Tour Operations Management: A Comprehensive Guide to Strategic and Tactical Decisions

This comprehensive guide delves into the intricacies of tour operations management, exploring the impact of current trends, the stages involved in holiday development, and the strategic and tactical decisions that shape successful tour operators. From analyzing market research and assessing the suitability of different contracting approaches to evaluating brochure design and distribution methods, this report provides a detailed overview of the key aspects of tour operations management. It also examines the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operators, including positioning, capacity, promotional plans, and pricing strategies. Furthermore, the report explores the tactical decisions that tour operators must make in various situations, such as dealing with competition, consolidating services, and adapting to changing market conditions. This insightful analysis offers valuable insights for aspiring tour operators and industry professionals seeking to navigate the complexities of the tourism sector.

Tour Operations Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Task 1.........................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Analyse the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour
operators industry...................................................................................................................4
Task 2:........................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Assess the stages and timescales involved in developing holidays.................................6
2.2: Evaluate the suitability of for different components of the holiday and different types
of tour operator.......................................................................................................................7
2.3 Calculate the selling price of a holiday from the given information below.....................9
Task 3:......................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Evaluate the planning decisions taken for the design of a selected brochure................10
3.2: Assess the suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for different types of tour
operators and recommend the most appropriate for your tour package...............................12
3.3: Evaluate the suitability of different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday......13
Task 4.......................................................................................................................................15
4.1 Evaluate the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator....................15
4.2 Compare the tactical decisions that could be taken by a selected tour operator in
different situations................................................................................................................17
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................18
References:...............................................................................................................................19
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Introduction:
Present elucidation is based on the sector of tourism and related with process and aspects of
Tour Operation management. The elucidation is going to be made for the understanding of
different stages which are followed for the development of holiday packages. The type of
contracts that are significantly made by the different tour operators like Trailfinders Limited,
with different service providers to conduct the tour services will also be explained in this
elucidation. Steps to prepare a brochure inclusive of new ways of marketing will be defined
in this elucidation. Various strategic and tactic decisions are taken by the Trailfinders Limited
in a different situation and an overview of these decisions are going to be given in proposed
elucidation.
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Task 1
1.1 Analyse the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour
operators industry.
The operator of the tour is
expanding with product
and service demand. The
operator of the tour
covers both tour and
travel business for
providing the packages
for holiday. A Holiday
package is the results of
the business, the tourism
industry is growing in the
retail industry where the
agents do the tour
industry marketing and
sell the holiday packages
similar to other sectors or
areas (Mowforth and
Munt, 2015). There are
numerous trends that have
affected the development
of the business.
 Technology
Development:
Another purpose behind
the development of the
travel business is through
the improvement and
innovation of
technologies as every one
of the exchanges is
executed by the web
which is a new
technology. The operator
of the tour industry has
moved toward becoming
digitalized that has
expanded the services and
products quality and
reach to tour operations
becomes easy (Sharpley
and Telfer, 2015).
 Increase in the
extra cash of
economy:
Expanding nation
economy has the
significant effect in the
development of some of
the business. Expanding
the discretionary cash
flow builds the ways of
life of the general
population of the nation.
The visit administrator
industry makes the open
door for the business and
expands the income of the
nation.
 Consumer
loyalty level:
The client’s satisfaction is
vital for an industry that
measures the
effectiveness and
adequacy of the business.
This shows the
development of the
association by holding the
clients and their
satisfaction and
expanding the interest for
the result of the business
(Eid, 2015). The operator
of the tour industry is
taking the great
satisfaction and fulfilment
of the clients as they
enhanced the quality of
the services.
 Customized
items:
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The service has been
given by the operator of
the tour because the
packages and services are
modified at the tour
package designing time
and all the requests and
the prerequisite of the
clients are also measured
(Morris & Kazi, 2014).
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Task 2:
Introduction:
Holidays are most seasonal time for the tourism industry in which demand for tourist packages
enhanced significantly. The current report is based on those steps which should be followed to
generate customer oriented packages so that Trailfinders Limited can attract maximum
customers. Different types of contracts which are made by the tour operators to provide services
to customers will also be discussed in this report.
2.1 Assess the stages and timescales involved in developing holidays
Trailfinders Limited is a leading company which is providing tourism services. to create
attractive and profitable holiday packages following steps can be followed by the company:
 Market research: market research is one of the most essential factors during the creation of
holiday packages. Market research involves research about customer needs and current
desires, policies and prices of competitors and, research about high demanded attractions to
prepare appropriate package so that Trailfinders can attract a high number of customers and
gain high profits (Hotta, 2014).
 Planning: Planning is the second step which is related to the identification of routes,
destination, different charges and need of staff to conduct the offered services. Proper
Planning before deciding the package is must to complete the offer services effectively.
 Cost determination: after discussing all the steps of planning and research, cost of the tour
will be identified by the Trailfinders which will include the cost of travelling, food services,
charges for the offered attractions and others (Jokela, 2013). By identifying the costs of
different services, Trailfinders can offer holiday packages at competitive prices.
 Promotion: marketing is the next step which presents the designed package to customers to
motivate them to purchase. Proper and market suitable promotional process and practices
should be adopted by the Trailfinders to attract customers so that company can gain high
profits (Hotta, 2014).
During the creation of holiday packages, Trailfinders should apply proper pricing strategies
including discounting and demand-based pricing to attract more customers.
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2.2: Evaluate the suitability of for different components of the holiday and different types
of tour operator
Tourism services include various type of services like transportation, food, Hoteling and for the
same, several types of contracts are made by the tour operators with a different organisation
which provides services on the behalf of the tour operator. The contracting approaches can be
classified as under:
 Hoteling: accommodation is the basic need of tourists and for the same, variable contorting
practices is applied by the tour operators in which prices of accommodation is decided
according to the class of rooms and additional facilities (Räikkönen, 2014). Variable
contracting for hoteling helps to adjust the prices of packages according to the budget of the
client.
 Transportation: for the transportation facility, fixed contracting method is applied by the
maximum tour operators in which charges are paid at a fixed rate according to the distance
and number of passengers. Fixed contacting is best for transportation because it helps to
maintain comfortable transportation arrangements for the clients (Manuel, 2012).
 Food: charges of food services are varied according to the items and places so no fixed
contracts are made for food-related services but sometimes operators like to make an ad-hoc
contract with different hotels and restaurants to avail the food in best-discounted prices
(Manuel, 2012).
Contracts according to the operators:
 Domestic operator: fixed contracts are made by the maximum domestic operators for the
different services because their services are not affected by the current changes. For example,
domestic operators used to sign margin-led contracts with transportations in which amounts
are paid along with the certain percentage of profit on the basis of cost incurred by the
service provider.
 Outbound operators: outbound operators applied a different type of contracts for the same
services according to the place and nature of service. For example, contracts with air brokers
are made to arrange the air transport at low prices (Räikkönen, 2014). Some Outbound
operator likes to sign seasonal flexing contracts in which high prices for service is paid
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during high demand and low prices are paid during offseason. This type of contract helps to
be competitive during the offseason.
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2.3 Calculate the selling price of a holiday from the given information below.
For the educational tour of 40 students is proposed for which Grand CasselBergh is offering
accommodation services at discounted prices. At the rate of 30% mark-up and considering all
associated costs, the selling price of the package will be an under:
Particulars Amounts £
Total students 40
Time Period of the tour 5 nights
charges of hotel
(€90/ person)
€90/1.15=£78.26 and round off as £78) 78.26086957
rate of Currency Exchange €1.15(Euro) = £1 (Pound)
Bus charges 7400
Guide Cost (€920/1.15) 800
Desired margin 30%
Particular Amount £
Hotel (£78×40×5) 15600
Tour Guide 800
Coach 7400
total cost 23800
Desired company margin 30% 7140.00
Total cost of tour 30940.00
Per Student cost 773.5
Conclusion:
The upstairs report is based on the new tour project of 40 student’s educational tours and
different steps to prepare holiday package is discussed for the understanding of line manager of
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Trailfinders so that he can develop and design competition oriented tour packages. Different
methods of contracting for different factors of tour package are also discussed in this report.
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Task 3:
Executive summary:
Brochures are used to deliver the information about proposed services with prices and special
facilities for marketing purpose and it should be innovative attractive because it is the first step to
inspire the clients to buy the offered services. In current task, different factors that are considered
during the designing of a tour package along with brochure alternatives are going to elucidate
which are really very helpful the tour operators to attract the high number of clients.
Introduction:
In this short report, ways of designing the brochure for Trailfinders will be explained for the
understanding of the marketing team. Alternatives way for the marketing through brochures and
different methods of distribution will also be discussed in this short report.
3.1 Evaluate the planning decisions taken for the design of a selected brochure
Effective marketing of every product in every industry is necessary to attain the proposed targets
and a brochure is a traditional and effective way to deliver the information about offered services
to customers. It has many benefits like cost-effectiveness, easy to distribute info and useful for
the offline and online mode. Following are some issues in the designing of the brochure:
Formatting:
Formatting of the brochure is one of the most important elements because it decides the
effectiveness of whole efforts. Formatting of the brochure should be designed according to the
product, service and targeted customer class (Vorobyeva, 2015). For example, if a tour package
is offered for the young couples, the brochure should be designed according to the needs and
main desired of young couples. A brochure includes information about issuing company, offered
services, prices and other legal and general information.
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Product or service description:
During the preparation of brochure marketing team of Trailfinders has to concentrate on the way
in which information about offered packages is going to be print on broacher. Information should
be provided in an attractive but understandable manner so that customers can understand the
whole facilities and conditions of services and company can work with maximum client pleasure
(Vorobyeva, 2015).
Targeted market and customer class:
The brochure should be made according to the targeted customer class and market because it
decides the level of effectiveness of brochure and if it is made suitably, it helps to gain more and
more customers (Vorobyeva, 2015).
Printing:
Printing is last but very crucial matter in designing the brochure in which colour, the
involvement of images and graphs are discussed to ensure the attractive printing of brochures so
that Trailfinders can gain more by attracting and the selling the services to more customers.
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3.2: Assess the suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for different types of tour
operators and recommend the most appropriate for your tour package.
Traditionally brochure was the main way for the distribution of information in tourism industry’s
organisations like Trailfinders Limited but due to the technology innovations, different new
mediums like internet marketing, television ads and E-brochures for social media are used to
reach a maximum number of customers and the same is explained as below:
Television ads:
Television is the main way for the marketing for Trailfinders Limited because it covers a number
of peoples without considering the geographic effects. Through the television, a domestic
operator can promote his package to a large area and an outbound operator can reach up to
clients situated in different countries (Carlsson-Lervik, 2015).
Internet ads:
Internet marketing is another new way of marketing in the tourism industry which can be utilised
by the Trailfinders Limited to promote its tour services. In this way of marketing, ads are posted
on different social and commercial sites to reach and attract those clients which are not reachable
in the traditional way of marketing.
Video on mobile:
It is a new and highly utilising way of marketing in which videos related with offered places and
services are sending to peoples through social media applications so that they can contact to
Trailfinders Limited for further choirs and object of marketing can be reached (Carlsson-Lervik,
2015).
All the above ways of marketing help to reach maximum targeted clients without heavy
monetary expenses and suitable in the environment of technology innovations.
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3.3: Evaluate the suitability of different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday.
Direct sales:
A direct sale is suitable for inbound and domestic operators because their desired targets are
local persons whom they want to sell their domestic tour packages. In direct sales, holiday
packages are sold to clients without taking help of intermediates. As Trailfinders Limited has a
skilled sales team, direct selling should be correctly managed by the company.
Call Centres:
Bulk calling to people’s thorough call centres to inform them about the tour packages is also
utilised in the tourism industry. Trailfinders Limited can use this method for the marketing of
tour packages through outsourcing the work to an external firm who will do the same on the
behalf of Trailfinders Limited (Schwarzl and Grabowska, 2015).
Agencies:
Trailfinders Limited can take services of external agencies for the marketing of tour packages
which applies unique ways to promote the products and services (Schwarzl and Grabowska,
2015).
Internet:
For the outbound operators which are selling their tour packages worldwide, can use the internet
as the best way to sell their packages because it is only the way to target those clients which are
not possible to be reached through traditional ways (Carlsson-Lervik, 2015).
Recommendation:
To sell the luxury tour packages, internet and mobile marketing is the best way because it
provides facility to target a large number of clients personally and ensure high sells for the
offered tour packages.
Conclusion:
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On the root of upstairs debate, it can be said that marketing is a very indispensable area of
working which entails proper planning and strategy to touch the aims. The debate is verifying
that brochure is a main way of marketing in tourism business and should be made after seeing all
formatting and designing aspects. The discussion is finishing that Diverse new ways of
marketing are more effective and beneficial if utilised correctly.
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Task 4
Executive Summary
It is important for the tour operators to get the knowledge about the different process of decision
making that is tactical and strategic. It allows operators in designing the right framework for
operation management at different and at huge levels. Therefore for the services of good quality,
it is essential to make tactical and strategic decisions.
Introduction
In this task, different types of decision making will be understood and their importance is also
learned in operational management on the tour. It will help the operators of the tour to simplify
their tasks and operations in appropriate way. This task will consist of strategic and tactical
decisions taken by various operators of the tour.
4.1 Evaluate the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator
For the lifelong considerations, it is important to build strategies which are the major part of the
business. For the appropriate working following diverse strategic decisions are taken by the
diverse operators of the tour.
Positioning: operators of tours like outbound and inbound needs to position and rank their
organization constantly based on time. This helps the operators in making their association and
business look different from other similar companies so that an effective and proper competitive
advantage could be gained (Vuorinen, 2015).
Capacity: production capacity is another chief aspect of the strategic decision. In this outbound
and inbound operators of tour needs to deliver the services until they could deliver it. It is
important to make appropriate strategies that could align according to the production capacity
unless it will result in a loss.
Promotional plan: this strategic aspect is important to implement as this strategy helps in the
business marketing by incorporating various marketing techniques. It is important because the
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business profitability is fully dependent on the decisions made (Peterlin, 2015). Therefore
decision should be made appropriate considering the goodwill and growth of an association.
Strategies for pricing: Trailfinders uses different strategies for the pricing purpose to get more
customers attracted toward the company and buy the services of the company. The chief purpose
of strategic decision making is to attract and retains more and more customers (Vuorinen, 2015).
The pricing decisions are made according to the product and service quality.
All these strategic decision aspects need to be taken into consideration by the Trailfinders
organization for carrying the appropriate decisions for their packages of the holiday. These
aspects will help the Trailfinders in making the business different from others and decrease their
competition in the market.
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4.2 Compare the tactical decisions that could be taken by a selected tour operator in
different situations.
For implementing the strategic decisions the tactical decisions are required for the business.
These decisions are for a smaller time duration. Numerous tactical decisions are made by an
organization on daily basis (Evertsz, et. al., 2015). For gaining the competitive leverage
Trailfinders needs a tactical decision process.
Competition– The strategic choices to defeat the opposition and competitor’s elimination from
the marketplace include the choices about the change in the item quality, reduced costs and
product discounted prices, additional offices, attractive discounts and offers and facilities to get
the different competitive advantage in the UK local market (Misni and Lee, 2017). This helps the
Trailfinders to eliminate their competition in the marketplace.
Consolidation – This aspect needs to take by the Trailfinders and this requires services
identification, for example, transportation, accommodation, amusements, meals and so forth to
be incorporated into a holiday package as per the requirement of the customers who will buy the
package (Misni and Lee, 2017). The combination of legitimate and proper services is chief to
build up a reasonable and good package for holiday for the customers.
Conclusion
From this task, I have understood the different decisions that need to be considered by the
tourism business to make the good position in the market. Different tactical and strategic
decisions need to be made by the Trailfinders for dealing with the business legally. Also for this
purpose, it is important to consider the customer requirements too.
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Conclusion:
The detailed discussion which was made above it presenting the clear image of tour operation
management and concluding that tour management is a complex task which requires proper
strategic planning for marketing, package designing and selling. The discussion was started from
the elucidation of current trends of tour operation industry and, describing the importance of
utilisation of new ways of promotion for proper and effective marketing to reach the targets. To
stay as a leading name in tour operation industry, Trailfinders Limited has to prepare attractive
tour packages and this elucidation is describing the same along with some different type of
contracts which are made by the tour operators to manage the offered services. On the basis of
overall elucidation, it can be said that strategic and tactic decisions both are very crucial for a
tour operational company and should be taken with proper provisions.
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