Tourism Marketing Strategy Analysis

This assignment delves into the realm of tourism marketing strategies. Students are tasked with examining various aspects of tourism marketing, including the impact of sustainability, the role of events in attracting tourists, and the influence of social media on travel information search. The analysis should draw upon provided academic sources to support key arguments and demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of contemporary tourism marketing practices.

Tour Operation Management

Table of Contents
introduction......................................................................................................................................5
task 1................................................................................................................................................5
1.1 Effects of the current and recent trends and developments of the tour operator’s industry..5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Understanding the stages which are involved in creating a tour package and timescale
involved in developing holidays.................................................................................................7
2.2 Evaluate the suitability of different methods of contracting for different components for
the holiday and different types of tour operator..........................................................................9
2.3 Calculation of selling price of a holiday from given information.......................................11
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Evaluating the planning decisions taken for the design of the brochure............................11
3.2 Suitability of alternatives to a traditional printed brochure for different types of tour
operators....................................................................................................................................12
3.3 Evaluation of the suitability of the different methods of distribution of tour package
holiday package and recommend a method for to sell a adventure package for Thomas Cook
...................................................................................................................................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................14
4.1 Strategic decisions made by the different type of tour operators........................................14
4.2 Tactical decisions that has to be taken in different situations.............................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
references.......................................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
A tour operators need to include number of components and elements of tour and travel for
making an effective holiday for customers and tourists. For managing different operations tour
operators should focus on different functions and activities such as arrangement of food, travel
and accommodation, etc. (Carlsen, 2011). The current research project is based on tour operation
management and regarding this, it has chosen Thomas Cook organization because it is one of the
leading tour operator and operating its business on tourist industry of UK. The current research
will describe the effect of current trends and recent developments on tour operators of this
industry. It includes different stages involve in creating holidays. Further, it will also include the
process of review brochures and methods of distribution used to sell holiday package to
customers. Further, process for strategic and tactical decision making for tourism organizations
are also describing in the following paragraphs of the report.
TASK 1
1.1 Effects of the current and recent trends and developments of the tour operator’s industry
There are number of recent and currently development in tour operation industry and as
per these developments different types of operators provide distinct services to customers and
tourists (Perch-Nielsen, Sesartic and Stucki, 2010). These have positive as well as negative
impacts on the whole industries which are described as under: Inbound operators: These types of tour operators offer services to all those tourists who
belong to their home city or country. They promote and sells their tourism services into
the country that they operate their business operations. These have positive impact on
tourists and customers satisfaction because inbound operators have deep knowledge
about the destination which helps in improving the overall performance of tour operators
and satisfaction level of customers. But on the other hand, it has negative impact on
performance of international tour operators which wants to develop their business in
other countries also. But, this trend is effective for tourism destination and their
popularity which have indirect and positive and economic impact on whole industry
(Navickas and Malakauskaite, 2015). Outbound operators: These organizations of the industry provide tours services to those
customers who want to travel in another country as well. They take care about the
different requirements of customers such as arrival and departure of tourists,
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accommodations, transportation, food and travel, etc. they offer these services either on
individual basis or for collaboration with foreign tours. Overall, outbound tour operators
play important role in increasing the attraction of tourists towards the foreign tours which
has positive impacts on economic position of entire industry. Thomas cook is one of the
leading outbound tour operators that offer effective services to all those tourists who want
to visit different nations for distinct reasons (Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). Domestic operators: These are also known as local tour operators and they make
arrangement for transportation. Accommodation, sightseeing, entertainment and other
tourism related services for those tourists who want to visit destination within a specific
boundaries or state of countries. They provide very specific services with high quality
because they are aware about the ach and everything about the tourist destination.
Domestic tour operator and their services help in increasing the satisfaction of customers
by high quality services which helps in increasing number of tourist for particular
destination. It is one of the major factors for success of this industry (Sivesan, 2012).
 Direct sell operators: These are also one of the major trends which are used by tour
operators for selling their services. These organizations sell their services directly to
tourists and other tour operators. It increases the attraction of customers because this
trend reduces the extra cost of holiday package in terms of removing margin of tour
operator and mediator. Therefore, it is a cost effective trend for industry (Mehmetoglu
and Norman, 2013).
Overall, recent trends and development in tourism industry increase the number of more
independent travelers for national and international tours. It will help in raising the economic
position of the whole industry. Growth and expansion of different expansion also help in raising
the overall performance of the organizations of this industry. It helps in reducing cost of travel
which improves the overall profitability and income of the whole industry. Overall all trends of
the industry have positive impacts for on growth and development of the respective industry
(Kapiki, 2012).
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TASK 2
2.1 Understanding the stages which are involved in creating a tour package and timescale
involved in developing holidays
As per the given case study Thomas cook will focus on a sightseeing tour for Chinese students
from London, UK to Paris, France. For developing this tour package for France Company needs
to focus on the following stages: Market research: It is one of the important stages for creating tour package because it
will help in getting information about all destination of sightseeing. Along with this, it
will play very significant role in developing more attractive and convenient holiday
package for all students of China. Identifying the different factors which are relevant to
the tourist destination is the major aim of research (Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell,
2012). On the basis of the market research so all destinations Thomas cook can provide
appropriate services to all students which can satisfy the needs and requirements in
effective manner. So, for market research Thomas cook needs to consider different areas
such as external factors which can influence the cost of holiday package, target market
and key destinations of France, etc. (Damonte, 2013). Development of itinerary: After the market research and analysis, creating an effective
itinerary is one of the major stages for holiday package. It includes the summery of tour
program such as number of destinations, routes, food, accommodations, sights,
transportation and other services, etc. Along with this, it will also provide different
services relevant to the assembling point, departure point, date of departure, time period
of tour, legal requirements, features of destinations and optional activities. So, for
developing an effective sightseeing tour Thomas cook needs to focus on this stage in
effective manner (Brebbia and Pineda, 2010). Negotiation with supplier and vendors: Each and every holiday package depends on the
supplier and vendors which can provide additional services for satisfying the needs and
requirements of all tourists. For this holiday package Thomas cook needs to decide
number of suppliers and vendors on the basis of the number of students and size of
holidays which are offering by the tour operators. Major suppliers and vendors include
airline, transporters, car rentals and sightseeing vendors are very important for France
holiday (Assaker, Vinzi and O'Connor, 2011). Thomas cooks needs to negotiate with
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suppliers and vendors for reducing the total price and cost of their services because it will
help in reducing the total cost of holiday package. Costing of tour package: forecasting the cost of the entire holiday package is also one of
the important stages for developing holiday for France. Cost includes all those expenses
which can occur for developing holiday package and need to be spent by the organization
at the time of providing major services to students of China. There are number of services
which needs to be provided by Thomas cook for developing an effective holiday package
for tourists so, it needs to be important for forecasting the cost of holiday package.
Thomas Cook can include the cost of food, travelling, marketing, research,
accommodation, etc (Perch-Nielsen, Sesartic and Stucki, 2010). There is no specific
approach which can be used by tour operators for calculating total cost of the whole
package. Human resource management: Thomas Cook needs to assign roles and responsibilities
to different human resources as per their skills and knowledge. But, at the time of season
and for managing emergency situation Thomas Cook should hire extra personnel for
managing different activities in effective manner. Along with this, company needs to hire
every individual on the basis of the knowledge about tourist destination such as France.
Along with this, all personnel must be able to travel and communicate will people of
different customers or tourists.
 Marketing of holiday package: After developing a package of sightseeing Thomas Cook
need to use appropriate technique of marketing and advertisement. It will help in
increasing the awareness of tourists about this holiday package which will leads
increment in attraction of them. So, regarding this, Thomas Cook needs to use
appropriate marketing and advertisement channel such as social media marketing,
internet and posters, Boucher, etc (Navickas and Malakauskaite, 2015). These will help in
targeting all students who wants to join the trip of France.
Overall, all the above discussed stages are required for creating a holiday package of
France for Chinese students. Required timeline for this process can be presented by Gantt chart
which is as follows:
Table 1: Timescale for holiday tour in France
Activities in Days 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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Market research
Development of itinerary
Negotiation with supplier and vendors
Costing of tour package
Human resource management
Marketing of holiday package
2.2 Evaluate the suitability of different methods of contracting for different components for the
holiday and different types of tour operator
There are four kinds of contacts tour operators and all have adopted different methods at
the time of making of a holiday package (Assaker, Vinzi and O'Connor, 2011). It is necessary for
them to design contract with those people who are already giving the best travel and tourism
services to the consumers at lower prices. Tour operators and their offered services are described
below in points.
Outbound operators Inbound
operators
Domestic
operators
Specialist
operators
It covers those tour operators which
are offering travel package to the
tourist who desires to visit other
global tourist places.
It explains about
those tour
operators who are
managing
inbound overseas
visitors and
provides them
different services
such as
accommodation,
currency change
services and
transportation
It describes those
tour operators
who are only
limit their
facilities to
specific location.
They are
considered as
specialist tour
operators which
makes holidays
packages as per
the requirements
the visitors such
as adventures and
educational tours
(Evans,
Stonehouse and
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(Assaker, Vinzi
and O'Connor,
2011).
Campbell, 2012).
Ad hoc along with Regular Ad hoc along
with Regular
Ad hoc along
with Regular
Only regular
Thomson and Thomas cook
corporation
Evans Tours
organization
Haven Holidays
corporation
Cox and Kings
travel and tourism
Winter sun, ski, long haul, Summer
sun, as well as short breaks
self tours and
Heritage tours
Holiday travel
and tourism
Adventures and as
per needs and
requirements of
tourists (Brebbia
and Pineda,
2010).
Suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of the holiday and
different types of tour operators:
From the above table, it can be found that there are four kinds of tour operators. These all
are offering differentiated travel services and facilities to the consumers on economic cost
(Carlsen, 2011). In fixed contracts, the tour operators make contract with the hotels and
restaurant and book living and accommodation facilities on the behalf of the end service users in
advance. Inbound and outbound operators can use this type of contracting to deliver the services
to the travellers (Mehmetoglu and Norman, 2013). On the other side, In ad hoc contracts, they
reserve the rooms whenever visitors place the order in the hotel. Mainly, It is considered by
domestic as well as specialist operators. According to case, Thomson and other corporations like
Evans holiday as well as Holiday haven should consider outbound contracting to provide better
consumer services in the various areas. With the contribution of this, the students who are
coming from China can book their rooms in the restaurant (Damonte, 2013). Furthermore, All
services can be managed before they arrive. Thomson and other tour operators such as Evans
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holiday and Holiday haven also give holiday and tour packages outside United Kingdom. The
educational our will associate sightseeing, long and short hauls, hotel, flight services and cruises.
2.3 Calculation of selling price of a holiday from given information
It is essential for tour operators to determine selling prices of its offered facilities. With
the aid of this, it becomes easy to find out profit margins. Furthermore, some aspects needed to
be considered because it creates impact on price of the package at the time of calculation of
selling prices of a holiday packages (Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012). In addition to this,
it is necessary to analyses other tour operators cost so that it can be easy to lure the visitors by
offering service at affordable prices. Same cause considers in peak seasons when frequency of
visitors enhances. Tour operators can maintain its market share by offering special offers such as
discounts in low seasons to tourists. As per the case, Thomson had a partnership with St Michelle
Hotel which aid to give the rate of the holiday package in France within economic range. Selling
price for the Thomson is described as follows:
Services Cost (In £ ) Total Cost (In £ )
Hotel accommodation (for 2 people) 55 4700 (total 8 rooms)
Supplement for BB (per person) 11 760 (14 people per day)
Transportation 1100
Tour guide in Paris 210
Total cost 6770 (Per head 450)
Profit (10%) 677
Selling price 466 7430
TASK 3
3.1 Evaluating the planning decisions taken for the design of the brochure.
Whenever organization plans to manage a holiday package it is very essential to develop
the brochures. Travelers carries hard copy of brochure with them self. Brochures covers all the
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necessary data like dates, destinations, transport and time (Kapiki, 2012). There are many stages
of designing . Several stages for designing the brochure:-
 Planning:-Thomson should schedule all related activities for developing brochure. Firm
should do research about adventurous places cost, hotels, transportation etc.
 Formatting: It is necessary because it aids to attract the passengers. Chinese students are
making plan to go on adventures holiday so data of brochure should be effective
regarding color, design and graphics (Mehmetoglu and Norman, 2013).
 Target market: -Thomson is managing a holiday package for students because these are
academic students so price of the tour would be distinct from the normal adventure
holidays and it should be lied in economic range (Navickas and Malakauskaite, 2015).
 Printing the brochure: - For this process, organization should use proper font size, color
combinations which help to show detail clearly (Navickas and Malakauskaite, 2015).
 Distribution: Thomson should advertise it is the brochure by using many resources like
Internet, T.V, agents and newspapers.
3.2 Suitability of alternatives to a traditional printed brochure for different types of tour operators
Nowadays, tour operators are not using traditional methods for distributing their printed
brochures. In past days, companies used to appoint some candidates for distributing the
brochures. There role was to inform people about the new services and products by visiting door
to door. These were inappropriate and ineffective ones as it was difficult for the tour operators to
attract large number of customers towards their services (Crysta, 2011). For distributing the
brochures in effective manner Thomson can use some alternatives which are explained below:
Television:
With the help of this, tour operators can inform large number of people about the tour and
trips they are organising. It is one of the most effective and suitable medium for distributing
information and influencing individuals to join the trips. By sharing the proper and required
details regarding the place, price, services, etc Thomson can attract existing and new customers
to purchase the ticket of their trips or tours. Company can promote trips as per their type. For
example: for educational trip organisation has to use different strategy so that it can influence
children (Sharpley and Telfer, 2014).
Videos:
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By making various videos of the trips and tours, tour operators can provide all the
information to the customers. By adding the experiences of the customers, firm can add reviews
for increasing trust. Thomson can upload these videos on the social media sites like Facebook,
YouTube, Instagram, etc. This will help in attracting numerous individuals of different age and
group. Along with this, firm can add videos regarding the operations, working, etc takes place
for organising the trips. This will influence children to collect more information about the travel
and tourism sector (Brebbia and Pineda, 2010).
3.3 Evaluation of the suitability of the different methods of distribution of tour package holiday
package and recommend a method for to sell a adventure package for Thomas Cook
There are number of methods which can be used by Thomas cook for distributing tour
package to number of customers and tourists (Mehmetoglu and Norman, 2013). These methods
are social media marketing, travel agents, television advertisement, newspaper, banners, etc.
Effectiveness and suitability of all these methods are described as under: Social media marketing: It is one of the important channels for distributing different tour
packages of Thomas Cook. It includes number of social media networks on which
company can develop their own page. It will help in communicating most of information
to national and international customers. These sites include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
etc. It helps in making digital communication information to all tourists with images and
prize. It will help in reducing the cost of marketing and improve the attraction of large
number of tourists which will raise the overall performance of the organization (Xiang
and Gretzel, 2010). Television advertisement: There are some specific areas in each and every country where
people cannot use internet for daily routine. In this case social media marketing will not
be effective for organization. So, company needs to use television advertisement which
will help in communicating all information about the tour services by video with images,
types of sre4vices and price. It will help in reducing cost and increasing the attraction of
customers. It will also help in targeting mass population for distribution of holiday
package (Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012). Travel agents: There are number of travel agents in each and every country which can
sell the tour package of multinational companies or outbound operators to local tourists
for foreign tours. But they sell these packages on the basis of specific margin. It will
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increase the total cost or price of the tour package but sometimes it helps in raising the
total tourists because of the trust and loyalty of local travel agents. So, Thomas cook can
hire some local travel agents for selling the tour package for adventures trip (Sivesan,
2012).
 Banners and news paper: Advertisement in newspaper and magazine will help in
attracting tourists. It will also help in reducing the cost of marketing and advertisement
because newspaper marketing is less costly as compare to digital marketing. Along with
this, Thomas Cook can use banners at public places which will increase the awareness of
customers (Kapiki, 2012).
Therefore, all the above discussed methods are very effective for attracting tourists for
the adventures trip of Thomas cook. But this trip is generally created by company for attracting
young generation. As per the research and analysis social media networks is one of the important
part of daily life. So, Thomas Cook needs to use social media marketing for the purpose of
distributing adventure package. It will help in attracting young generation of whole worlds which
will help in increasing selling and overall financial performance of the company. Along with
this, it is a cost effective strategy which will help in reducing the total cost of marketing and
advertisement of the organization (Damonte, 2013). Therefore, this strategy will reduce the total
cost of the marketing and innovation.
TASK 4
4.1 Strategic decisions made by the different type of tour operators
Tour operators need to take strategic decisions for accomplishing their objectives and
goals. It is essential for the organisations to take strategic decisions after proper analysis and
evaluation. This helps in working as per the requirement of the market for gaining competitive
advantages and leading position. One of the major reason behind taking strategic decisions is to
influence large number of people towards the services or products. This leads tour operators to
achieving their organisational objectives regarding the profitability and increased market share
(Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). There are various types of strategic decisions taken by Thomas Cook
which are explained below:
Pricing: It is one of the most important and crucial decisions, firm have to take with
respect to their services and products. Thomas Cook has to take this decision for recovering the
major cost of the services easily and effectively. Along with this, prices need to be affordable so
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that people can take advantages of the services and firm can earn profit. With the help of
appropriate decisions, Thomas Cook can keep itself in the strong competitive market of travel
and tourism sector. With the help of this decision, company can develop and enhance itself as per
the market need and for building competitive advantages (Mehmetoglu and Norman, 2013).
Branding: It is essential for Thomas Cook to develop good image among the people. For
gaining trust and loyalty of the individuals, it is essential to take appropriate decisions with
respect to the branding. It is necessary to have innovative and creative services for creating
difference from the competitors services. Company needs to identity effective and efficient
methods for developing brand. With the help of this, Thomas Cook can accomplish its objective
and aims in appropriate manner (vans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012).
Thus, with the help of above strategic decisions Thomas Cook can accomplish its
objective of attracting customers towards its services. It can also develop a strong market
position by taking effective decisions with respect to its growth and development.
4.2 Tactical decisions that has to be taken in different situations
These type of decision taken for short period of time. This type of decisions are mainly
taken by business enterprise in order to grow the market. In this context, it includes agents,
revenue, sales, etc. (Perch-Nielsen, Sesartic and Stucki, 2010). These are considered to be most
important elements as it enables to carry out the business operations effectively. With this
respect, Thomson has identified the different distribution channel so that services can be
provided effectively and efficiently. In addition to this, online sources will be used as it enables
to develop healthy relationship with customers. It has enabled to raise the revenue by 18% and it
can be stated that most majority of services make use of online to make their purchases. Further,
Cox and Kings is another type of operator related with tour (Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). Cited
firm make use of different packages and this is very helpful to attract customers. Different people
have diverse type of budget and this will enable to attract customers who have limited process.
This way firm will be able to support the firm to grow and gain huge profit. Moreover, My
Travel Directory is an organization which aims at developing tour packages as per customers
needs and requirements. Lastly, Wonderla Holiday Ltd. Make use of marketing tools like social
media, newspaper, television, etc. with the help of which they aim at attracting customers and
provide them information related to the services which are provided by them.
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CONCLUSION
The current report has includes the knowledge and understanding about the tour operation
management and different functions which needs to be completed by tour operators at the time of
creating a tour package. The current report has concluded that there are number of recent trends
and development which help in improving the overall performance of tourism industry of UK.
These include different types of operators such as inbound, outbound, domestic and directing
selling. These help in enhancing growth and development of the entire industry. Further, study
has also concluded that for creating a holiday package a tour operator needs to use a specific
process which includes different stages such as market research, development of itinerary,
negotiation with supplier and vendors, costing of tour package, human resource management and
marketing of holiday package, etc. Research has used a Gantt chart for showing timeline for the
holiday trip. Along with this, study has also described the number of distribution methods for
selling any holiday package. These are social media marketing, television advertisement,
banners, newspaper and travel agents. In which social media marketing will be most effective for
selling and distributing adventures trip of Thomas Cook.
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