Tourism and Tour Operations Management

The assignment focuses on the operational management of tour operators, covering topics like supply chain coordination, ecotourism-related products, and field vehicle fleet management in humanitarian operations. It also discusses strategic management in tourism, trickle irrigation for crop production, water distribution in disaster relief, and public transport planning and management.

Tour Operation
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Covered in Poster.............................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................1
2.1 The stages and timescale involved in developing holiday plans......................................1
2.2 Suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of the holiday 3
2.3 Calculating cost of holiday...............................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Planning decisions taken for the design of brochure........................................................5
3.2 Suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for tour operators.............................6
3.3 The suitability of different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday......................8
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................9
4.1 Evaluate the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator.......................9
4.2 Tactical decisions that could be taken by a selected tour operator in different situations10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
.......................................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism sector is a growing sector which is helpful in developing the economy
of nation. This industry has registered itself as the highest growth rate business because of
introducing new technology in transportation and other services. Tour operation management is
very important aspect in travelling as it aids the tour operator in providing better quality of
services to its users and also helps in satisfying their needs or wants. It combines all necessary
components so that it can make a holiday package. This business includes five industry which
are tourism lodging, transportation, food and beverage, retail and other sectors. This report will
aid the coordinators who are working in travel and tourism enterprise in investigating various
factors which directly affect the capability of company. This present study will explain about the
stages and timescales which are involved in developing holidays, various methods of contacting
for different components of the holiday and types of tour operator. It will also discuss about the
modern and traditional advertisement tools by which company can advertise their goods or
services. Company, Thomson Holidays provides various types of travel and tourism facilities to
the people and also helps in satisfying their needs or wants. The strategic decision making and
different tactical decisions which are taken by the travel operators in company are analysed.
TASK 1
1.1 Covered in Poster
TASK 2
2.1 The stages and timescale involved in developing holiday plans
For planning a summer holiday tour for students, tour operator has to follow certain
stages which are given as below-
 Initial research- For preparing a tour plan, to find out relevant information is very
important in which structure of market and competitor’s policies are analysed. It requires
lots of research which analyses the types of goods that will get positive response and also
helpful in deciding the prices of that offer. In this, coordinator collects a large amount of
data according to the requirement of packages. These information will be relevant to
service provider, tourist destinations, guides, legal authorities, hotels and transportation
facilities.
1

 Packaging cost analysis- After collecting all relevant information, operator should
analyse the cost of packages and should keep that price which can be afforded by the
target market. Tour coordinator should also analyse the needs or wants of consumers for
setting the cost of packages.
 Arrangement and negotiating with service provider- Main motive of travel and
tourism industry is to make that offer which will help in making good experience of
visitors. For providing better quality of services to its customers, Thomson Group needs
to identify service providers in Amsterdam, Netherlands that will aid in providing
facilities to the travellers.
 Fulfilling legal requirements- Every nation has different rules and regulations which
should be followed by the organisation as if it will not fulfil the legal requirement then it
will create disturbance in running the business.
 Promotional strategies- This tactic is very important for every organisation as it helps in
increasing the sales and profit of company. It is the last step of developing a holiday plan
which will help in creating awareness about the package and will catch the attention of
people towards its offers. Organisation can advertise their products through various ways
such as social media, online advertisement, television, etc.
For understanding the timescale of each and every step, Gantt chart will help in the
following way-
Activities / Days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Initial research
Packaging cost analysis
Arrangement and negotiating with
service provider
Fulfilling legal requirements
Promotional strategies
Hence from the above study, it is concluded that for developing a holiday plan, tour
operator needs to sufficient time [maximum one year] so that they can make effective and
attractive package.
2

2.2 Suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of the holiday
Price of tour package is based on the accommodation facilities because if hotel will be
good then travellers can pay higher amount and vice versa (Filby, Stockin and Scarpaci, 2015).
While deciding any guest house, coordinator should consider the following factors which are
given below-
 Price- Cost of hotel is very important element because it influences the price of tour if
accommodation will be costly then value of package will also be higher.
 Quality and safety- If consumers are paying higher value then it is the responsibility of
operator to provide better quality of services to them so that their needs can be satisfied.
Additionally, they should also provide proper safety and security to the visitors.
 Right accommodation for right traveller- Every individual have different needs or
want regarding their stay so it is advisable to tour operator that he should book hotel
according to the target market. For example- In given scenario, a holiday package is
planned for student then in this situation, coordinator should book that accommodation
which will have sports grounds, garden etc.
Above mentioned factors influence the planning of holiday. There are various types of
contract which should be done according to the nature and requirement of people which are
given below-
 Fixed contract- In this kind of agreement, organisations have main motive to earn or
generate more revenue in the peak time of travelling when more visitors come for
spending their leisure time. This contact is done on the basis of volume capacity which
has objective to utilize maximum capacity (Gass and Harris, 2012). But it has also
negative impact which is that company has to face financial losses because of having less
number of consumers.
 Sale only contract- It is used in that period of time when few people go for tour or off
season. In this, organisation adopts niche marketing in which it serves to premium
customers or allied people. This contract is very expensive agreement.
 Rack rate- This is nothing but the public price that is paid for accommodation. Tour
operators are not keeping any contacting relationships here but are dependent on the
number of booking done for accommodation.
3

 Ad- hoc rate- In this, operator completes their task on the basis of contracts in which
task will be completed on a agreed cost that is below than rack rate but guarantee
regarding room is not present.
It is recommanded that firm should analyse both contract so that it can know about the
pros and cons of agreement. After completion of this analysis, best one will be decided by
company which will aid in making profit and will also provide support in its survival in the
market (Guo and He, 2012). After selection of best method, it should be implemented as per
decided level and in effective manner so that it will produce desired result or outcome.
2.3 Calculating cost of holiday
Thomson group has made a holidays package for Chinese student which cost is as
follows-
On the basis of given information, the selling price of 3-star WestCord Art Hotel is
calculated which is based in Amsterdam. Selling price calculation is as follows-
Cost Cost on Euro or Pounds
Per room cost 84 euro for two sitter
Cost of 1 person 42 euro
Cost of breakfast for 1 individual 11.5 euros of one person
Total 53.5 euros
Total number of students 46
Total cost for 46 students 2862.25
Exchange rate €1.15 per £1
Rate as per exchange rate 2488.91
4

Number of days of tour 7
Total amount for 7 days 17422.39
Bus rent for 50 seater 10800 pounds
Guide charges 1200 pounds
Total Amount 12000 pounds
Overall tour cost consists fare charges 29422.39 pounds
Profit margin of organisation 7355.5975 pounds
Total cost consists profit firm 36777.99 pounds
Cost per student £799.52
From the above calculation, it is analysed that if student will take this holiday package
then he has to pay 799.52 pound for enjoying his summer vacation.
TASK 3
3.1 Planning decisions taken for the design of brochure
Brochure is a one of the best method of advertisement that is mostly used in travel and
tourism industry. It can be applied online as well as offline for doing promotion of company or
its products. It represents the necessary information or data in attractive manner so that it can
drew the attention of large number of people and achieve the desired result or outcome (Jaafar
and Maideen, 2012). 3-star Westcord Art Hotel should design the brochure in an effective and
5

efficient manner because it will aid in attaining the desired result or outcome. For designing this,
organisation has to follow some steps which are given below-
 Research for planning- It is one of the most important stage in developing a brochure
for holidays package. In this, researcher tries to find out the information regarding
travellers' lifestyle, their attitude etc. so that brochure can be designed as per their
requirement so that it can gain their attention. Organisation can also concentrate on past
records which will represent several types of design related to advertisement because it
will provide an idea of developing new one.
 Writing contents- Organisation should write that matters which can be understood by
everyone easily and accurately (Kerzner, 2013). In this, all required information should
be given so that visitors can be attracted towards it and will only purchase their services.
For example- features and benefit of goods or facilities should be highlighted etc. For
writing content in an attractive manner, all information should be in bullets points
because it will be able to attract consumers. In this, all headings and sub headings should
be made clearly and properly so that people will not get confuse while reading this. In
this, organisation can mention their website, mobile number, email, permanent address
etc.
 Writing heading- After that, heading is written but sometimes brochure maker does
mistake such as they put logo or their business name at the top of advertisement. It is not
a right way because everyone wants to know about offers not about their name.
 Supplier negotiation- In this, negotiation is done with suppliers of brochure so that they
will charge reasonable price. So organisation should make that advertisement by which
attention of large number of people can be drawn.
 Admin- It plays an important role in designing advertisement because it ensures the
effectiveness of design. The main responsibility of this unit is to evaluate the content that
are filled in brochure so that they can remove incorrect data which may create negative
perception in the mind of target consumers and other liability is to monitor the potential
of brochures as it has to be addressed among mass market section.
 Marketing- This department has responsibility to deliver advertisement to their
consumers so that it can attaining its desired result or outcome (Mak, 2011). Team
member can use various ways for doing promotion of their products or services such as
6

print media, posters, hoardings, billboards, electronic-brochures etc. These methods are
very helpful in creating awareness as well as in drawing attention of people.
3.2 Suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for tour operators
Tour operator of 3-star Westcord Art hotel used to utilize the conventional brochures
from long period of time. Traditionally, advertisement are done in hard form that is through
offline mode. In this, written paper was distributed and displays to the public so that they can
become aware about the existence of company and their products or offers. But in present
scenario, mostly organisation uses E-brochure for doing advertisement of their holidays packages
(Martinez, Stapleton and Van Wassenhove, 2011).
This method is best because it is able to attract the large number of people as comparison
to traditional method and is also flexible in nature. Its contents will be decided by operator as per
their requirements because more matters will become complex and then no one will show their
interest in seeing this advertisement. This technique has various benefits such as-
 It is time as well as cost efficient and also presents information in more attractive manner
as comparison to traditional printed brochures.
 It has ability to attract the large customer base because it can be circulated on social
media and other online platforms which will be beneficial for the company because at
present time everyone uses smartphones and social media.
 It also saves environment because it is eco-friendly because there is no use of paper.
 It also minimizes the mistakes that may occur while creation of physical brochure.
 It also saves revenue of the corporation because they do not need to hire large number of
professionals as well as no need to waste in printing as PDF file
 This can be prepared by sitting at home so there is no requirement to go workplace.
 In today time, there are large number of technology and software which aids in making
attractive advertisement.
There are various ways by which brochure can be prepared such as Bifold, Tri-fold, Z-
fold, C-fold (Medlik, 2016).
There are more alternatives which can be used instead of brochure but those are outdated
but still used by companies which are given below-
 CD-DVD's
 Canvassing
7

 Paper leaflets
 Television advertisement
These traditional methods have also some disadvantages such as-
 It leads to higher cost because company has to purchase material for making physical
brochure.
 Organisation also has to spend huge amount in distributing and mailing the printed one.
 It harms to the environment because in this, papers are used that leads to cut the trees.
3.3 The suitability of different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday
3-Star WestCord Art hotel can distribute its services from many ways which are given
below-
 Direct sales- In this, organisation advertises their products or services without the help of
intermediary like mail order or online, conducting visits and controlling the presentations
of offers and the price structure which will aid in selling the goods or offers to
consumers. Firm can change their marketing environment by taking evaluation and
feedbacks from customers.
 Hiring agents- It refers to those person which has full knowledge about tourist
destination (Moutinho, 2011). He takes commission in exchange of his service from both
side that is company and consumers. With the support of this agent, organisation is able
to provide all services easily and effectively.
 Partners- These person are those who are carry out business activities together foe
attaining common goals and objectives. A tour operator may have partnership with
hotels, transportation service provider or famous tourist destinations etc. by which
organisation is able to provide better quality of services to its users.
 Online sales services- In this, company offers their services online which includes e-
booking of tickets, hotel the visiting destinations. It provides support to the firm in
getting advance reservation of services that are going to provide (Nakayama and Bucks,
2012). It also provides benefit to the consumers such as they will get more discounts on
booking and will also save their time and money because they do not need to go with
agents who will charge commission.
 Opaque distribution- This distribution refers to the process of selling the services which
will includes all the benefits that caters to the low pricing services provided by the sellers.
8

In this, actual marketer is not known but customers get full benefit. So it is an important
and famous medium of distribution of tour packages.
So tour operator may select direct sales as distribution method in which it will hire more
executives, agents and collecting packages for more destinations. These services require
effective marketing strategy on the ground of providing benefits to the company and consumers.
There are now a days both the type of companies who operate online and offline.
TASK 4
4.1 Evaluate the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator.
3-Star WestCord Art hotel is one of the largest tour and travel company which provides
wide variety of packages (customised or full fledged). Decision making is of most important
aspect for the growth of an organisation (Nolz, Doerner and Hartl, 2010). Strategic decisions are
those which helps a company in increasing its capability hence resulting in achieving the
objectives of an organisation. It helps firm in contouring threats posed by various factors. It is
made by taking help of its strengths so as to eliminate its weakness and ensuring its opportunities
of growth in future. Strategic plans helps in achieving price efficiency and maintaining the
quality in the competitive atmosphere. Some of strategic plans that are made by Thomson group
are:
Estimation of demands: it is essential for an organisation to estimate the demands that can
be made by customers. Enterprises needs to forecast demands of the company in advance so that
there must not be any last minute chaos. This fills up demand and supply gap. Thomson group
has to ensure the demand before hand especially in peak seasons. Any planing decision made by
this group needs to check the gap that can occur before company's demand and supply.
Segmentation, targeting and positioning analysis: it is done by making the segments
from large group of people and then making the targets from these groups. After the target
market is chosen then tour packages is made according to their demands so as to serve them
properly. Any product or service development is done by using this analysis. it is an important
analysis in attaining the customer services (Page, 2014). Thomson is having a large set of
customers and marketing plan must be done by using this analysis. All travellers want specific
kind of plans without this analysis it will be a difficult job.
9

Discount pricing strategy: This is one the most effective strategy in luring the customer
and making them stick to companies plans. Thomson adopt this strategy in off seasons so as to
attract customers in this period of time. Attractive strategies according to demands of customers
can increase the number of consumers. These discount pricing needs to be advertised so that they
can reach to maximum number of people.
Risk regulatory framework: companies have to maintain framework which helps them
in evaluating their risk threats. There can be monetary loses to travel agencies when customers
do not show up at the last time as all payments are done before hand (Ronen, Pliskin and Pass,
2015). To avoid this company can ask for some advance payments. These framework can help in
regulating risk.
4.2 Tactical decisions that could be taken by a selected tour operator in different situations
Tactical decisions are those which are needed to be made for effective operation of the
enterprise. Like strategic decision are made by keeping external conditions in mind, tactical
decisions are made keeping the internal working of the company. These decisions are required to
be taken checking the daily requirements and short term problems arising in business strategy of
an organization. These decisions are helpful in increasing the speed and maintaining flexibility of
operation. These decisions are helpful in maintaining good customer relations with other
stakeholders (Stolletz, 2010). These decisions include negotiating with service providers or
partners so as to get the work done at lower prices bringing cost effectiveness. In making tactical
decisions use of ICT, legal framework and economic condition of business plays an important
role. Some tactical decisions taken by 3-Star WestCord Art hotel includes:
Decision for meeting competition: Thomson has to take some of these decisions which
helps maintaining the competition in market and sustain in the competitive environment. These
decisions are taken keeping in mind marketing strategies by other competitors.
Yield management: It is the pricing done that is variable in nature keeping consumer
demands in mind so as to increase profit or revenue. Pricing is one of most important factor in
making of travel plans for the customers. Customers gets attracted to the lower prices while
ensuring no compromise with luxury.
Fluid pricing : It is the norm taken by travel companies in which they change prices up
and down so as to fill the capacity at the pace they expect.
10

Increasing occupancy of contracted beds: In certain period of time occupancy of bed
can be high in number so Thomson has to manage all those extra beds.
Utilization of coaches and flight seats: Efficient utilization of seats may help in saving
money of travel groups. In many seasons these seats are not available so managing these seats
for customer is a process of tactical decision making (Tour Operations Management, 2017.).
Tactical marketing: Tactical marketing like discount, late sales can be done so as to
attract more number of customers.
Segmentation and positioning: Proper segmentation needs to be done for selecting a
proper target market so as to make travel plans according to them. Like Thomson does its
segmentation according to demography, psycho graphic factors.
CONCLUSION
Travel and Tourism sector is very important for the development of economy of the
nation because if more visitors will visit to tourist places then it will increase the financial
resources of country. From the above report, it is concluded that at present time, this sector has
grown up and now various types of changes has occurred in it. For developing a holiday
packages, tour operator has to follow some steps which starts from initial research in which
needs and wants of visitors are identified. This study has also stated about the various types of
contract such as fixed and sale only agreement on that basis coordinator provides facilities to the
travellers. In today competitive environment, promotion strategy is very important because it
creates awareness about the existence of company and also draws attention of people towards the
products or offers by which organisation is able to achieve the desired result or outcome. In
globalization process, enterprise can use E-brochure for doing advertisement because it is the
best method which has various advantages such as it is eco-friendly method that saves time,
money and environment of the country.
11

REFERENCES
Book and Journals
Brown, S., Bessant, J.R. and Lamming, R., 2013. Strategic operations management. Routledge.
Chand, M. and Katou, A.A., 2012. Strategic determinants for the selection of partner alliances in
the Indian tour operator industry: A cross-national study. Journal of World Business.
47(2). pp.167-177.
Chon, K.S. and Yu, L., 2012. The international hospitality business: Management and
operations. Routledge.
Dodds, R. and Kuehnel, J., 2010. CSR among Canadian mass tour operators: good awareness but
little action. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 22(2).
pp.221-244.
Evans, N., Stonehouse, G. and Campbell, D., 2012. Strategic management for travel and tourism.
Taylor & Francis.
Filby, N.E., Stockin, K.A. and Scarpaci, C., 2015. Social science as a vehicle to improve
dolphin-swim tour operation compliance?. Marine Policy. 51. pp.40-47.
Gass, S.I. and Harris, C.M. eds., 2012. Encyclopedia of operations research and management
science. Springer Science & Business Media.
Guo, X. and He, L., 2012. Tourism supply-chain coordination: The cooperation between tourism
hotel and tour operator. Tourism Economics. 18(6). pp.1361-1376.
Jaafar, M. and Maideen, S.A., 2012. Ecotourism-related products and activities, and the
economic sustainability of small and medium island chalets. Tourism Management.
33(3). pp.683-691.
Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Mak, B.L., 2011. ISO certification in the tour operator sector. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management. 23(1). pp.115-130.
Martinez, A.J.P., Stapleton, O. and Van Wassenhove, L.N., 2011. Field vehicle fleet
management in humanitarian operations: a case-based approach. Journal of Operations
Management. 29(5). pp.404-421.
Medlik, S. ed., 2016. Managing tourism. Elsevier.
Moutinho, L. ed., 2011. Strategic management in tourism. Cabi.
Nakayama, F.S. and Bucks, D.A. eds., 2012. Trickle irrigation for crop production: design,
operation and management (Vol. 9). Elsevier.
Nolz, P.C., Doerner, K.F. and Hartl, R.F., 2010. Water distribution in disaster relief.
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management. 40(8/9).
pp.693-708.
Page, S.J., 2014. Tourism management. Routledge.
Ronen, B., Pliskin, J.S. and Pass, S., 2012. Focused operations management for health services
organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Stolletz, R., 2010. Operational workforce planning for check-in counters at airports.
Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review. 46(3). pp.414-
425.
Swarbrooke, J. and Page, S.J., 2012. Development and management of visitor attractions.
Routledge.
12

White, P., 2016. Public transport: its planning, management and operation. Taylor & Francis.
Witt, S.F., Brooke, M.Z. and Buckley, P.J., 2013. The Management of International Tourism
(RLE Tourism). Routledge.
Online
Characteristics Of Tour Operator. 2015. [Online]. Available Through:
<http://www.iibmindialms.com/library/operation-management/supply-chain-
management/tour-operator-characteristics/> . [Accesses On 7 June 2017].
Tour Operations Management. 2016. [Online]. Available Through: <http://somo.co.ke/bachelor-
of-travel-and-tour-operations-management-at-moi-university-sm2-493.html> .
[Accesses On 7 June 2017].
Tour Operations Management. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.forestsandreserves.vic.gov.au/tour-operators> . [Accesses On 7 June
2017].
13