Tourism Business Plan: Strategic Management & Startup Location

This assignment requires students to create a comprehensive business plan for a new tourism venture. Drawing from the provided resources, including 'Strategic management for travel and tourism', 'Rural tourism', and 'What Should Determine Where Start-Ups Choose to Locate?', students will need to strategically manage their tourism startup, focusing on rural tourism opportunities and determining the optimal location for their business. The plan should adhere to essential business plan components as outlined in Forbes and Entrepreneur articles.

Skills for Travel and Tourism
Start-ups

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Skills of successful entrepreneurship....................................................................................3
1.2 Merits and Demerits benchmarked to successful entrepreneur ............................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Development of an entrepreneurial enterprise......................................................................6
2.2 Factors that have led to the success of an enterprise.............................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Sources of finance and support.............................................................................................8
3.2 Potential for success of a concept for an enterprise in a travel and tourism context............9
3.3 Effective business start-up plan. ........................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
....................................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is a journey for pleasure and also the theory of touring. These are the enterprises
of appealing, entertaining, obliging tourists and entity of organising tours. It may me
international or within the country of the traveller. It can be domestic or worldwide and has both
internal and external impacts on the balance of payments of a nation (Egger, Gula and Walcher,
2016). Now a days, this sector is a major component of income and affects the wealth of both the
source and presenter territory. Present report is based on the Thomas Cook which is the well
known name in this industry. It owns various tour operators ans airlines as well based in UK.
TASK 1
1.1 Skills of successful entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is determined as the procedure of organising, designing and carrying
out a new venture that starts as a micro business that offers goods for rent or sale. The people
who establish such enterprises are called as entrepreneurs. He/she is a person who exercise
imaginations by managing an organisation to take advantage of an option and act as the decision
maker. He is the only one who determines what, hoe and how much commodities will be
manufactured (Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012). It has been also described as the
willingness to discover, mange and control a company along with the related risks with regard to
make revenues. For achieving success in a business a person required a number of skills that are
as follows-
Self-motivation- Most important feature that is needed by an entrepreneur is the ability
to wake up early to start functioning. They require it to perform tasks according to the strategy
made for the achievement of the objectives. It also helps them in motivating their employees to
make them work towards the attainment of the overall goals of the organisation that results in
gaining success.
Self-confidence- All the businessmen needed to have faith about their gods and
company. It is very important for them to perceive that products can help them in deciding the
price of the commodity that is equitable for both customers and themselves (Dickinson and
Lumsdon, 2010).

Ethics and morales- For every successful businessman these are considered as
foundation. First it needs to be decide what enterprise and entrepreneur will working for and
what are the limits that are not required to be crossed. Most of the businesspersons restrict their
ingress for the cause that legal tender overtakes their honesty. Being too far from the ethos will
lead in bad impression of tycoon and business both. No one wants to in enterprise with an
individual who is distant from spirit.
Time management- It is a key to achieve success in business but it alone is not enough.
New businesspersons needs to apprehend the value of time (Medlik, 2012). Utilisation of hours
in learning innovative skills with the enterprise and identifying tools for advertising and
approaching customers.
Sales- Every business needs to work with it because it each organisation adopt only one
tool of handling hires. Being an entrepreneur, it is their duty to develop what type of
merchandise should be desire and are good for commodities.
Finance- This knowledge is necessary for every enterprise. Apprehension of balancing
track of amount of statements is all most underdeveloped business desire for commence. Most
important aspect of it is micro entity is scheduling time significantly for administration of
wealth. Implementing it will support to involve a grade in considering ability is voluntary.
1.2 Merits and Demerits benchmarked to successful entrepreneur
Travel and tourism entrepreneur are depended upon the various significant influencing
elements. These factors are called as characteristics that are required to be present in a successful
businessman. It plays an important role in the technological, social and economic development.
Entrepreneurship is a process of establishing a new company or commercial entity, ordinarily in
an enterprise or sector of economy with a huge capacity of expansion (Lee-Ross and Pryce,
2010). Reflecting and evaluating one's merits and demerits are essential areas desired to discover
and focus to identify the available options and future disputes are as follows-
Disciplined- Entrepreneurs focus on construct their business work and get relieve from
every obstacle and interruption arise in their objectives. They always plan strategies that are
ambient and tool to obtain their goals (Sigala, 2017). Businessmen who are successful are very
regiment towards the achievement of their outcomes and take a step regularly for its attainment.

Confidence- Businessman does not inspect doubts regarding whether they achieve
success or not. Their level of trust will help them in obtaining their objectives. They always show
faith in whatever attained by them.
Open minded- Entrepreneur recognise that each movement and circumstance is an
option for business. Discovery of opinions is persistent regarding the efficacy and workflows,
features of individuals and fresh enterprise potential. Having ability of supervising everything
around and emphasis for achievement of the objectives.
Competitive- Most of the organisations are developed for the cause that a businessman
can understand that no one can do better job then them (Mshenga and et. al., 2010). In business
they desire to get success in the goods and services they produce. He will outline attention to
personal reputation of their corporation towards achievements.
Creativity- Individual feature of innovation is being able to construct relationships
among evidently unlinked circumstances and events. Businessman mostly manufacture
resolutions that are amalgamation of other things. For new enterprises they reprocess the
commodities to market.
Determination- Failure cannot distress entrepreneurs because they consider it as an
opportunity for business. Their objective for every enterprise is to achieve success and make
them to perform until success (Cheng, 2016). They do not believes that something cannot be
done.
Strong people skills- Entrepreneurs have powerful traits to transmit for the selling of
goods and to motivate employees. Most of the successful businessmen know strategies of
inducing workers to achieve advancement in business. They are strangely good for the interest in
any situation and directing others towards the attainment of the goals.
Strong work morality- entrepreneurs are the first to come office and last to vacate. To
obtain their objective they also work on holidays to achieve particular objectives. Whether they
are at workplace or at another place job is always in their brain (Dredge and Gyimóthy, 2015).
Passion- It is very important for becoming successful businessman because they love
their workplace. They put additional efforts in their enterprise to progress more and achieve the
overall objectives of the organisation.

As a travel and tourism entrepreneur, I need to improve my different skills and
knowledge; it helps me to become a successful in future. For example- I have to improve my
communication skills; it helps me to interact with others and share my ideas and thoughts with
them. Apart from this, I also have to improve my decision making capabilities so as to grab
opportunities and increasing sales and profitability.
TASK 2
2.1 Development of an entrepreneurial enterprise.
Every organisation who exists in the market aims at expanding their business. If an
enterprise wants to grow its market share they need to analyse all the factors which are affecting
them directly or indirectly. Here entrepreneurial development means the growth of every aspect
of it. The development program of it deals with strengthening the management skills through
capacity building and training resources that foster adoption of good workplace practices in in
Thomas cook. In the area of management training Thomas Cook has various training tool that
cover the whole spectrum of target groups (Swift and Nitins, 2011). In the development activities
its objectives is to look at the long term impacts and make sure that it effects entrepreneurial
culture. They can adopt different ways to enhance their performance. For this the HR department
will play a vital role because they are the people who are responsible for managing human
resources. At Thomas Cook which is a travel company believes in giving world class services to
their clients. The aim of their business plan is to attract for customers towards them and for that
they have to recruit more employees and increase the number of offices (Varma, 2010). The
destinations at which they are serving or convincing people to there should be checked on
regular basis. They should ensure that the destination is safe for their clients and they are getting
quality services. In they have to set new benchmark they need to define their policies and
introduce new services in different sector. Holiday packages for each and every type of people
should be made available. Tourists will be going to a country which has different culture,
language, food and etc. So it will not be easy for them to cope up and adaption will become
difficult. For resolving this issue they should make their clients believe that they will be totally
safe if they prefer their service. In the expansion model they can collaborate with other travel
agencies and should partner them. They should try to collaborate with more and more hotels and

agencies al around the world. This will bring more clients and they will help them in increasing
profit revenue. There should be innovation in the business and try to satisfy the customer through
providing them discounts and off on Christmas and new year holidays.
2.2 Factors that have led to the success of an enterprise
Thomas Cook has established himself as one of the leading company in travel and
tourism sector. It is helping the people to discover new places with proper planning. They have
gained experience and has beat the top leading competitor in this sector. There are some of the
factors which has helped them in growing their businesses (Cloutier, 2012). Following are some
of them:
 Leadership: For a successful business they need a person who can leads them and drive
their factors into a right path. Tour managers can act as a leader who will make sure that
there is coordination between all the members of the Thomas Cook. They need to work
with all the stakeholders of this sector and understand the business. Developing a
environment where travelling becomes a hobby for the people will boost their business.
They will also help Thomas Cook to coordinate with the investors and convincing them
to invest in their company (Dahles and Susilowati, 2015).
 Business Plan: It is the document which are used by Thomas Cook to operate their
business because through it they will be clear about their goals and objectives. It will
outline all the activities which will be done in the operation. It involves personal needs,
all kinds of budgets, sales and marketing procedure. What inputs will be used to get the
desired results are mentioned in it. They believes in continuous modification of their
business plan according to the changing situations or trends.
 Timing: Before coming out with a business plan or new service they should look at
timing that whether it is the suitable time for launching it or not. By analysing markets
they they will pay attention to the consumer trends and needs (Mitra, 2013). The product
should be customer oriented because through it they will able to attract more period.
Delivering services to the clients brings more credibility and trust to the company and a
positive image goes in the mind of their people.
 Location: Thomas Cook offers travel to all the world renowned places and they are
known for their beauty, monuments, beaches and etc. Every experience can be gained by

the traveller if they choose Thomas Cook and destination. They should have presence in
almost every city of the world and believes in delivering a services which could be
remembered by anyone who has been part of the company (Alsos and Clausen, 2014).
 Cost Control: Thomas cook as always been refereed brand by the traveller because they
are giving wonderful packages at lower states than any other travel company. They
should also keep a record of the flow of the money and should try to reduce the costs.
There are various business strategies are followed by business organisation: -
Recruit right personnel at the right time - A person can be having a great degree of
knowledge as well as strong network who is eager to close deals with clients. Therefore, it is
essential for Thomas Cook to emphasis on hiring well qualified and skilled people so as tgo gain
higher performance outcomes.
Enhancing public image - This strategy addresses the company’s image and how it is
perceived by its different stakeholders. Thomas Cook is great a brand, and like any brand, it
cannot control the way clients perceive it. In order to improve the brand image of the company,
managers can use different websites and social media channels so as to reach large group of
customers.
Market Research - Performing market research is highly important in order to understand
your company’s current position and determine where it is headed. Research helps in
determining the geographical area which capture by the company and the market segment is
targeting. There are many useful ready-made reports, through which managers can find online to
get information about market trends and value. Then, managers can calculate their market share
out of the total market value.
TASK 3
3.1 Sources of finance and support.
A person can get finance for tourism sector from the following:

Private funding: Under this tourism industry get funds from private sources. Private funding for
travel and tourism sectors includes the following:1. Seed capital: Seed capital is known as that capital which a business owner need to start
business operations. This can be come from family, friends, groups and other external
individuals. This fund help owner in starting basic activities of business.2. Venture capital: This capital is provided to business owner by large investors who give
their financial support to enterprises for getting long term gains (Farrell and Russell,
2011). It is known as very risky investment for investors because it involve an high risk
and returns are also unexpected under this type of investment.3. Private equity: this fund is acquired by business owner from private individuals or
institutions. Main purpose of getting this type of fund is to invest in business activities
and generate or gain high gains. Reason behind this is to get ownership in firms. This
source can be used to start tourism tourism activities.4. Loans: It is one of the most popular and used form of borrowing. In this business owner
get financial help from banks and banks charge a rate of interest from the burrowers.5. Leasing: It is another form of financing in tourism sector (Schiopu, Vasile and Tuclea,
2015). Under this a company finance a part or more then one part of the project. Under
this firm signs a legal agreement with company (leasing company) which supplies
resource to the tourism firm at an negotiable price.6. Lease back: Under this tourism firm sign a agreement with company who supply the
product, to return back the equipment after using it.
7. Angel investors: This type of investors are also known as informal investors. They
provide financial help to business owner in exchange of some debt or equity shares.
These investors carry large number of financial resources with them to provide financial
help to business owners.
All these are the main sources of getting financial support or help in tourism sector.
Thomas cook can use the same sources to get support to carry ion various business activities.
3.2 Potential for success of a concept for an enterprise in a travel and tourism context.
Different organisation have various roles it has to play and an firm who is part of travel &
tourism sector adopts various concepts to achieve their goals. Concept is basically an idea which

is adopted by various types of firms (Chelaru and et. al., 2014). How successful that idea will be
depends upon the few factors. The basic aim of all those concepts is to satisfy the customer and
are goal oriented. It consists of the product and services offered by the Thomas Cook and what
market it will serve. Through adopting what kinds of things will help Thomas Cook in gaining
competitive advantage. It describes the ideas on which they will run their company. Thomas is a
travel company who follows the concept of mediator and helps people in reservation of the
hotels and planning the tours. How they can increase the profits and what all things are adopted
by them (Ervina and Agoes, 2015). Business concepts can only be successful if they feel things
are delivered in time. If they adopts and take care of the laws and legislation made by the
government of every nation where they deliver their services (Mahroum and Scott, 2014). It can
be only successful if the management give its full effort to complete the tasks in time. All the
workers should be aware about the policies and organisational culture. Records of the customer
should be kept secret and their personal information should not be used for advertising purpose.
Before delivering services a formal contract should be signed which highlights the terms and
conditions. It can be successful if they adopts team work and comes with a package which will
be best one and includes all the things.
These are the major products and services of Thomas Cook: -
 52% shares in German mail-order and departmental store company
 48% ownership in My Travel Group
 travel agencies
 Sponsorship at Manchester city football club
 booking website Hotels4U.com
 Thomas Cook Group acquire German tourism company Öger Tours
3.3 Effective business start-up plan
A business plan is a outline map which briefs about the the activities which will be
carried out to achieve business goals and objectives. A Start-up plan is the plan for the new
business which is going to be started. It gives description about the resources which will be used
and what all things need to be achieved (Mattimoe, 2013). Following are the start-up plan for the
new venture company started by Thomas Cook called as “Vivda”.

Research- It is very essential to analyse the product , the demand and market size and
objectives which are to be expertises.
Identify the purpose of business plan- It should be noted the propose of the business
plan and work on the direction in the specific direction also they must have the written
documents which describes the nature of business, the sales, promotion, marketing strategy and
financial background having projected profit and loss statement .
Creating company's profile- The company profile must include history of the
organisation,their product and services,target market,audience and resources and how the
problem are resolved .the company profile in current scenario must have a website which are
sources of information and used to attract possible customers and talents.
Documentations - Before investing the investors make sure that the company have the
essentials to make money for that they will see all the aspects of the business especially the legal
factor .
Proposed Methodology: Through research and understanding the global perspective in
this sector. A effort has been made to take the business of Thomas Cook to a new level. This will
help them in attracting more people and will give them more profits. No other travel company
has came with this idea before, so it will help them in gaining competitive advantage. The travel
will be in groups.
Time and Cost: It will not require much cost for the company because most of the
countries encourages such tours and some of them also provide free tours also (Kachniewska,
2013). The company is ready to be launched and application are invited for the students who
want to travel various places for education purpose. It will be normal 6 to 10 days visits.
Strategic marketing plan- Features to be kept in mind while making strategies.
 raise prices without cutting into sales figure
 enhance manufacturing and product delivery
 introduction to the new market
 enter new territory with effectiveness
 source and inspiration of business plan
Make it adaptable based on your audience –The start-up should cover a wide range of
people from investors , bankers, venture capitalist to employees .

Value based start up - The start up must have an ethical objective it should not be a profit
gaining organisation but some ethical values must be shown and respected in both internal and
external environment.
CONCLUSION
From the above data it can be concluded travel and tourism sector play and important role
in growth of economy of every country. For executing various activities under this sector a
successful entrepreneurship required large number of skills. Factors that help in evaluating the
success of enterprise is discussed in report. Various sources of funds through which a tourism
company get financial support is included in the report. Effective and detailed business plan is
also included inn this. It can be concluded that Thomas cook can achieve efficiency in its
business operations by making an effective business plan and firm can use various private
sources to run its business activities. By giving consideration on important factors of success
firm can achieve success or attain competitive advantage in market place. This will help firm in
delivering quality services to its customers.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alsos, G.A and Clausen, T.H., 2014. The Start-up processes of Tourism Firms-the Use of
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Cloutier, R., 2012. TheBusiness of AdventureTourism The Business of Adventure
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Dahles, H and Susilowati, T.P., 2015. Business resilience in times of growth and crisis. Annals of
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Dickinson, J.E and Lumsdon, L., 2010. Slow travel and tourism. Earthscan.
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