TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Explore the influence of current trends on the tour operator industry, stages in holiday development, methods of contracting, pricing calculations, brochure planning, and strategic decisions. Evaluate the suitability of various methods to promote luxury holidays.

TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1..............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 INFLUENCE OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS ON TOUR OPERATOR INDUSTRY...............4
TASK 2..............................................................................................................................................7
2.1 ASSESSING STAGES AND TIMESCALE IN DEVELOPMENT OF HOLIDAY......................................7
2.2 DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING AND ITS SUITABILITY AND EVALUATION FOR
DIFFERENT TOUR OPERATOR AND HOLIDAY COMPONENTS..........................................................9
2.3 CALCULATION OF SELLING PRICE OF HOLIDAY FOR GIVEN DATA...........................................11
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................12
3.1 EVALUATION OF DECISION FOR PLANNING FOR A BROCHURE...........................................12
3.2 ASSESSMENT OF SUITABILITY TO REPLACEMENTS OF A TRADITIONAL BROCHURE AND
RECOMMENDATION OF MOST SUITABLE FOR THE LUXURY HOLIDAYS....................................14
3.3 EVALUATION OF SUITABILITY OF VARIOUS METHODS TO PROMOTE HOLIDAYS AND
RECOMMEND APPROPRIATE ONE FOR LUXURY HOLIDAYS......................................................15
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................17
4.1 EVALUATION OF STRATEGIC DECISION TAKEN BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR
....................................................................................................................................................17
4.2 COMPARISON OF TACTICAL DECISIONS TAKEN BY SELECTED TOUR OPERATOR IN VARIOUS
SITUATIONS................................................................................................................................18
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Tour Operator management refers to managing several holiday packages which are being
prepared by organizations for its staff members. A tour operator package refers to a holiday
package in which all the detailed information about the package is mentioned such as
destination, mode of transportation, holiday description, organizers, security arrangements etc.
Tour Operations management is very important for the travel and tourism industry because it
seeks out new opportunities for destinations along with satisfying the ever-changing needs of
travellers. In this particular assignment, a leaflet is prepared by the tour operator company
named ‘Trailfinders' which is one of the largest travel companies in the UK. The assignment will
cover a detailed study of its operations in the tourism industry and the existing trends in the
tour operations management. In the later sections of this assignment, various steps involved in
the creation of holiday packages by the tour operator companies is briefed. In the next
segment, the analysis is done for the assessment of various stages and methods for contracting
the tour components with respect to the development of holidays. In Continuation, various
aspects of working in the marketing team of the tourism industry and planning decisions for
selecting a particular brochure for an alternate traditional brochure for different types of tour
operators are also explained. In the later sections, various suitable methods of distribution of a
holiday for different tour operators are examined along with an evaluation of decisions made
by various tour operators.

TASK 1
1.1 INFLUENCE OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS ON TOUR OPERATOR
INDUSTRY
LEAFLET
INTRODUCTION TO TOUR OPERATOR
COMPANY – TRAILFINDERS
A tour operator company helps to facilitate
different types of travellers from around
the globe. Tours operator companies play a
vital role in providing holiday packages both
at domestic level and international level.
Trailfinders is a tour operator company in
the UK and provides holiday packages for
various countries like Australia, New
Zealand, African Countries etc. This
company provides a lot of services to its
customers like Clinic Services, Travel
Essentials, Passport Services, Visa Services
and much more. Some additional holiday
packages that trail finders provide is
accommodation, sightseeing and food
services (Moutinho, et al., 2013).
RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS
In the present market scenario tour
operator companies like trail finders
provide a lot of services like online booking
facility of holiday packages, Latest offers
such as red-hot offers, beach holiday offers,
flight offers, family holiday offers and much
more. Some additional offers also include
independent travellers and senior citizens.
EFFECT OF RECENT TRENDS
These trending trends and developments in
the tour operator companies attract more
and more tourist from all corners of the
world. People also get attracted on social
media platforms like Facebook when tour
operator companies like trail finders
advertise their latest offers for several
destinations. Social media is a becoming a
bigger platform for tour operating
companies to market and advertise their
holiday packages and by doing so it attracts
one-fourth population of the entire world.
By providing offers on airline travels the

connectivity of people in reaching these
holidays destinations is increasing now a
day’s which also increases the businesses of
the tour operating companies.
NICHE TOURISM
Figure1:NicheTourism
Source:[http://www.travelbizmonitor.c
om/Features/incredible-india-going-
niche-8721]
Niche tourism refers to a type of tourism
intended for a separate audience that
means audiences that are interested in a
particular type of tourism such as cultural
tourism, medical tourism, rural tourism etc.
Niche tourism is also broadly classified into
various segments such as Photographic
tourism, adventure tourism, wildlife
tourism etc. Tour operator companies like
trail finders target these special tourists and
provide many offers to facilitate them
(Marson, 2011).
USE OF TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS
FOR TRAILFINDERS
In the present market scenario, it becomes
essentially important for tour operator
companies to utilize the right distribution
technology for accessing the large customer
base and make their products readily
available for them by use of technology
(Masron, et al., 2016). This way technology
will help a tour operator to increase its
distribution both offline and online. Some
technological developments include online
booking system which provides various
facilities such as reservation, currency and
language services, real-time bookings,
online payment options and much more.
Another aspect includes the use of channel
manager as implemented by Trailfinders, in
which the channel manager is a system
which allows the tour and activity operators
to manage all channels of distribution. For
example, the tour operator of Trailfinders
Company works with the online travel
agents (OTA), hotel concierges, global
distribution systems, local visitor centres in
order to sell its products and services. Some
important tour operator software’s like
revenue management also help in
customization and personalization of

products which can easily manage multiple travel services offered by tour operating
companies (Grainger,2016).

TASK 2
2.1 ASSESSING STAGES AND TIMESCALE IN DEVELOPMENT OF HOLIDAY
For a tourist, it is essentially important for Trailfinders to develop a plan for booking a holiday
destination which can be further illustrated through timescale of the plan. A timescale plan
helps in the management of time for a tourist in a holiday destination. Having a timescale plan
in hand will allow a tourist to better utilize his time in visiting or covering all possible
destinations that he intended to visit while booking the holiday destination (Lumsdon, 2016).
Some essential timescale plans involve
Research: With respect to educational tour from London to Brussels and Belgium some
conclusions are derived before executing a plan such that it is better to find out the type of
hospitality service first being arranged by tour operator companies for tourists. Several other
factors can also be researched as political and social factors.
Determining destination: This is the process of choosing the best holiday destination that
interests particular tourists. This may include factors concerning the climatic conditions
favourable, weather conditions etc.
Negotiation & Costing: After selecting a holiday package next comes the process of negation
with the service providers from the tour operator companies like trail finders in matters
concerning the accommodation facilities, transport services, travel services etc. The cost of tour
package can also be determined by related expenses such as accommodation expenses, travel
expenses, marketing cost etc.
Financial Evaluation: After the costing tour operator companies make an assessment of the
profit margins or extra income that will be derived from these businesses.
Promotion: After a tour package is fixed then the tour operating companies like Trailfinders
start promoting this tour package to other college or universities members so that they are

attracted and purchase these tour packages which in turn will increase the profit margin for the
company.
Deployment: At last the tour plan will be executed and various positive and negative outcomes
will be derived for future assessment of developing the timescale of plans for holidays.

2.2 DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING AND ITS SUITABILITY AND
EVALUATION FOR DIFFERENT TOUR OPERATOR AND HOLIDAY COMPONENTS
Tour operator companies manage various methods of contract from tourist destination
agencies both domestically and internationally. This may include lodging facilities,
transportation facilities and many other contractual components. These components are mainly
classified into 3 categories such as
Fixed Contract: In this price for a particular service like lodging facility, travel facility is fixed
and cannot be negotiated. This method of the contract is not suitable for students because if
the facilities are booked and students fail to avail these facilities on time because the service
providers will avail the cost of booking as it gets reserved whether or not the facilities are used
(Guo, et al,2013).
Figure 2: Trailfinders Store
Source:[http://lewiscraig.co.uk/client-stories/trail-finders/]

Ad hoc contract: It is a type of service to be availed for the immediate purposes without any
previous planning or considerations (Buckley, 2012). If the no of students is confirmed then
these services are availed so that no additional cost is invested as in case of fixed contracts.
Allocation Contract: This method of contract can be understood by an example let’s assume
Trailfinders booked 21 rooms from a hotel service provider for a particular date. Then the hotel
room provider will allocate all 21 rooms to the trail finder and save the rest available rooms for
allotment at competitive pricing ( Guo & He, 2012). This way trail finders can better fulfil the
needs and demands of visitors.

2.3 CALCULATION OF SELLING PRICE OF HOLIDAY FOR GIVEN DATA
Particulars Cost Per Person (in Euro) Cost for 42 students (in Euro)
Cost Price 420.2 Euro 17635 Euro
Selling price 558.87 Euro 23454 Euro
2 rooms with
breakfast
96 Euro 4032 Euro
Luxury Coach (48
seater)
299 Euro 12544 Euro
Tour Guide 25.2 Euro 1058.4 Euro
The above table indicates the price considerations for several educational tour packages such as
the cost of 2 rooms with breakfast for one person, cost of luxury coach for one person etc.

TASK 3
3.1 EVALUATION OF DECISION FOR PLANNING FOR A BROCHURE
A brochure must be effective enough to represent the brand image of the travel company as it
helps to identify the position of the product or the service the company wants to deliver. The
brochure must be attractive and interactive to convey sufficient information to develop a sense
of assurance in the customer towards the company (Molina, et al. 2010). The planning decisions
which are taken in the designing of a brochure are evaluated as follows-
Cost- The decision for the budget has to be smartly taken which involves the cost of distribution
and the designing process of the brochure. The printing of the brochure and its distribution
together account for around half of the gross profit for the tour operator, Kuoni. The travel
operator company has an arbitrary approach in deciding the budget of the brochures but the
team involved in the distribution and the designing of the brochure keeps in mind the target
market and another medium of distribution of the brochures such as the social and electronic
media in the form of e-brochures also considering the rate of waste of the cost.
Brochure
Cost
Format
Target
market
Print
specifications
Timescale
decsions

The decision for the format- The format of a brochure is decided upon considering the
following aspects in designing such as the theme, front cover, content, text style and structure,
color, images, writing style, quality of paper and most importantly the size of the brochure
(Scott, et al. 2016).
Target market and cost- The customers to target and the target market must be decided so
that the cost involved in the brochure design and distribution is then accordingly planned for
avoiding waste of expenses.
Determination of print specifications- The specifications for printing the brochure includes the
paper size, quality of print of text and images, embedded fonts and linked files and inclusion of
copyright images and other relevant content.
Timescale and steps of production- The timescale must be developed for brochure planning,
designing and distribution and the stages involved in making a brochure must be clearly
specified so that the process doesn't take a long time. Also, recognising the legal implications is
an important factor to be considered in brochure designing (Li and Wang, 2011).

3.2 ASSESSMENT OF SUITABILITY TO REPLACEMENTS OF A TRADITIONAL
BROCHURE AND RECOMMENDATION OF MOST SUITABLE FOR THE LUXURY
HOLIDAYS
The promotion of holiday packages through distribution of traditional brochure has been a
thing of the past and in today's world. Many new alternative options have emerged as a
traditional brochure. The alternative options are CD-ROM, flyers or leaflets, E-brochures,
Internet and social media, I Pad or Android applications, Electronic or print media, Travel fairs
such as WTM or ITB, advertising through outdoor media in the form of billboards or buses etc.
The alternative options such as the CD ROM, E-brochures, leaflets, and social media are less
expensive than the traditional brochures and easy to distribute while the outdoor media is
relatively expensive but creates awareness among customers and attracts them. Social media is
the substitute for direct marketing and is a good promotional tool (Huertas Garcia, et al. 2014).‐
The travel fairs create business opportunities and advertise the tour operator company in a
global market.
The most suitable alternative to traditional brochure is the E-brochure adopted by Kuoni
delivered through email, I Pad application and post. The company has launched colourful E-
brochure on the company's website which is helpful for the agents to gather information about
the tour packages and make their own personal brochure for the clients. The company is
gaining benefit from the online brochures which have reduced the expenses and storage for the
agents as well as operators and also provide immediate information.
The new developments can replace the old brochures but its symbolic value cannot be
replaced. Also, the electronic marketing can enhance the decision making the process of the
customers providing luxury to the travel company and cutting the expenses of agents (Evans, et
al. 2012).

3.3 EVALUATION OF SUITABILITY OF VARIOUS METHODS TO PROMOTE HOLIDAYS
AND RECOMMEND APPROPRIATE ONE FOR LUXURY HOLIDAYS
The tour operator companies sell their holidays either through direct distribution system such
as through websites or through third-party resellers.
Direct distribution system- the holidays are sold through direct contact which is beneficial as it
saves time, increase profit, agile and has greater control in terms of security in transactions.
The internet is increasing the direct accessibility of information and the airlines are also
providing a facility for e booking and ticketless travel facilities. This includes the company's
website, social media promotion which gives facility and eases to the customers to book
holidays at a single click (Cerutti, et al. 2016).
Figure: Kuoni tour Operator Company
Source: [https://www.hellotravel.com/stories/vishal-suri-appointed-as-newly-md-of-kuoni-
travel-india]

Indirect distribution system or third-party resellers- This method makes use of travel
intermediaries and provides benefit to the customers in the form of giving professional
consultation, variety and lower prices of packages and involves single payment. It is the
mediator between the tourism supplier and the travellers and the travel agencies have become
the department stores of the tourism and travel industry. This includes the online travel
agencies (OTA) which work on a pay per click concept and increase the booking of the travel
companies.
Some other methods are the visitor information centres and government tourism sites review
sites, voucher sites which come under the indirect distribution system. The most suitable
distribution method for Kuoni is indirect distribution system as it helps the company to get
more sales of the tour packages because there are a lot of options and modes available for
indirect sales of the holiday packages rather than the direct sales method through the
company's website (Wu, et al. 2011).

TASK 4
4.1 EVALUATION OF STRATEGIC DECISION TAKEN BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR
OPERATOR
The mass market and the niche market tour operators take various strategic decisions which
are described and evaluated below-
Pricing- The travel industry is diverse and thus accounts for the presence of a large number of
tour operators in the travel industry. Also, the rising demand of the customers encourages the
tour companies to escalate their prices according to their increasing or decreasing demands
and thus the company gains profit or faces loss according to the requirements and booking
frequency of the customers (Avci, et al. 2011).
Surcharge policy- This policy is adopted by the tour operators in cases of package prices gone
up due to currency fluctuations or some other reasons such as a rise in fuel prices or the taxes
price gone up. This benefits the tour companies a lot.
Positioning and image marking- Tour Operator Company use many strategies to establish its
company as a brand in the market by using taglines and logos of the company which provides
benefit to the tour company to gain popularity in the market.
Selection of product in relation to consumer portfolio- Different types of customer demands
different tour packages and thus it is a challenging task for the tour companies to design
personalised tour packages for each and every customer. Thus the company uses segmentation
and targeting and positioning to divide the customers into different types and then target the
audience according to their needs and then finally position their products which are the tour
packages.
Decisions for distribution- The tour companies have to take separate decisions on the basis of
their types such as the niche and mass market tour operators. These types of operators adopt

different marketing and holiday distribution strategies of which the common one is the holiday
selling through travel agents.

4.2 COMPARISON OF TACTICAL DECISIONS TAKEN BY SELECTED TOUR OPERATOR
IN VARIOUS SITUATIONS
Various tour operator businesses are involved in tactical decision making to facilitate smooth
functioning of their company and the business to run in an organised manner. A mass market
tour operator company of the UK which is Thomas Cook is taken into consideration. The tactical
decisions are compared below-
Customer experience evaluation- Better relations with the customers can be built with the help
of listening to the customer experiences and implementing the required changes to avoid any
future issues in the travel period (Guo and He, 2012).
Competition- The Company has to take some challenging decisions to sustain in the market and
to fulfil the needs and rising demands of the tourists. The decisions taken may be changed in
prices providing huge discounts and additional benefits with the existing package etc.
Evaluation of profit- The profit and loss of the company must be evaluated from time to time to
check upon the factors that are leading towards benefit and loss of the company. The negative
aspects must be worked upon and the positive areas must be further enhanced for better
profits and popularly of the company through increased bookings.

CONCLUSION
The assignment has described the major aspects of a tour operator company which it needs to
focus upon to gain popularity in the market. Firstly, a leaflet has been made for Trailfinders for
understanding the old and new trends in the tour industry along with gaining knowledge about
stages and developing timescale in the planning of a luxury holiday. The suitability of the
methods of contracting is described with the calculation of selling price of a tour package for
given information and data. Further, the decisions involved in designing a brochure for Kuoni, a
travel company have been examined along with the methods of distribution and analysing the
substitute options for promoting holidays other than the old method of brochure designing.
Lastly, the decisions made by the tour operators which are the tactical and the strategic
decisions have been evaluated and then compared.

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