ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank firstly Mr. Ahmad our marketing lecturer for his valuable and constructive suggestions during the planning and development of this research work. His willingness to give his time so generously has been very much appreciated. Also I extend my gratitude to my sister and my family for supporting me and providing me with a comfortable environment to work in while I completed my research work. And finally all my thanking to Mr. Ahmad Shafiq the Executive director of COTHM College for providing me a platform in which my work is recognized and highly valued.

Table of contents Acknowledgement Introduction Profile of the country Table Data Analysis Thesis and feedback Methodology Conclusion Page 13 Page 16 Page 20 Page 21 Page 1 Page 3 Page 4

An Introduction to Sustainable Tourism

The literal definition of sustainable tourism is the development of a regions tourism industry in such a way as to not damage or deplete the resources and attractions that make the region attractive to tourists. As we know the tourism industry is a rapidly growing industry and the demand for attractive and eye catching tourism is increasing day by day. This has led to many problems today in the modern world mainly the one being the depletion of natural resources and the destruction of the earths natural landscape. This is why it has become increasingly important for us to preserve our natural environment so the future of mankind can enjoy our resources too. The changed mindset of people towards green thinking has now put all countries in a situation where they must promote sustainable tourism one way or the other.

History of England

The United Kingdom (official name United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) consists of four countries united under one monarch and government. The countries are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each have a distinct culture and feel of their own with some in Northern Ireland wishing to split from the United Kingdom and join the Republic of Ireland, with which the UK shares its only land border.

.England has traditionally been the dominant nation within the UK has over 80 percent of the share of the total population. People in Scotland and Wales have proud national traditions and languages. Scottish Gaelic is mainly spoken in the north west of the country, by a small proportion of the population. Welsh have a much bigger number of people speaking the language and all public signs in Wales are displayed in both Welsh and English.

So basically the UK is considered a developed country with a strong currency in the form of the sterling and a high GDP rate. It is rich with historical sites like the big Ben in London and many luxurious palaces like the Buckingham palace. This means it is essential for the United Kingdom to know about sustainable tourism.

Already there are a few projects started in the UK regarding sustainable tourism and a questionnaire was conducted to gauge the peoples reactions and the actual amount of work being done there. My project will compare the result of 60 questionnaires and shed light on what the people of the UK actually think about the efforts towards sustainable tourism.

SPACE FOR TABLE FROM EXCEL

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DATA ANALYSIS DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS: GENDER

MALE PARTICIPANTS 30 FEMALE PARTICIPANTS 30

MALE FEMALE

As you can see from the illustration above I had conducted the survey on a totally non bias basis as in getting the equal opinion of both the gender classes. This removes any kind of unfairness and shows a good sample of the working living community of the UK.
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AGE GROUP IN YEARS FOR 60 PEOPLE

15-25 25 26-35 25 36-45 7 45 and above 3

AGE DISTRIBUTION

15 to 25 26 to 35 36 to 45 45 and above

As we can clearly see from the chart above the majority of the personnel handed the questionnaire range from the teenage to a pre middle age genre. This is mainly because these people are in the majority and are easy to get hold off than the elderly populous. But still for the sake of diversity I have dwelled within the elderly people and asked for their opinions on the matter of fact as well (represented in the minority %).

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AVERAGE ANSWERS FOR ALL 10 QUESTIONS REPRSENTED BELOW THE RATING GOES NUMBERWISE FROM LEFT RIGHT IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE IN AN ASCENDING ORDER

Q10 Q9 Q8 Q7 Q6 Q5 Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 0 0.5 1

1.5

2.5

3.5

The average that amounts mostly is 3 here which as you might have known from the questionnaire is the third option disagree. We can see a couple of 4s too which represent the option strongly agree. Now I will discuss more about this later in my project and will give a comprehensive analogy as to the reasons that might have shaped a response like this.

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Thesis and respondents assessment on questions

1. The first question asked was about the cleanliness regarding the environment in the UK. This question was asked because for a country striving towards sustainable development it is important for them to respect the area they live in so that they can create an eco friendly place for everyone to live in. From the results I obtained from my questionnaire it was apparent that people strongly believed this and as a whole idea. The residents of UK are proudly able to say that the country they live in is clean in their eyes.

2. My second question to the people of the UK was whether they agreed if their country was promoting sustainable tourism or not? It is essential that the people are aware of what their country is trying to do and whether they take those actions in a positive light. Although there was a mixed view shared by the people the average pointed towards most of them disagreeing. This is probably because they are not properly informed of any kind of work that is being undertaken in the field of sustainable tourism.

3. Thirdly I asked about the role of government in supporting the hotel industry of UK in the helping of sustainable tourism. You see the government plays an active role in every activity that a country decides to part take in. And so it is an important factor to keep their support if any in mind towards such goals and missions. Unfortunately the citizens of UK did not agree with this statement and cited their disagreement in my questionnaire. The logic behind them when I asked them personally was that they were did not have 100% faith in their government and believed that they would not put resources here. 4. Fourthly the nature of the current hotel industry of the UK in terms of being sustainable was asked about. Now the main issue being stressed in this question is the sustainable part. We already know that the UK is a developed country with a strong tourism base. But is it sustainable tourism as well that was the main question? And the average answer
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on this occasion was also number 3 which are disagreeable. Now this is a big concern for the UK because their citizens do not believe they are working hard enough for the field of sustainable tourism which shows an area of weakness for them.

5. Moving on I asked about the technological prowess of the UK in regard to its sustainable tourism endeavors if any. A countrys technological advances ensure whether a country has the latest technology in this globalized world. Without proper technology a country cannot strive properly and compete with other leading countries of the world. Here the respondents agreed firmly by strongly pointing out the fact that UK is no less behind in its technologically advances. Probably the reason why so many people agreed to a question in majority is the fact that because of its developed status UK has the ability to support any kind of project it puts its mind too.

6. Now I went more specific and asked the people of the environmental policies in the UK. Being clean is one thing but being able to maintain a set level of cleanliness requires a lot of effort and conservatism. Especially strict rules and regulations that must be followed in particular. Even though the people agreed to the UK being a clean country they were not so agreeable on the policies they had enforced for it. This is the main reason the people did not think highly about these so called policies and disagreed to this question in the majority.

7. Next I asked about foreign investment in the country regarding sustainable development. Now we all know how essential foreign investment is in a country and the amount of funds and money it brings in is invaluable to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A countrys true worth is somewhat measured in its foreign investment and therefore it is a huge part in the success of a nation. People did say that UK has had good amounts of

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foreign investments but regarding sustainable tourism very little to talk about so the average of this answer was also in the negative as in disagreeable.

8. The important factor of infrastructure was asked about here. Infrastructure is a very crucial factor in terms of sustainable tourism. It is the infrastructure that determines whether parts of a country are accessible and if they are being properly looked after. What was strange to me was that even though UK has good roads and infrastructure capabilities the people somewhat disagreed again believing that it again was not enough in regards to sustainable tourism. Primarily the weather there plays a role in th e peoples mindsets as according to them many areas become inaccessible during the winters and the infrastructure is affected very negatively. But seeing as how the weather in UK remains cold throughout the year the problem of infrastructure still remains at times.

9. The second last question in the questionnaire asked primarily about the multicultural issues arising in the UK. There are a large number of immigrants in mainly from Asia living in the UK which is situated in Europe. This means that there are bound to be some cultural differences and in a multi cultural world today it is essential to respect them. The people of UK however say that the problem of racism is becoming quite common there and little regard is shown for the minority of the religions or cultures. This is a very big problem because when you are exposed as a racist country the amount of tourism you receive can decrease significantly.

10. The last question was like a summary of the entire questionnaire in which the whole idea of sustainable tourism was asked about. Obviously with the amount of negative answers received this one begged no different. When asked as to the reason to this many people said that sometimes they do not see why sustainable tourism is such a big deal (lack of awareness). They think there are far more important issues at hand to be dealt with and
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spent time and effort on. What I have deduced from this is that people in the UK have become too entangled with their daily lives and so pay little attention to the whole sustaining the tourism industry idea.

After gauging and analyzing the above data I have reached the conclusion that the people of UK have voted against my hypothesis which is:

UK is working hard towards increasing its awareness about sustainable tourism among the people and it has a lot of potential to increase this segment of their market. It already has a few projects underway in sustaining tourism and the people there are also supportive of the whole idea.

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METHODOLOGY
The method used to collect data in this project is called quota sampling. Here I chose a group of individuals who successfully fitted my criteria as respondents and gave my questionnaire to them. This type of data collection falls into the quantitative method of collecting data.

This data can yield representative and generalized information. This method is usually objective and requires the use of standardized measures so that varying perspectives and experiences can fit into a limited number of predetermined response categories. This method is usually easier to summarize and compare than qualitative methods

Advantages: Generally quantitative methods are easy to administer, can include relatively large number of questions, can yield large samples, are easier to summarize, and are more widely accepted as a form of evidence regarding program effectiveness.

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CONCLUSION
The sustainable tourism industry is a rapidly growing industry in the modern world today. Some people do realize the importance of preserving the environment today in such a way that our future generations can also benefit from it tomorrow. The UK is also among the countries looking to expand into this industry and realize its crucial part in the tourism industry nowadays. However this is not a very well known part of tourism as of yet and proper awareness among people is necessary if it is to succeed in delivering its message globally. The questionnaire has proven that some people do have an idea about sustainable tourism but the masses are still quite new to the idea. With the proper mindset and the proper utilization of resources UK has the potential to increase its sustainable tourism development projects to new heights. What is required however is the constant support of the people and the government. So that the ideas can be visualized into reality and make our world and this country a better, safe and healthy place to live in.

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