The aviation sector plays a key role in the tourism industry. In the Essay

The aviation sector plays a key role in the tourism industry. In the light of low cost carriers they have opened up many new to - Essay Example Conclusion 7 References 7 Appendix 9 1. Introduction Airline carriers have a key role in the development of tourism worldwide; their contribution to the development of destinations is related primarily to the increase of profits of local businesses; however, the development of a place as a cultural destination could be also achieved through the airline carriers – without which the visiting of the above place would be extremely difficult. Indeed, airline carriers have offered the chance to travellers to be informed on the existence of places, which are distinctive in terms of their commercial or cultural tradition. In practice, it has been proved that airline carriers are also benefited by destinations; these benefits can be either direct, i.e. increase of profits, or indirect, i.e. increase of popularity/ awareness of brand name. In other words, a two-way relationship seems to exist between the airline carriers and the tourism industry (as a key part of the economy of destinat ions); however, in certain cases, the terms of their cooperation are not clear or equal. The power of airline carriers to choose their destination has led to the development of an unfair competition among destinations; this problem has been effectively faced through the low cost airlines, even if these carriers also can harm destinations – mostly through their practice to ask for low airport fares, in the context described below. 2. Airline carriers and new destinations 2.1 Airline carriers – role in the success or failure of tourist destinations Airline carriers offer the chance to their customers to visit destinations that may not be quite known to the public, i.e. destinations which are not developed as tourism destinations. From this point of view, airline carriers can contribute to the growth of a place as a tourism destination, a fact that would also lead to the gradual increase of the number of passengers of local airports. Particular emphasis should be given on low cost carriers which can significantly affect the development of tourism destinations, a fact highlighted in the study of Fageda et al. (2009); after analysing a series of Spanish routes, the above researchers came to the conclusion that ‘low-cost carriers have a moderate but still significant effect on prices and increase alternatives even in low-density routes’ (Fageda et al. 2009, p. 36). Moreover, in accordance with an article published in the Wall Street Journal (2010), the development of low cost carriers can increase the number of passengers, a fact that would lead to the increase of profits in destinations; in the above article, reference is made to the case of India and the significant increase in the number of passengers since the entrance in the market of the low cost airline carriers – it is noted that due to these carriers ‘the number of annual fliers was doubled, reaching the 44.5 million in 2009 from 22.3 million in 2005’ (The Wall Street Journal 2010). It should be also noted that low cost carriers help to resolve the following problem: there are routes and destinations which are abandoned by large carriers, as being considered non-profitable, as the level of profit is set in large carriers; through the low cost carriers, passengers are given the chance to have access to these destinations, in a low fare (Business Traveller 2009). If such chance would not be given by low cost carriers,