Tour Operations Management: A Comprehensive Analysis of Strategies and Trends

This report delves into the intricacies of tour operations management, exploring the dynamic landscape of the travel and tourism industry. It examines the impact of current trends on tour operators, analyzes the stages involved in developing holiday packages, and evaluates different methods of contracting and pricing. The report also investigates the effectiveness of brochures as a marketing tool and explores the strategic and tactical decisions made by tour operators to achieve success in a competitive market.

TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Tour and travel industry causes increases number of tour operators within the country. This
assignment is about tour operations management with respect to travel and tourism sector
with various types of operators and current trends in tour operations industry. This report
shows the stages of developing holidays and effects of various trends. It also described the
issues related to management and analyses the strategic and tactical decision making aspects in
tour operations with different methods of contracting for different components of the holidays
and tour operators. Lastly, this report helps in evaluating various strategies for effective
decision making to overcome the issues related to management.

L01
The tour operator industry facing various challenges in today’s dynamic world. A leaflet has
been developed by the product development team of Trailfinders Ltd. for measuring the
appropriate changes of the recent trends. There are several factors which are being developed
for analyzing the effect of current and recent trends for the developments of the tour operators
industry.
1.1 ANALYZE THE EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND
DEVELOPMENTS ON THE TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY
The tour operator is developed at the wide range of tourism sector and it needs to develop the several
methods for enhancing the growth in the business operations of tourism. The tour operator industry is
facing several issues related to recent time changes which affect the industry. The tourism sector is the
major factor for developing the economic growth of the country (Robinson, et al. 2016). According to EU
Package Travel Directive, the attractive tour packages for the customers is developed only because of
tour operators. There are some tour operators who contribute towards dealing with current trends such
as specialist tour operator who offer services to those who has interest in specific geographical area,
outbound tour operators who provide multinational tourism as they take residents of their country and
sell the tour packages for another country, domestic tour operators who offered destination trips within
the boundaries of the country, direct sell tour operators who sell their attractive packages of variety of
destinations through travel agent without paying commission to them, and the incoming tour operators
who provide local services to tourist at negotiable rates.
Figure 1: Tour Operator Industry
[Source: Breton, 2018]

Along with this, there are several trends and development that consist of the tour operator industry.
The famous tour operators of UK are Cox & Kings, Trailfinders, Thomas Cook, TUI group etc. They
provided the best various tour product and services to their customers. Trailfinders is the travel
company of UK with 29 different travel centres for 48 years in North & South America, Zealand, Australia
and Asia (Lozano, et al. 2016). It is the first travel operator which is licensed with IATA and ATOL by
Aviation Authority. The tour packages are designed in such a manner that it attracts the current trend
and choice of customers. The tour operators enhance their strategies for obtaining profitability in
business and influence the performance with globalization in the economy.
The tour operator analyzes the trend and changes in the current market in the area of holiday sites,
product range, expansion of cruise tourism, transport, and mass tourism etc. The mass tourism helps in
attracting a huge number of visitors to Trailfinders. The holiday's sites are helpful in attracting more
tourists towards the packages. The cruise market trend is increasing with providing lots of facilities and
comfort to tourist. There is certain responsive tourism which is followed by satisfying a large number of
visitors and maximizing profit in the tourism industry (Mariani, et al. 2014).
Trailfinders tourism industry also includes association of several bodies in it known as
Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO), The Travel Association (ABTA), the UK Civil
Association Authority (CAA), Federation of Tour Operator (FTO), and UK inbound. These bodies
are helpful in managing the tour operations in the country with the objective of fulfilling all the
requirements of customers. Thus the recent and current trends of tour operators play a major
role in the growth of the tourism sector (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015).

L02
INTRODUCTION
To excel in the tourism industry, the role of holiday packages plays a very important role. This
report helps in understanding the concept of various stages while developing the holidays in
tour packages and also determining the selling price of tour packages. This assignment is
discussed the tour packages from London to Belgium for the adult students with luxury
coaches.
BODY
2.1 STAGES AND TIMESCALES INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING HOLIDAYS
There are several stages which are helpful for the development of holidays in the packages. The
appropriate time scale is also needed to develop for handling the stages ineffective way and
further develop the packages as per the requirement of the customers. These stages for
developing the holidays are as follows:
Market research:
The market research is helpful in identifying the changing trend in term of social, economic,
political and cultural factors that affect the travel to Paris during the month of August in 2019.
The evaluation from London to the UK is conducted which could be helpful for students, the
identification of the area must be considered are the safety of tourism, accommodations,
foods, sites, transport etc. are observed for assessing the changes and trends of the market
(Lumsdon, 2016).
Negotiation:
There are several service providers who are connected with tour operators located at Brussels
and Brugge and help them in making arrangements for their customers. The appropriate
arrangements are mentioned which are agreed by both the parties and maintain the pricing for
the holiday package.

Cost analysis:
The overall expenses which are incurred while assessing the development of holidays in tour
packages are recorded under the cost analysis. The cost is utilized while offering the high-
quality services to customers, these services are travel fare, accommodation charges, food and
transport expenses etc. The tour operator can acquire the cost or market-based strategies
pricing for planning the holidays in tour packages (Shaw, et al. 2016).
Scheduling:
It involves the planning of the procedure while developing the strategies for developing the
holidays in tour packages. It is significant in accomplishing the appropriate goals for a particular
period of time. The planning of holiday package is prepared for 42 students with the tour of 5
nights.
Supervises for management:
The important aspect of implementing the plan is a staff of the industry who delivers the quality
services to their customers. The recruitment of the candidate is conducted on the basis of their
skills in the required area like customer needs, sites, resources etc. The tourism company needs
to have skilled staff for performing the plan more appropriately.
Analyses and Evaluation:
Lastly company needs to evaluate their developing plan so that the improvement area could
identify easily and corrective measures can take place. The feedbacks are also taken from the
students for analyzing the effectiveness of the services of the company. Further, it is estimated
that the knowledge of the market is also helpful in analyzing the needs and demands of the
customers and it is evaluated that the Gantt chart of 6 months is also helpful in providing a
timescale to the company (Cerutti, et al. 2016).
TIME SCALE I MONTH II MONTH III MONTH IV MONTH V MONTH VI MONTH
Market
Research

Negotiation
Cost Analysis
Scheduling
Supervises
for
managemen
t
Analyses and
Evaluation

2.2 SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING FOR
DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE HOLIDAY AND DIFFERENT TYPE OF
TOUR OPERATOR
In the contact process, there are two parties involved in an agreement. This agreement consists
offering the legal services to customers through the tour operating industry. The different
contracts are utilised for different facilities. The facility like accommodation, amenities,
privilege is offered under contracts which are helpful for the tourist in enabling the tour. The
tour operator industry consists of different type of contracts as:
 Ad Hoc Contract- According to this contract the services as holiday packages are offered
by the company is priced on an hourly or daily basis and the resources are being
managed effectively. Trailfinders can utilise this with managing the financial and offer
the category to tourists according to their budget.
 Sales Contract- This contract is helpful in obtaining the profit as it offered the packages
at an expensive rate from the original rates. They offer the various facilities to
customers according to their needs.
 Fixed Contract- The contract offered the services for the fixed time to the customers for
increasing the productivity of the industry. The services can be booked for the tourists
as it offers cost effectiveness to the tourists and the total cost is evaluated at the
beginning of the packages.
The most suitable contract is selected by the tour operator for developing the tour packages
(Law, et al. 2015). They determine the type of contract according to needs of the customers
and the tourists can assist them in choosing the appropriate contract. The various type of
tour operators are as follows:
 Inbound Tour Operator- They provide services to their customers from their arrival
to departure so they can connect directly to the customers.
 Domestic Tour Operator- This kind of tour operators have packages at the domestic
level and offer the packages to customers for a host country.

 Outbound Tour Operators- These operators travel from host country to
international destination and arrange the documents, sightseeing places for their
tourists (Medlik, 2016).
 Ground operators- These operators offer services as transportation,
accommodations, booking etc. they work as a reception operator.

2.3 CALCULATE THE SELLING PRICE OF A HOLIDAY
A tour package is planned by Trailfinders from London, the United Kingdom to Brussels and
Brugge, Belgium for 42 students and the tour is of five nights. The charge of the single day for
two is 96 euros which included breakfast as well. The rate is estimated by Grand Cassel Bergh
with the cost of luxury coach of euro 11,200 which include taxes, fuel, and additional expenses
(Wu, et al. 2015). For this tour 945 euro is charged for local guide and overall 33% markup is
also put by Trailfinders. The tour package prices are as follows:
Various Service Calculation Price
Price of Breakfast including
Rooms
42*92*5 € 19,320.00
Total price € 19,320.00
1 euro= 0.88 pound
Price in pounds 19,320.00*0.88 £ 17001.06
Price of guide £ 1020.00
Price of transport £ 7,350.00
The tour package will sustain a total cost of £25,371.06
The markup of 25% on a package is £6,342
The total price of holiday package is £31,713.06
Therefore, the price of tour package for one student is 31,713.06/42= £755.07
Conclusion- From the above report, it has been observed that there are certain steps involved
in the planning of holidays in developing the plan and several methods are available for
managing different components by different tour operators. The selling price is also calculated
in the above report.

L03
INTRODUCTION
This report shows the use of brochures by Trailfinders for selling luxurious hotels. They offer the
tour services with the designed brochure for different tour operators and evaluate different
methods of distributing the brochure which is being replaced with the traditional printed
brochure.
Body
3.1 THE PLANNING DECISIONS TAKEN FOR THE DESIGN OF SELECTED
BROCHURE
The leading tour operator company Trailfinders include various types of marketing which help
in connecting with tourist and build the image in the market. The brochure is the method of
marketing in which the services of the company is mentioned (Anastasiadou and Migas, 2016).
It is one of the cheapest methods of marketing as online stage serves the information speedily
with the use of latest online techniques where is the oldest method consumes lots of cost of
paper and time. The elements which need to consider in the brochure are as follows:
Figure 2: Brochure

[Source: Invest, 2018]
AIM OF BROCHURE
The aim of the brochure is to create an awareness among the tourists and inform the services
provided by the company. The design and formation of brochure must be striking the attention
of visitors.
TARGET MARKET
While designing the brochure company needs to analyze the market and with reference to
destination sites, the market is targeted (Fahdiyar, 2015). According to the preference of
customers and their choice company design their brochure for visiting the destination sites.
BROCHURE FORMAT
The brochure must be attractive and interesting for attracting a number of visitors to the
company. The services with benefits and offers should be informed to customers which could
be helpful in gaining the attention of users. The front page should be influencing and appealing
which is helpful for tourists.
PAPER QUALITY, STYLE, AND THEME OF THE PAPER
The best quality must be considered for designing the brochure and the theme must be
correlated with companies services which sustain for future as well. The overall information
must be given in the brochure along with respective packages and discounts to the customers.
The various colour and style must be used in different tour packages (Brito, et al. 2015). The
theme must be considered according to the interest of the visitors in the market.

3.2 THE SUITABILITY OF ALTERNATIVES TO A TRADITIONAL
BROCHURE FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATORS AND
RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR TOUR PACKAGE
There is various type of tour operators who use a different variety of brochure. The Thomas
Cook consider the alternative of the traditional method. The traditional method of the brochure
was in pamphlet format, social media, and advertising in newspaper etc. which provide the
information to visitors (Lester, et al. 2016). But now Thomas Cook use the modern technology
of brochure in the form of pdf, online format, videos brochure etc.
The modern format of the brochure is more attractive and influencing a large number of
visitors. The brochure by Thomas Cook could be developed for the targeted customers and
company can sell the packages in the market effectively. The major area can cover with the help
of e-brochure which can be developed in the form of audio, video, picture, etc.
The different type of operators can use these modern brochure techniques for the target
customers in fulfilling their needs in the market. The operator gets benefit through it and
detailing of the services with destination sites can mention in e-brochure which could be
published through internet, television, and video etc. This method is very fruitful in selling the
tour packages (Gilli, et al. 2015).

3.3 THE SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION USED
TO SELL A HOLIDAY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR AND
RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR LUXURY TOUR PACKAGE
Different tour operators use different marketing approaches in the various country known as
New Zealand, London, India, UK, and Spain etc. The methods are discussed below as:
Travel agencies
The travel agencies promote the holiday packages of the tour operators for selling their holiday
packages (Veal, 2017). They operate at the local level and build the relationships with people by
selling tour packages of the company as per the requirement of the visitors.
Social Networking Sites
The marketing at this level promote the packages more effectively because people are so much
connected with social media. It includes Google ad word which helps in determining various
types of searches by the people and then they will get the name of the company with
respective services demanded by visitors (Minazzi, 2015).
Figure 3: Social Networking Sites
[Source: Nhung, 2016]

Blogs
A particular web page created individually or collectively is known as the blog where the
marketing team create the interest in visitors for visiting the sites on the basis of services
offered by the company and the experiences shared by other people who are being visited and
utilize the services of the appropriate company.
Direct mail
This is one of the oldest methods of marketing where different tour packages are analysed with
respect to target visitors. The information is provided to visitors with the help of emails with
the attachment of destination pictures and complete information is being given to the visitors.
The most appropriate way is blogging as it gives detail information and the experience of
another people and opinion of professionals are also shared in blogs which may create the
interest of visitors (Smith, 2014). Along with this information of desired hotels, destination,
packages of the area is also given to visitors.
CONCLUSION
From the task, it has been seen that suitable planning of elements is needed for creating a
brochure and several platforms are also included by tour operators for attracting the visitors
and a different method of distribution is being used by tour operators.

L04
INTRODUCTION
This report concludes various strategies which are used by tour operators for making the
appropriate decision. This report also compares different tactical decisions for solving the issues
on the basis of segmenting, distribution, pricing and promotion by the tour operator.
BODY
4.1 STRATEGIC DECISIONS MADE BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR
OPERATOR
The Thomas Cook and The Cox and King are two different tourism country which provides
services for travel around the world. They need to take appropriate strategic decisions for
gaining profit. The different type of strategic decisions are as follows:
Pricing Strategy
The pricing of the packages must be different according to different income group which can
attract a visitors and it would be profitable for a company as well (Nagle, et al. 2017). This
strategy contains discounts, offers, seasonal packages etc.
Promotional Strategy
It consists of the promotional or marketing activities of the company at local, national and
international levels and connects with tourists through various social networking sites and
brochure techniques. It also promotes the services through destination pictures and blogs and
establishes the positive image of the company.
Distribution Strategy
Thomas Cook and Cox and King also use the effective distribution channel which includes
transport, hotels, food, facilities etc. They give the best quality services for attracting more

visitors towards their company and provide information within a short time to needed
customers (Fountoulaki, et al. 2015).
Positioning and segmentation
The tour operators divide the market into segments according to culture, income, economy,
age and region and then decide their target audience and position their tours accordingly and
through the strategic decision in segmentation and positioning company can utilise their
resources in appropriate budget.

4.2 COMPARE THE TACTICAL DECISIONS THAT COULD BE TAKEN BY A
SELECTED TOUR OPERATOR IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
The short-term decision taken by the company is known as the tactical decision of the
organization. For implementing strategic decision tactical decisions are taken by Trailfinders.
Problems occurring in the environment are considered as tactical issues for the company. The
influencing discount offers and attractive tour packages could be selected by Trailfinders for
increasing the market share of the company and increasing the profitability of organization
(Vignali, 2015). A tactical decision also helpful in sustaining in the competitive market. The
efficient cost can also be used by Trailfinders for implementing the tactical decisions.
The strategies of competitors also are taken into consideration for making a decision more
accurately in gaining the competition. The company needs to take a decision regarding
economic, political, as well as legal issues that can affect the stability and profitability of
Trailfinders. The company can also bring innovation measures for sustaining in the competitive
world and fulfil the needs of the visitors.
The company could maintain their relationships with the local franchise who helps in promoting
their services and inform them of the changing trend in the market of the tourism industry
(Dong, et al. 2014). Trailfinders could plan the discounted packages for short time which helps
in gaining the profit for the company in short period of time. This tactical decision can help in
establishing new relationships with customers and offered the best possible services to them.
CONCLUSION
This report consists of strategic and tactical decision for the growth of the company and it also
shows the different types of strategies of Trailfinders. It becomes one of the leading tourism
company with short-term profits in a long range. Different comparing strategies as
segmentation, distribution, positioning are followed which are beneficial for customers as well
as company for long term.

CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been observed that tour operator plays an important role in the
growth of the economy and they operate their functioning through different aspects. The
industry work in the changing market which influence the performance of the tour operators.
This report helps in understanding the stages involved in developing holidays and evaluate
different methods for different type of tour operator. The brochure also developed for
marketing by a tour operator and strategic and tactical decisions also take place while
developing the holiday package by leading tour operators. In addition to these elements for
decision making is analysed by tour operators like Trailfinders, Thomas Cook etc. Further, the
selling plan is also created by during business operation. The report is helpful in developing the
learning approach of tour operating management.

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