Educational Tour Proposal for Adult Students from London, UK: Brussels & Brugge

This report provides a comprehensive understanding of the stages involved in managing holidays. It includes a detailed proposal for a 5-night summer vacation tour for 40 adult students travelling from London to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium, starting in August 2019. The report thoroughly assesses the stages and timescales for creating the holiday, evaluates the suitability of different methods of contracting for various components of the trip, and calculates the cost per person for the tour. Additionally, the report examines the planning decisions taken for the design of a brochure, assesses the suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure, and evaluates different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday. Finally, the report compares the strategic and tactical decisions made by different types of tour operators, including specialist and mass-market operators.

TOUR OPERATIONS
MANAgEMENT

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................2
TASK- 01...........................................................................................................................3
P1.1 EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS ON
THE TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY.........................................................................3
INCREASED DISPOSAL INCOME............................................................................3
GLOBALIZATION AND FDI.......................................................................................3
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT........................................................................3
INDEPENDENT TRAVELLERS.................................................................................4
DESTINATION MARKETING.....................................................................................4
FOOD TOURISM........................................................................................................4
ADVENTURE TRIPS..................................................................................................5
TASK- 02...........................................................................................................................6
2.1 STAGES AND TIMESCALE INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING HOLIDAYS................6
DESTINATION MARKET SEARCH...........................................................................6
PLANNING AND SCHEDULING................................................................................7
CONTRACTING.........................................................................................................7
TOUR OPERATOR’S BROCHURE...........................................................................7
2.2 SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING FOR
DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE HOLIDAY AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF
TOUR OPERATOR........................................................................................................9
AD HOC......................................................................................................................9
FIXED CONTRACT....................................................................................................9
TRANSPORT.............................................................................................................9
HOTELS.....................................................................................................................9
1

ATTRACTIONS........................................................................................................10
INBOUND TOUR OPERATOR................................................................................10
OUTBOUND TOUR OPERATOR............................................................................10
DOMESTIC TOUR OPERATORS............................................................................10
2.3 SELLING PRICE OF THE TOUR..........................................................................11
TASK- 03.........................................................................................................................12
3.1 EVALUATE THE PLANNING DECISIONS TAKEN FOR THE DESIGN OF A
SELECTED BROCHURE............................................................................................12
FORMAT...................................................................................................................12
PRINTING QUALITY AND DESIGN........................................................................12
CONTENT................................................................................................................13
3.2 ASSESS THE SUITABILITY OF ALTERNATIVES TO A TRADITIONAL
BROCHURE FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATORS AND
RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR TOUR PACKAGE............15
PROMOTIONAL BROCHURE.................................................................................15
ONLINE BROCHURES............................................................................................15
3.3 EVALUATE THE SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION
USED TO SELL A HOLIDAY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR AND
RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR A LUXURY TOUR PACKAGE.....17
DIRECT SELL..........................................................................................................17
ONLINE SELL..........................................................................................................17
TASK- 04.........................................................................................................................19
4.1 THE STRATEGIC DECISIONS MADE BY THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR
OPERATOR.................................................................................................................19
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING............................................19
PRICING DECISIONS..............................................................................................20
2

OFFERED PACKAGES...........................................................................................20
4.2 COMPARISON OF THE TACTICAL DECISIONS THAT COULD BE TAKEN BY A
SELECTED TOUR OPERATOR IN DIFFERENT SITUATION...................................21
DISCOUNTS............................................................................................................21
EXTERNAL FACTORS............................................................................................21
COORDINATING......................................................................................................21
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................23
REFERENCES................................................................................................................24
3

INTRODUCTION
The following assignment revolves around the understanding of the Travel and Tourism
Management. Firstly, the tour operators industry within the travel and tourism sector is
understood by analysing the effect of current and recent trends and development of the
tour operator industry. Further on, the different stages involved in creating the holiday is
discussed by assessing the stages and timescales involved in the developing the
holidays, evaluating the suitability of different methods of contracting and then selling
price per person is calculated for a holiday of 40 students from London to Brussels and
Brugge, Belgium. In the next part of the assignment, methods of distribution will be
evaluated along with the planning decisions taken for the brochures for selling the
luxury holidays. Lastly, the strategic and tactical decisions undertaken by different tour
operators in the different situation will be compared and evaluated.
4

TASK- 01
P1.1 EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS
ON THE TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY
The tour and travel industry is one of the
most dynamic sectors, thus the
operators have to continuously evolve
and adapt the latest trend and changes.
The latest trends and changes must be
exploited by the tours and travel
operators to get the advantage of the
available opportunities.
Recent reports show that in the
upcoming years the number tourist
arrival will increase in the regions of
Africa, Asia and the Middle East, while
there will be slow growth in Europe and
America.
Trailfinders, founded in the year 1970 is
one of the experienced companies in
the market is adaptable to changes.
With a total of 32 centres, over 1000
employees and worldwide reputation the
company has proved to be most
dynamic organization. Recent trends
that affected the Trailfinders and in a
bigger context, the entire tour operator
industry is:
INCREASED DISPOSAL INCOME
It has been recently noticed that the
disposable income of the people has
significantly increased, which resulted in
an increase in their living standard and
lifestyle. This directly affects the GDP of
the country. People use this capital for
travel and luxuries which is beneficial for
the tour operator industry.
GLOBALIZATION AND FDI
The diminishing boundaries between the
nations have benefited the tour and
travel sectors. Globalization has
resulted in attracting more tourists.
Private and public bodies of the
countries have made several policies to
gain the most advantage of the
opportunity. Foreign directive
investments have also increased the
opportunity to access the overseas
market. This provided an opportunity to
attract more tourists and provide more
service to them (Sharpley, 2015).
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT
The increase of mobile services
worldwide has given several new
opportunities to the tour operators. It
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has been observed that a majority of
tourists browse destinations before
planning their tours, and about 50
percent of the tourists prefer mobile
booking. Tourists can now get several
discounts and choose from a large
number of options which resulted in cut-
throat competition in the industry
(Milano, 2011).
An increase in internet usage has also
eased up the work for the tour
operators. The customer database can
easily be managed and shared within
the organization. It also gave the chance
to the tourists to rate the service and
shares their review on any operator, this
has influenced the tour operators to
provide best facilities and services to the
customers in order to maintain or boost
their brand names.
INDEPENDENT TRAVELLERS
Due to the affordable tour packages
available online and safe travel
environment, people are choosing to
explore new places on their own. This
has negatively affected the growth of the
tour agencies.
DESTINATION MARKETING
There has been a change from tourism
marketing to the destination marketing
where online media is apart from the
leaflet and advertisement.
Figure 1: Destination Tourism
Source:
http://cdn.touropia.com/gfx/d/world-
famous-canals/bruges.jpg?
v=dfa8bc61c261bb49fb70d76ebfc5c5
e3
Tour operators select and invest in the
destinations and the luxuries offered at
the particular destination are advertised
(Wang, 2011).
FOOD TOURISM
Figure 2: Food Tourism
Source:
http://greece.greekreporter.com/files/
Santorini_attr_18-696x386.jpg
6

According to Patrick Whyte, food
tourism is becoming popular among the
travellers; additionally, food is not just
about dining out but includes cooking
courses, farm tours and food markets
that makeup about 95 percent of this
experience. Tour operators are including
these services in their packages and
making a tie-up with the local food
provider to maintain their profit
(Coppola, 2016).
ADVENTURE TRIPS
Figure 3: Adventure Trips
Source:
http://www.statravel.com/static/us_di
vision_web_live/assets/UK_April_Ca
nada_assets-460x220-tour.jpg
It is considered to be number second in
the trending list of 2017 (Lane, 2016).
People are investing more in
experiences like an African safari or
hiking and Swiss Alps.
The above-mentioned trends are a
glimpse of the overall changes that have
occurred in the travel and tour industries
in the past couple of decades. This
changing environment and technological
advancements have made the travel
easy to manage. It has also resulted in a
tough competition in the industry. In
order to survive and grow, continuous
improvement in techniques and plans
are required. Providing best services
and packages has become essential
more than ever.
Trailfinders has focused on adopting
new changes from the very beginning,
which has resulted in the growth of the
organization.
7

TASK- 02
TITLE
EDUCATIONAL TOUR PROPOSAL FOR ADULT STUDENTS FROM LONDON, UK
INTRODUCTION
The following report provides a described understanding of the stages that are involved
in managing holidays. It includes a well-planned proposal for 40 adult students travelling
from London to Brussels, Brugge and Belgium. This 5-night summer vacation tour will
start from August 2019. The stages and timescales for creating the holiday have been
thoroughly assessed in the given proposal. Additionally, the suitability of different
methods of contracting for different components of the holiday is also evaluated. Lastly,
cost per person for the given tour is also evaluated below.
BODY
2.1 STAGES AND TIMESCALE INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING HOLIDAYS
Planning of a five-night holiday package for 40 adult students from London to Brussels
and Brugge, Belgium in August 2019 requires following some specific steps to
effectively plan the trip. The involved stages and time scale are described below:
DESTINATION MARKET SEARCH
The initial stage involves the market research and inquiry of the destination place i.e.
Brussels and Brugge. Factors like climate, culture, and different places have to be
analyzed before visiting. This is an essential step which has to be carried out effectively
in order to implement the package plan efficiently. The above-mentioned factors have
the direct effect on the planned budget. Thus, Trailfinders authorities will be responsible
for the analysis of the suitability of the location and latest market trend. The budget
planning for the five nights will be dependent on this step, including the transportation
cost, entry fees and other various costs (Ashworth and Goodall, 2013).
8

PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
This stage will involve, laying out a well-structured plan after proper market analysis of
the destination that has to be visited i.e. Belgium. It is the role of the company to make a
well-defined schedule and well-structured planning of activates that will be followed
during the entire tour. This will help in avoiding the inconvenience and utilize the proper
benefits from the destination. In the given tour, sufficient arrangement will be made
regarding the accommodations, transportation and food facilities. Sightseeing will be
properly scheduled for the five-night tour, specific areas will be covered each day to get
the best experience. Travelling time will be also included in the schedule (Joshi and
Goudar, 2017).
CONTRACTING
In order to get the favourable offers and packages for this tour, it is required to purchase
the best deals in advance. It is required to get the best deals from the organizations in
order to get the best facilities for the students such as transportation facilities,
accommodation facilities, and other services. In this tour, we will be getting in touch with
the luxury coach provide in advance in order to gain proper occupancy and comfortable
experience for 40 students. Deals are made at every stage with different organizations
to get the proper benefit of the deals.
TOUR OPERATOR’S BROCHURE
After all the above steps are completed, the last steps include preparing a brochure that
will give an idea of the planning and approach of the tour. Different timescales will be
included in it, and one of the timescales is presented below
9

20 March 2018
A timescale for the tour from London to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium
Tour type: Educational tour
Locations: Brussels and Brugge, Belgium
Commencement Date: 12 August 2019
Tour’s Duration: 5 Nights
Total students: 40
Tourists nature: Students
Sightseeing: Historium Brugge, Museum of natural sciences, Belfort, Grand Palace,
Guildhouses, Basilica of the Holy blood and Musical Instrument Museum.
Any changes in the plans or costs of the tour will be informed to the students
before 15 days of the commencement date.
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2.2 SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING FOR
DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE HOLIDAY AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF
TOUR OPERATOR
Suitability of different methods of contracting and different types of tour operators are
discussed below
AD HOC
This method of contracting is one of the easiest methods and is often used by the
Trailfinders. This involves making reservations prior to the tour in order to effectively
carry out the proposed plan. This method of the contract is used by Trailfinders Ltd. to
book the hotels and transportation services at discounted rates and in advance (Waligo,
et al., 2015)
FIXED CONTRACT
In such contracts, the profit is determined and ensured based on volume usage. In the
off-season, tour operators have to bear the losses of non-used services in the case of
the booked volume. As in this tour, the total number of students are fixed, thus, the
company can use this method in order to save the tour operator from the losses.
TRANSPORT
Transport services are one of the major functions of the tourism industry, without which
tourism is not possible. Therefore, several policies should be made in advance in order
to get cheap and comfortable means of transportation, which will result in the
satisfactory journey of the tourists. The services bought can be based on roundtrip or
single way trip. Trailfinders has booked a 40 seated luxury coach in advance for the tour
at the affordable price.
HOTELS
The major concern for tourists exploring the places is to spend quality time with their
family and friends. Proper accommodation is essential for the tourism sector and hotels
to play an important role for the same. They provide relaxed housing and provide a
variety of packages dependent on the rating of the hotels and prices ranging from low to
high. They provide services and luxuries to the tourists. Trailfinders can get and accept
proposals from different hotels after analyzing their services and price.
11

ATTRACTIONS
The areas of attraction support the local economy and generate revenues for the
government and foreign exchange. People visiting sights support the local market and
render employment opportunities. Tour operators generally use destination-marketing
strategy, in which they provide sightseeing services to the tourists; this is an essential
part of holiday planning.
Based on the services provided, the tour operators can be categorized as follows
INBOUND TOUR OPERATOR
Tour operators that provide the services within the country itself come under this
category. They provide services like accommodation, transportation, food and several
other facilities to the inbound tourists (Mwesiumo, et al., 2017).
OUTBOUND TOUR OPERATOR
These operators provide multinational tourism service s i.e. visiting another country or
place. They establish their business by making the contract with the inbound tour
operators, this helps them to manage the entire tour effectively and serve the tourists
(Horner and Swarbrooke, 2016).
DOMESTIC TOUR OPERATORS
They are also known as resident operators and provide their services in the domestic
region. They have comparatively better knowledge about the domestic seasons, culture
and food. Their influence increases the demand for local operators and approaches
tourists to repeat their trip (Cetin and Yarcan, 2017).
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2.3 SELLING PRICE OF THE TOUR
The total cost description of the entire tour of 40 students and 5 nights plan is given
below
COST TYPE CALCULATION TOTAL
EXPENSE
EXPENSE PER
PERSON
Accommodation including
breakfast
(€ 90 * 40
students) € 3600 € 90
Transportation service
including ferry taxes (£7,400 * €1.15) € 8510 € 212.75
Local tour guide - € 920 € 23
TOTAL € 13,030 € 325.75
Profit Margin € 3909
SELLING PRICE € 13,030 + €
3909 € 16939 € 423.47
Table 1: Budget Plan
The accommodation in Bruges will be provided by Grand Casselbergh at the rate of €90
per person for a twin room. Additionally, a 45 seater luxury coach will be used as
transportation which will cost €8510. A local guide will be hired for sightseeing during the
tour which will cost €920. Thus the total selling price of the tour package will be € 16939
and net price per person will be € 423.47.
CONCLUSION
Different stages are considered in the above-described report, which is involved in
scheduling a tour of 40 adult students from London to Brussels and Brugge including
with the timescale. Several methods like methods of contracting and different types of
tour operators have also evaluated above. The selling price of the entire tour is also
calculated on the basis of the provided data.
13

TASK- 03
INTRODUCTION
In the following report, assessment of the planning decisions that are done while
designing the brochure will be done. In addition, an alternative will be assessed along
with the traditional brochures that are used by other tour operators. After the evaluation,
best alternative suitable for the company will be selected. Lastly, suitability will be
assessed by different distribution methods, which are used in holiday selling and based
on the company’s need, most appropriate methods will be chosen.
BODY
3.1 EVALUATE THE PLANNING DECISIONS TAKEN FOR THE DESIGN OF A
SELECTED BROCHURE
After the planning of the holiday package from London to Brussels and Brugge,
Belgium, the company now need to design an effective brochure in order to carry their
promotional activities. In the tour and tourism industry, a well-designed brochure is very
essential, as they display all the information about the packages and deals offered by
the company (Wehrli, et al., 2017). The planning decisions that have to be evaluated
before designing the brochure are
FORMAT
To attract the readers and make them into potential customers, the format of the
brochure must be attractive enough to show all the materials in a organized way. The
brochure will contain information about the package, transportation, accommodation,
contact detail and other relative information. The information on the brochure should be
easy to read and understand. The company should use destination images to display in
the background of the z-fold brochure (Harmonic New Media, 2018).
PRINTING QUALITY AND DESIGN
The printing quality of the brochure also attracts the customer as it adds to the image of
the tour operator and the brand value. Different texture of papers and shapes can be
used to make the brochure more attractive. The well-designed layout makes the
14

brochure attractive and easy to read. Die cut printing technique can be used b the
company to attract more customers. Additionally, the colour combination of the brochure
must be carefully chosen in order to create a long-lasting impact on the customer's
mind. The colour must be decent to look at, and should not irritate the readers
(Moldovan and Moldovan, 2015).
CONTENT
As the brochure has limited size and word limit, the content that has to be shown must
be carefully chosen and should be well aligned. Trailfinders usually provide the following
data in their brochure, company’s name, destination’s detail, travel plan and time,
accommodation type, the tentative price of the tour, contact information and
documentation details.
Figure 4: Thomas Cook Travel Brochure
Source: https://www.ittn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Thomas-Cook-Far-and-
Away-Brochure-221x300.jpg
15

Figure 5: Kuoni Travel Brochure
Source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DPi-QLyX4AAX_6b.jpg
16

3.2 ASSESS THE SUITABILITY OF ALTERNATIVES TO A TRADITIONAL
BROCHURE FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATORS AND
RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR TOUR PACKAGE
In order to, effectively promote the holiday packages, different mediums of promotions
must be used by the tour operators. Trailfinders are planning to consider innovative
promotional techniques apart from the traditional brochures. Using new innovative
techniques for promotions increases the chance of attracting the customers. The
alternative techniques to the traditional brochures considered by the Trailfinders are as
following
PROMOTIONAL BROCHURE
Such brochures focus on the holiday details, including the discounts and offers provided
by the tour operators. These are suitable for ground-level operators and outbound
operators. The audience is targeted and the sales are enhanced through such
brochures; additionally, it provides awareness to the customers (Brito and Pratas,
2015). But as per our requirement, this technique is not suitable for the Trailfinders.
ONLINE BROCHURES
With the increase in the number of internet users, it will be wise to utilize this platform to
promote the tour packages to a larger audience. It can further include either an audio-
visual and simulated brochure or mail brochures. Audio-visual brochures include an
audio-video based holiday package details. An attractive video of the destination can be
shot and sent with the information to the customers; this will provide a virtual experience
to the user. Mail brochures, on the other hand, can be directly sent to the targeted
customers via mail. The emails can be sent to the customers having the information
about the tour packages . It is one of the effective techniques that can be used by the
Trailfinders to promote their packages. Direct emails can be sent to the selected 42
students, containing the basic information about the tour and some additional
information like discount details and adventure destinations. These e-brochures are
effective and cheap as it saves a lot of resources compared to the traditional methods
(Lester and Scarles, 2016).
17

Additionally, this technique is flexible, as the user can access the brochure from multiple
places.
18

3.3 EVALUATE THE SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF
DISTRIBUTION USED TO SELL A HOLIDAY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF
TOUR OPERATOR AND RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR A
LUXURY TOUR PACKAGE
A tour operator has a variety of alternatives to promote and sell their holiday packages.
Two of the most effective ways are
DIRECT SELL
This is a traditional type of promotional technique used by the tour operators. It involves
face-to-face interactions with the people and influences them to make potential
customers. This is a time-consuming process and found to be less attractive as it
requires customers to be attentive. In addition, it requires more investment and
resources like printing brochures and worker to explain the tour details. Additionally, this
process covers a small area of customers and is time-consuming (Dieck, 2018).
ONLINE SELL
Another method that has vastly gained the attraction of the tour operator is online
promotion and selling. Increase in the internet users has increased the customer base.
Different platforms can be used for distributing the e-brochures like via emails, and
different social media platforms like facebook, linkedin, etc. It is a cost-efficient
technique, as it requires minimum resources. As per the requirement of the Trailfinders,
It is an effective way to sell their tour packages. This technique will help them to cover
larger customer base effectively (Picazo and Moreno-Gil, 2018).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that a brochure is an essential tool for
promoting the tour packages offered by the tour operators, thus has to effectively
evaluate before designing the brochure to attract the large customer base. Later, the
suitability of the available alternatives of the traditional brochure is assessed. Online
brochures are found to be effective for Trailfinders to promote. Lastly, suitability of
different methods of distribution is also assessed.
19

20

TASK- 04
INTRODUCTION
The following report will contain a brief summary of the strategic and tactical decision
making for different tour operators, including the comparison of the same. Lastly, the
strategic decision made by the specialist market tour operator and mass-market tour
operator will also be evaluated and among them, one specific tour operator will be
selected.
BODY
4.1 THE STRATEGIC DECISIONS MADE BY THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF
TOUR OPERATOR
Different tour operators such as specialist tour operator like Trailfinders and mass-
market tour operators like Thomas cook make strategic decisions. Several factors as if
legislative requirement and trade union's framework has to be taken into account by the
top management before taking strategic decisions. After analyzing the trend and market
conditions, the strategic decisions by Thomas Cook and Trailfinders are based on
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING
Several factors like economic conditions demand factors and service quality are taken
into consideration before developing the marketing of Thomas Cook and Trailfinders.
Before marketing, their services, the tour operators, divide the people in the market into
different segments based on some specific feature this process is known as
segmentation. From this segmented range, specific segments are chosen on the basis
of the type of tour operator, this is known as targeting (Camilleri, 2018). After targeting
the segment, different marketing strategies are applied to the targeted segment and are
informed about the services of the company. For instance, Thomas Cook is an inbound
tour operator, thus will target mass audience to start sales. Firstly, the company gathers
the destination information, then segmentation process takes place and based on the
current trends positioning is done. The offers and packages are delivered to the
targeted customers. Trailfinders also use innovative marketing approach to target the
potential customers.
21

PRICING DECISIONS
It is an important aspect of the company, as it decides the profit margin and stability of
the company. After the segmentation, positioning and targeting, the next strategic
decision by both the companies in the pricing decisions. Thomas cooks focus on setting
an ethical pricing, to attract the majority of customers. Whereas, in Trailfinders the price
range are based on the services offered and the income level of the target customers
are taken into consideration (Long and Shi, 2017).
OFFERED PACKAGES
The tour operators based on the services provided can offer different packages. Based
on the demand of the customers, packages can be made; these packages can be
divided into the following category luxury, economical and moderate, based on the
services offered and its prices (Pai, and Ananthakumar, 2017).
22

4.2 COMPARISON OF THE TACTICAL DECISIONS THAT COULD BE TAKEN
BY A SELECTED TOUR OPERATOR IN DIFFERENT SITUATION
With the change in the market conditions, the strategic decisions of the company have
to be changed in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the business; this is
considered as tactical decisions. Such decisions are mostly short termed and are used
to get the maximum profit from the current situations. It includes flash sales, seasonal
discounts through which the company can earn the profit even after providing the
discounts. The tactical decisions undertaken by the Thomas Cook and Trailfinders Ltd
are given below:
DISCOUNTS
Discounts on the packages will be made after considering economic conditions and
exchange rates. Profit will be ensured before offering the discount to the customers.
This tactical decision can be used when the economic condition and foreign exchange
rates are in favour of the tour operator.
EXTERNAL FACTORS
Technological, political and environmental changes are some of the external factors that
have an influence on the decisions made the by the Trailfinders and Thomas Cook. The
company to gain the competitive advantage of the situations can apply several tactics.
For instance, change in environment at any destination can be used as an advantage
by providing discount packages of the tour.
COORDINATING
Selection of correct supplier is another essential decision that has to be made by the
company. The relations between the two are dependent on the service quality, types of
services offered by the supplier and transactional relations. The pricing factor of the
supplier decides the company's profit margin. The suppliers can offer additional services
to the tourists, like free Wi-Fi service, complimentary breakfast, which can be used by
the tour operators like Trailfinders to attract the customers.
23

CONCLUSION
From the above-described management report, it can be concluded that the tour
operator company, for long-term implementation, takes strategic decisions, this provides
slow but steady profit to the company. On the other hand, tactical decisions are short-
term decisions that are dependent on current market conditions. Different strategies and
tactical decisions that are taken the Trailfinders Ltd and Thomas Cook are discussed in
the above report.
24

CONCLUSION
In the above-described report, the market valuation is done considering the recent and
current trends in the tourism sector. Several stages of designing a holiday plan from
London to Brussels and Brugge and Belgium is described. The company used ad hoc
and fixed contracting method where they booked the services in advance at affordable
prices and calculated the selling price per person. Later on, it was discovered that e-
brochures are an effective way to reach to the desired customer base and promote the
planned packages. Also, the importance of internet source for distributing the
information to the target customers is described briefly. Lastly, there is a comparison
between the strategic and tactical decisions that are used by the tour operators, for
gaining the profit.
25

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