PAPER 1:Business Decision Making

1.1

Dear Mss. Paulina,

Subject: UK Tourism Data Analysis Methodology

After performing an initial desk research for expansion of Metropolitan Touring into the UK Tourism industry the following results are found. The UK policymakers have laid down the strategy for inbound tourism for the year 2012-2020, to draw 40 million foreign visitors a year, spending £31.3 billion by 2020. Furthermore, increasing the travellers up to 9% for domestic visits by making their stay longer. At present there are 200,000 SMB/e across the UK within the tourism industry.

The given data in Travelpac 2011 can be analyzed by categorizing the purpose of travel and comparing against the sum of visits and spending spread across four quarters of the year. In other wordscomparing categorical variables against continuous variables. This technique will aid in establishing the relation between the purpose of travel and spending for each quarter for overseas as well as the UK residents. To increase the accuracy of results, it would be necessary to consider additional secondary sources for obtaining UK tourism statistics such as Tourism Economic, VisitEngland Corporate Site, Visit Dorset, Britain for Events, Tourism Alliance, The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), British Hospitality Association,UKTrade &Investment (UKTI),Home Office, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), London & Partners, Virgin Atlantic, Heathrow Airport Limited. Also,data from primary sourcescan be collected throughdistribution of paper questionnaire to UKimmigration counter, foreign exchange services.

Yours sincerely

Khalid

Marketing Assistant

Metropolitan Touring

1.2

Survey Methodology and Sampling Frame

The UK Tourism is one of the biggest industries. The choice of conducting questionnaire survey methodology is due to the following advantages:

Collection of large amount of data in a short period of time with cost effectiveness.

Data can easily be quantified by a researcher or through a software package.

For a reliable information collection survey, a large sample size is required to achieve accurate results with minimum sampling error that would maximize the sample’s representativeness. The data collection will be through quantitative research. The survey methodology will be thepaper-based questionnaireincluding closed and open-ended questions. The expected number of participants will range from 1500-2000. The sample design will containprobability random sampling with clustering as well as stratification. The target sample size will be 382. By choosing such sampling, 95% of the passengers leaving the UK as well as returning will have a chance of being sampled in the survey. The limitations of this survey data will be in the form of sampling and non-samplingerrors. Some examples of non-sampling errors are:

•    The sampling process is such that a specific group is excluded or under-represented in the sample, deliberately or inadvertently. If the excluded or under-represented group is different, with respect to survey issues, then bias will occur.

•    The sampling process allows individuals to select themselves. Individuals with strong opinions about the survey issues or those with substantial knowledge will tend to be over-represented, creating bias.

•    If people who refuse to answer are different, with respect to survey issues, from those who respond then bias will occur. This can also happen with people who are never contacted and people who have yet to make up their mind.

•    If the response rate (the proportion of the sample that takes part in a survey) is low, bias can occur because respondents may tend consistently to have views that are more extreme than those of the population in general.

•    The wording of questions, the order in which they are asked and the number and type of options offered can influence survey results.

•    Answers given by respondents do not always reflect their true beliefs because they may feel under social pressure not to give an unpopular or socially undesirable answer.

Sampling error

POPULATION SPECIFICATION ERROR—This error occurs when the researcher does not understand who she should survey. For example, imagine a survey about breakfast cereal consumption. Who should she survey? It might be the entire family, the mother, or the children. The mother probably makes the purchase decision, but the children influence her choice.

SAMPLE FRAME ERROR—A frame error occurs when the wrong sub-population is used to select a sample. A classic frame error occurred in the 1936 presidential election between Roosevelt and Landon. The sample frame was from car registrations and telephone directories. In 1936, many Americans did not own cars or telephones and those who did were largely Republicans. The results wrongly predicted a Republican victory.

SELECTION ERROR—This occurs when respondents self select their participation in the study – only those that are interested respond. Selection error can be controlled by going extra lengths to get participation. A typical survey process includes initiating pre-survey contact requesting cooperation, actual surveying, post survey follow-up if a response is not received, a second survey request, and finally interviews using alternate modes such as telephone or person to person.

NON-RESPONSE—Non-response errors occur when respondents are different than those who do not respond. This may occur because either the potential respondent was not contacted or they refused to respond. The extent of this non-response error can be checked through follow-up surveys using alternate modes.

SAMPLING ERRORS—These errors occur because of variation in the number or representativeness of the sample that responds. Sampling errors can be controlled by (1) careful sample designs, (2) large samples, and (3) multiple contacts to assure representative response.

The research will be carried out with ethical considerations.

1.3

Metropolitan Touring: UK Holiday and Tourism Market Research

Questionnaire

Q1. How often do you travel abroad?

(Please select the appropriate box only)

Once in every 3 months

Once in every 6 months

More than once in 3 months

Many times in 12 months

Q2. How do you generally source information for a holiday?

( You may select more than 1 box)

Travel Agency Travel Brochures

Newspapers/Magazines

Tourists Fairs Internet

TV Family/Friends

Other Q3. In which way do you plan your trip?

(You may select more than 1 box)

Travel Agent Through the Internet With help from friends or

relatives Directly with accommodation Directly with airline/ferry/train operator

Other Q4. Which time of the year would you prefer to travel?

Jan-March

Jul-Sep

Apr-Jun

Oct-Dec

Q5. Do you require a Visa to enter into the UK?

Yes No (Go to Q8) Q6. How easy it is to obtain a UK visa in your country?

Very easy

Very difficult Fairly easy Fairly difficult Q7. Have you been to the UK before?

None

3 times 1 time

4 times

2 times

5 times or more Q8. What is the purpose of your visit to the UK?

Holiday VFR (Visiting friends or relatives)

Business Transits

Study Miscellaneous

Q9. How long did you stay in the UK?

1-3 nights

28-90 nights

4-13nights

3-6months 14-27 nights

12 months or over Q10. Which part of UK have you stayed on your visit?

London

Wales Scotland Rest of England Q11.Whoaccompanied you on this trip?

(Please mention the number of persons in the provided blank space)

None A friend

My partner

My partner …………children

A group of …………people

Alone with ……….children Q12. What attractions have you visited in the UK?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………

Q13. What has been your level of satisfaction with your stay in the UK?

Completely

Not really For the greater part

Absolutely not Partly

Please mention the reason if the answer is Not really or Absolutely not:

………………………………………………………………………………………

Q14.Would you consider revisiting the destination within the next five years?

Yes

I don’t Know

No Please mention the reason if the answer is No:

………………………………………………………………………………………

Q15. What is your country of residence?

Europe

America Asia

UK Resident Middle East and Africa

Rest of the World Q16. Which age category do you fall into?

0-15 years

45-54 years 16-24 years

55-64 years 25-34 years

65 and over 35-44 years Q17. What is your gender?

Male

Other Female

Thank you for taking the time to complete the questionnaire. Your input is important to us and we value your comments and contributions.