Tour Operations Management: A Comprehensive Analysis of Trends, Strategies, and Tactical Decisions

TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................ 3
P1.1 ANALYZE THE EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS ON THE
TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY....................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................ 5
P2.1 ASSESS THE STAGES AND TIMESCALES INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING HOLIDAYS..................5
P2.2 EVALUATE THE SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING FOR DIFFERENT
COMPONENTS OF THE HOLIDAY AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR.........................7
P2.3 CALCULATE THE SELLING PRICE OF A HOLIDAY FROM GIVEN INFORMATION ABOVE.......9
TASK 3.......................................................................................................................................... 11
P3.1 EVALUATE THE PLANNING DECISIONS TAKEN FOR THE DESIGN OF A SELECTED
BROCHURE............................................................................................................................... 11
P3.2 ASSESS THE SUITABILITY OF ALTERNATIVES TO A TRADITIONAL BROCHURE FOR
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATORS AND RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR
YOUR TOUR PACKAGE..............................................................................................................13
P3.3 EVALUATE THE SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION USED TO SELL A
HOLIDAY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR AND RECOMMEND THE MOST
APPROPRIATE FOR A LUXURY TOUR PACKAGE........................................................................15
TASK 4.......................................................................................................................................... 16
P4.1 EVALUATE THE STRATEGIC DECISIONS MADE BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR
................................................................................................................................................. 16
P4.2 COMPARE THE TACTICAL DECISIONS THAT COULD BE TAKEN BY A SELECTED TOUR
OPERATOR IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS....................................................................................18
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 19
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REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................20
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INTRODUCTION
In the last few years, the tourism industry has been exponentially grown up and it has also
gained a lot of popularity in the market among the local as well as international customers. The
popularity of travel and tourism sector in the European nations like UK, Ireland, Scotland, etc. is
very high as compared to the other continents in the world. There is an assortment of different
tour operators present in the market that provides various different services to the tourists
from all across the globe. The major purpose of those tour operators in the market is to achieve
higher and higher profits by providing best quality products and services.
The following assignment portrays the different trends that have been developed within the
travel and tourism sector of the nation in the last few years. Being a member of the product
development department at the Trailfinders Ltd, it is very important to analyze the changes
that have been taken place in the sector of travel and tourism due to the introduction of new
trends in the industry. The industry of travel and tourism is related with the several different
industries such as; hospitality industry, food and beverage industry, etc. and thus it is very
important for the tour operators like Trailfinders to develop appropriate strategies and tactics
to attract more and more visitors towards the tourist destinations of the nation, so that every
industry of the country can earn significant profits from it. Thus, the tactical and strategic
decisions that are made by the tour operators like Trailfinders have also been discussed in the
further sections of this assignment.
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TASK 1
P1.1 ANALYZE THE EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND
DEVELOPMENTS ON THE TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY
A tour operator is referred to an agency
that combines different types of travel
components so as to develop a package
holiday. There are several famous tour
operators present in the UK that provides
diverse services to the customers. These
tour operators are; Trailfinders, Thomas
Cook, Visit Britain, etc. Along with the tour
operators, there are several trade bodies
too present in the market which enhances
the travel and tourism experiences of the
visitors by providing appropriate services.
The major trade bodies that are present in
the UK include; Federation of Tour
Operators (FTO), The Travel Association
(ABTA), UK inbounds, UK Civil Aviation
Authority (CAA), etc. The primary role of
these trade bodies is to set laws and
provide extensive knowledge to the
companies in the market. The trends in the
sector of travel and tourism have been
changed very rapidly in the last few years
and are expected to continue with the
changes for the upcoming period of time
(Abrate, et al. 2016). The researchers from
different nations of the world have carried
out various researches in order to identify
these trends in the tourism section and the
impacts of these trends on the economy of
a nation like United Kingdom. The
development of tour operators industry
also gets influenced by the changes in travel
and tourism trends. Thus, the recent and
current trends in the tour operators
industry and their effects on the industry’s
development are as follows;
FLEXIBLE BOOKING OPTIONS
One of the latest trends in the travel and
tourism industry is the utilization of latest
technologies. The advancements in the
technology have enabled the visitors from
different parts of the world to get
information about any visitor attraction of
the globe through a variety of technological
sources. According to the latest technical
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trends, there are several flexible booking
options such as; tele-text, internet
websites, calls centers, etc. that can be
used by the tourists to book their tour
packages easily and quickly.
DESTINATION MARKETING
Another recent trend in the tour operators
industry that has influenced the travel and
tourism sector of the nation like UK is
‘Destination Marketing’ (Agarwal, 2017). In
today’s world, the tour operators like
Trailfinders focuses on attracting customers
by doing destination marketing rather that
doing marketing of the entire nation. This is
done in order to attract targeted audience
towards the tourist destinations. The
different sources that are used to carry out
destination marketing by Trailfinders
include; leaflets, social media marketing,
etc.
NICHE TOURISM
Niche tourism can be considered as the one
of the most impressive trends in the today’s
tour operators industry. The tourists of this
modern time period wishes to visit different
tourist destinations of the world in order to
gain a variety of tourism experiences
(Benur, et al. 2015). Niche tourism is also
referred to the special interest tourism as it
is based on the interests of tourists.
The tour operators like Trailfinders have
also entered niche tourism market and
thus, it now offers an assortment of
different tourism experiences to the
customers such as; adventure tourism,
medical tourism, dark tourism, grey
tourism, sports tourism, historical tourism,
etc.
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
One of the current trends that have
positively influenced the tour operators
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