among other 19 vulnerable species within KYNP.

Comparison of Peak District's Features With Other Tourist Destinations

The Peak District National Park is one of the most popular national parks not just in the United Kingdom, but also world famous for the special qualities they maintain in that particular ecosystem and its management. Peculiar specialties of the Peak District are several and can't be explained within a statement. The beauty of nature and natural heritage they have been maintaining to portray the landscapes and their character is one of their specialties. The sensible form of being in a remote area gives the visitors a definite feeling of wildness. The unique biodiversity and the presence of multiple flora and fauna usually help visitors to realise the importance of wildlife (Lange and Hehl-Lange, 2010).

Availability of pure natural elements, that is, clean air, land, and water. Traceable factors of thousands of years old human influence have been present in the landscape. Visible characteristics of distinct hamlets, towns, and villages are another important factor found in the Peak District. Specific features of landscapes such as trees, woodlands, field barns, stone walls, and hedgerows are also some of the natural beauty in the national park. Presence of historical buildings and their remains of parks and gardens of royal era. They also provide cottage and craft industry products that are handcrafted within the boundaries of the national park. Peak District National Park also provides cycling facilities and other outdoor recreational activities such as mountain climbing for the physical and emotional well-being of the visitors. Even though the widespread national park is in a wonderful location of natural beauty, surroundings outside those geographical boundaries also provide a view of natural scenic flow beyond the walls.

Other national parks in different areas in different countries are also replenished with many of those physical features of natural beauty and, diverse flora and fauna. Even though there are some other major national wildlife reservoirs and national parks where visitors can have a view of a wide range of vulnerable species, the presence of historical buildings and their remains are rarely found in any of them (Kozak and Baloglu, 2010). The presence of different species of animals and birds is also dependent on geographical classifications within various nations and their survival depends on climactic conditions and the temperature of that particular location (Juutinen and et.al., 2011).

TASK 3

Economic and Political Characteristics Of Peak District and Khao Yai

The Peak District National Park used to face potentially dramatic changes and challenges in the past era and still faces some of them. Once they used to be very much dependent on traditional industries those were on the path of decline. Some of those industries were agriculture, mining, quarrying, textiles, and engineering which were seen with less chances of opportunities of employment. The fear of health scares is impacting to threatening economy of agriculture; in the traditional uplands were some of the economic harms they were afraid to face. The fundamental changes that were made in the economy at the global level were also subject to manifest leading to a major reduction in government and subsidies provided by European agricultural bodies.

The alternatives they found to face these economic challenges are by creating solutions to manage the upland landscapes and to sustain the communities within their geographical area (Grenville, 2014). The latest technologies as a part of global innovation of politics and industries of services are also a part of representation& within the economy of the Peak District National Park and within its geographical area, they had to perform against national targets. Tourism is one of the most important economic providers for the Peak District, but still, the performance of relative tourist activities failed to satisfy their economy in comparison to other national parks and other major areas of tourism. Within the last 10 to 15 years, the Peak District National Park has been successful in coming over that poor branded area within their boundaries and they have also improved products that are made available with uniquely associated with special qualities of that area.

On the other side, Khao Yai National Park, the first national park established in Thailand, as it is located almost 200 kilometers away from Bangkok in 1962. The political handling and administration of that national park is done by the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department. Presently, after an era of political development and upgrades, Khao Yai now is the third-largest national park in the country. This national park is situated in the political boundaries of provinces of central and northeast Thailand. A seed for the protected area in the present era was sown by the system in Thailand in the form of the National Park Act of 1961 establishing KYNP as the nation's first national park.

Characteristics of Peak District that Appeal to Tourists

There are certain factors of particular locations that affect the tourist attraction and interests of tourists to get attracted towards them. The features that would affect the appeal of the tourists and their interests include the natural beauty they will be able to see in that area and the availabilities of various adventure sports and recreational activities. Peak District National Park provides facilities for countryside walks, scenic trails for cycling, some serious mountain climbing opportunities, etc. and tourists who are in search of adventures could never resist such chances of optimal enjoyment (Dey and Sarma, 2010). Tourists who are seeking to know about the history and architectural beauties will never miss locations like Haddon Hall, Solomon's Temple, Eyam Hall & Craft Centre, and Lumsdale Valley which are situated within the geographical boundaries of the Peak District. Chestnut Centre Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park, and Peak Wildlife Park will be loved by the ones who are interested in animals, they could possibly be amazed seeing the most vulnerable species now on Earth along with the ones that are almost extinct too. Those beautiful sceneries of natural beauty and the widespread landscape are subject to major tourist attractions for the national park.

TASK 4

Issues Affecting the Popularity of Peak District

There are various challenges faced by the Peak District National Park, even though they are one of the most popular national parks in the world, these issues are not letting them be popular among overall tourist destinations:

The management of the Peak District is done in such a way that they are seen as a source of economic development rather than aiming to give the visitors the realisation of enjoying an appropriate sustainable tourist destination. The spectacular landscapes and a variety of other special qualities are there at the Peak District and they are the core assets of that tourist destination (Dallimer and et.al., 2010). Issues are realised to be caused when there is a need to balance the engagement of people at a vaster level with the location and this must be made possible without any exploitation or damage to natural resources in the area.

Peak District is identified for providing them with a rural environment of high quality with surroundings of huge English conurbations. There is a heavy possible potential for the national park to extend to be one of the most distinctive and to emerge as one of those rural economies of high quality that sustains environmentally and economically for contribution to prepare a national park which could create benefits from the above said qualities (Clark and Clarke, 2011).

Another major challenge for PDNP is the lack of trans[port options and facilities within the national park in order to meet their tourist purposes. There seems to be no sufficient funds made available to Peak District and its management for sustainable transport projects of infrastructure and the limited provision of services of local public transport also acts as a major hurdle for the aspiration of sustainable tourism and growth of the economy.

Peak District to Focus On 'Responsible Tourism' to Sustain Its Appeal

There have been many discussions on special qualities, social, cultural, environmental, and other aspects regarding the Peak District National Park and also on the issues and challenges they have been facing in maintaining their popularity among all other tourist destinations. First of all, Peak District has to focus on coming over their drawbacks by solving its issues and fulfilling those aspects that are missing to cause those challenges. As in the above question, the issues faced by the national park were identified and hereby finding the possible solutions for those challenges. In the next annual budget of Peak District National Park, there must be appropriate funds initiated towards the development of sustainable transportation facilities within their boundaries and the government should facilitate the local transport system too. The waste management system must be enhanced because more visitors to the destination will lead to a lot of littering activities (Beritelli and Laesser, 2011). The carbon emission amount must be taken care of, so as to sustain the natural beauty and not to pollute such geographical landscapes. There is a need to bring in better management to bring balance between farming, the production of food, the management of land, and its conservation.

Conclusion

In this project, we have discussed on Peak District National Park of the UK as a tourist destination and have compared its features with Thailand's Khao Yai National Park. This report has dealt with visitor numbers and income generation of Peak District and has evaluated it with that of Khao Yai. The statistics of the Peak District were also studied in this project, as to realise the recent trends and to estimate future trends in tourist destinations. The report has also focussed on the social, cultural, physical, economic, and political characteristics of the PDNP and evaluated them to realise the effects they could possibly have on the appeal of tourists. The Peak District's improvable factors and recommendations for emphasizing 'Responsible Tourism' are also included in a major part of this report.

References

Books and Journals
Beritelli, P. and Laesser, C., 2011. Power dimensions and influence reputation in tourist destinations: Empirical evidence from a network of actors and stakeholders. Tourism Management. 32(6). pp.1299-1309.
Clark, J.R.A. and Clarke, R., 2011. Local sustainability initiatives in English National Parks: What role for adaptive governance? Land Use Policy. 28(1). pp.314-324.
Dallimer, M., and et.al., 2010. Agricultural land-use in the surrounding landscape affects moorland bird diversity. Agriculture, ecosystems & environment. 139(4). pp.578-583.
Dey, B. and Sarma, M.K., 2010. Information source usage among motive-based segments of travelers to newly emerging tourist destinations. Tourism management. 31(3). pp.341-344.
Grenville, J., 2014. Managing the historic rural landscape. Routledge.
Juutinen, A., and et.al., 2011. Combining ecological and recreational aspects in national park management: A choice experiment application. Ecological economics. 70(6). pp.1231-1239.
Kozak, M. and Baloglu, S., 2010. Managing and marketing tourist destinations: Strategies to gain a competitive edge. Routledge.
Lange, E. and Hehl-Lange, S., 2010. Making visions visible for long-term landscape management. Futures. 42(7). pp.693-699.
Pan, B., and et.al., 2011. The dynamics of search engine marketing for tourist destinations. Journal of Travel Research. 50(4). pp.365-377.
Pongkijvorasin, S. and Chotiyaputta, V., 2013. Climate change and tourism: Impacts and responses. A case study of Khaoyai National Park. Tourism Management Perspectives. 5. pp.10-17.
Robinson, P., Heitmann, S. and Dieke, P.U. eds., 2011. Research themes for tourism. CABI.
Rotherham, I.D., 2013. Trees, forested landscapes and grazing animals: a European perspective on woodlands and grazed treescapes. Routledge.
Suggitt, A.J., and et.al., 2011. Habitat microclimates drive finescale variation in extreme temperatures. Oikos. 120(1). pp.1-8.
Usakli, A. and Baloglu, S., 2011. Brand personality of tourist destinations: An application of self-congruity theory. Tourism Management. 32(1). pp.114-127.
Vedeld, P., and et.al., 2012. Protected areas, poverty, and conflicts: A livelihood case study of Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. Forest Policy and Economics. 21. pp.20-31.
Xiang, Z. and Pan, B., 2011. Travel queries on cities in the United States: Implications for search engine marketing for tourist destinations. Tourism Management. 32(1). pp.88-97.
Online
Things To Do in The Peak District. 2017. [Online]. Accesses Through: <https://www.visitpeakdistrict.com/things-to-do>. [Accessed on: 7th June 2017].
Peak District National Park Management Plan. 2012. [Online]. Accesses Through: <http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/microsites/npmp/about-the-plan/challenges>. [Accessed on: 7th June 2017].
NATIONAL PARK SPECIAL QUALITIES. 2012. [Online]. Accesses Through: <http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/microsites/npmp/about-the-national-park/national-park-special-qualilties>. [Accessed on: 7th June 2017].

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