Effects of Current and Recent Trends in Tour Operations Management

This article discusses the effects of current and recent trends in tour operations management in the tourism industry. It explores the different types of tour operators and the impact of technological advancements and Brexit on the industry.

TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Effects of current and recent trends and developments:
Management of tour operations is the most essential operation of tourism industry. Tour operators
combine the aspects of tourist destinations and travelling together in a holiday package. Generally,
a tour package is made up of components like travelling, camping, sight-seeing, accommodation
and other essential activities. These holiday and tour packages are developed by tour operators
keeping in consideration the choice of customers in relation to travel destinations and other related
facilities. Tourism industry mainly conducts tour in two ways, namely, domestic and international.
While Domestic tourism is all about the tours that take place within the domestic territory,
international tourism consists of economic activities that result in tourists moving out of the
national boundaries to other location for leisure, business or any other purpose. Now, the tour
operators that arrange these types of tour packages for customers are of various types, explained
below: -
Types of tour operators
According to the customers and processes dealt in by the tour operating organisations,
they are broadly classified into 4 types: -
• Inbound tour operators: These are the organisations that carry out tours for customers not
belonging to the national boundaries of UK, i.e., foreign customers. The services offered by these
tour operators starts from the time foreign tourists enter the country and continue till their exit from
the same. It is often seen that inbound operators get along with foreign tour operators to manage
the services being provided to foreign tourists. These services include tourist guides, hotels, sigh-
seeing, entertainment etc. These entities are majorly responsible for fostering the growth of UK
economy by making the domestic products and services reach international tourists.
• UK Outbound tour operators: Such tour operating entities carries out tours for the
residents of UK. These organisations promote moving of people from UK to international travel
locations. At times, these tour operators merge their services with inbound operators belonging to
various geographical locations so as to tap the advantage of their wide knowledge base about
certain important elements of any holiday package. These are the facilities in relation with
transport, accommodation, restaurants etc. Often, they act as intermediary between international
tour operators and domestic customers willing to go on tours. These enterprises deal with all those
economic activities that result in movement of people from UK to foreign countries.
• Domestic tour operators: These are the operators that work within the boundaries of UK.
This reflects that such tour operating businesses only provide services in relation to movement of
domestic individuals or groups that are willing to travel from one place to another belonging to the
boundaries within UK. While a major proportion of businesses belonging to tourism industry
operate for motive of international tour for ensuring profitability to firm.
Specialist tour operators: These are the enterprises that construct tour or holiday packages
according to the choices and preferences of customers regarding travel locations, mode of
transport, hotel, food, sight-seeing. These tour operators provide the option of customisation to
tourists by which these individuals can bring changes in the existing holiday packages to
accommodate the choice of customers. Thus, they are also referred to as tailor-made operators.
They emphasize upon identifying the untouched locations and making the tourists reach there by
strategically developing holiday plans.
Recent trends and developments in Tourism Industry
With passage of time, there have been some noticeable changes in tourism industry. Some of
these changes have also been evident in LCB Tours which are explained below:-
• Integration (Horizontal and Vertical): Integration is one of the most dominant
transformations of tourism industry over some years. It is of two types, namely, vertical and
horizontal. While vertical integration refers to the alliance of associated business entities and
service providers operating at different levels of economy, horizontal integration is the practice
of merger of two competitive business firms with an aim to overcome rivalry. LCB Tours can
take the advantage of integration to ensure its sustainability and maintain its stake in market.
• Technological Advancements: New trends in technology and innovation ahs largely
affected the tourism industry. Latest features like booking over online portals, mobile
applications and calls have encouraged the growth of tourism industry. LCB tours also offer the
option of online boooking alonbg with the option of cancellation of tour instantly at one click via
internet. Also, brochures provide a wide range information to customers.
• Impact of Brexit: After the memorandum stating British exit from European Union
passed, there have been significant effects on tourism industry. This sector is mainly labour
intensive and thus consists of business entities where a large proportion of hired workers are EU
nationals. It is a challenge to recruit people from UK in tour operating agencies as tourism is
considered to be a seasonal business and individuals working under this sector often get less
return.