4SZ505 Business Environment of the Visitor Economy Assessment Brief 2026

4SZ505 Business Environment of the Visitor Economy

Key dates and details

Description of the assessment

Individually, students will examine the factors that impact on the performance of a chosen business and its stakeholders

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

1.Explain how internal and external factors affect business functions. 
2.Discuss methods of interaction between an organisation and its stakeholders.

Relationship to Programme Assessment Strategy

This core module assessment is an essential component of the curriculum for all students pursuing studies in Hospitality, Events, and Tourism. It gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their comprehensive understanding of the visitor economy and a specific case study business operating within this dynamic sector. By engaging with this assessment, students will be able to demonstrate the extent to which they have developed the skills to analyse business environments effectively using a case study from the visitor economy.

Through engaging with this assessment, students will explore various facets of the visitor economy, including market trends, marketing, consumer behaviour, and the economic impact of hospitality, events, and tourism. They will also examine a specific case study business, gaining insights into its operations and challenges.

The foundational knowledge and analytical skills acquired in this assessment are not only crucial for understanding the visitor economy but are also integrally linked to other modules within the program. This interconnected learning approach ensures that students can apply their insights across multiple areas of study, reinforcing their overall academic and professional development.

Attributes and Skills 

Assessment Content

Your report should include:

Title page

Including the module code, module title, assessment tile and your student number.

Content page

Presented professionally, identifying each section of the report and the page numbers.

Introduction (Approximately 300 words)

The introduction should set the scene for your report and provide the reader with an insight as to what will be covered.  The introduction will also include a brief overview of your chosen case study business alongside a clear definition of stakeholders.

Main Body (Approximately 1000 words)

The first part of the main body of your report should address learning outcome 1 (Approximately 500 words).   In this section you will introduce and explain how internal and external factors affect your chosen case study business. You should explore and apply relevant theoretical models introduced as part of the module. The report will demonstrate your knowledge and application of the business environment and pertinent factors that must be considered.  To complete this section, you can draw on the formative assessment introduced in week 3 of the module.

You may wish to include figures, tables, and diagrams in this section, which should be labelled and the sources acknowledged, for example:

Figure 1. SWOT Analysis, (Smith, 2010, p.102).

Any material that is relevant to your discussion but is too lengthy to include in the main body can be included in the appendices. Material included within the appendices should be referred to in the main body, for example:

More detail can be found in Appendix 1, customer and suppliers’ analysis.
The second part of the main body should address learning outcome 2 (Approximately 500 words). In this section you should firstly identify and discuss the stakeholders of your chosen business, highlighting the influence and power that each segment may possess. Seocndly, you will focus upon ONE key stakeholder and assess their methods of interaction, reflecting on and analysing any potential challenges and/or issues that may arise.  To complete this section, you can draw on the synchronous and asynchronous activities introduced throughout the module.

Conclusion (Approximately 200 words).

You should conclude your report with a summary of the key points covered in the main body, including a succinct overview of the internal and external factors affecting your case study business alongside the stakeholders previously identified.  You should not include any new information in your conclusion.

Reference list

You should include a reference list, which is an alphabetical listing of the sources used within the report.  All sources acknowledged in your in-text citations should be included here, presented using Harvard format.

You should include a minimum of 10 relevant and credible sources.  As a guide these could include 5 academic books, 3 peer reviewed journal articles and 2 trade publications. 

Appendices

The appendices should be used for any material that is too lengthy to be included in the main body.  Any items included as appendices such be referred to and discussed in the main body. 

Document Style and Presentation

You should use Arial font, size 12 with 1.5 spacing, the text alignment should be justified, and each page should be numbered.
  
The report should be written in the third person, so you should not use phrases such as ‘In my report I will provide…’ or ‘I think that…’.  Instead, you could write ‘This report provides…’ or ‘The evidence indicates…’.

In-text citations should be used to identify the source you have read to inform your report.  Citations should adhere to Harvard conventions and can be presented in several ways, below are three examples.
    
Pine and Gilmore (1998 pg98) explain that an experience takes place when a business uses “services as the stage, and goods as the props, to engage individual customers in a way that creates a memorable event”.  
Several authors assert that creating customer experiences is the core focus of the tourism and hospitality industry (Pizam, 2010; Walls et al., 2011; Hwang & Seo, 2016; Bastiaansen et al., 2019).

Harris and Ezeh (2008) assert that social aspects of the servicescape including staff behaviour and image should be managed carefully to positively influence customer loyalty intensions.  

Assessment Rubric