Tour operator management is crucial in the travel industry, involving developing tour packages, strategic decision-making, and brochure design. This assignment explores the impact of current trends, stages in creating holidays, brochure review, and distribution methods.
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TOUR OPERATOR MANAGEMENT
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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2 TASK 1 UNDERSTAND THE TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY WITHIN THE TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR.............................................................................................................................................3 1.1EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS ON THE TOUR OPERATOR INDUSTRY..................................................................................................................3 TASK 2- UNDERSTAND STAGES INVOLVED IN CREATING HOLIDAYS...............................................4 2.1 STAGES AND TIMESCALE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOLIDAY PACKAGES-..........................4 2.2 SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING FOR DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE HOLIDAY AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR..................................................6 2.3 CALCULATE THE SELLING PRICE OF A HOLIDAY.....................................................................8 TASK 3- BE ABLE TO REVIEW BROCHURES AND METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION USED TO SELL HOLIDAYS.........................................................................................................................................9 3.1 THE PLANNING DECISIONS TAKEN FOR THE DESIGN OF A SELECTED BROCHURE................9 3.2 SUITABILITY OF ALTERNATIVES TO A TRADITIONAL BROCHURES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR.......................................................................................................................11 3.3 SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION USED TO SELL A HOLIDAY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR AND RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR TOUR PACKAGE...............................................................................................................12 TASK 4- UNDERSTAND STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL DECISION MAKING FOR TOUR OPERATORS. .13 4.1 THE STRATEGIC DECISIONS MADE BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR..................13 4.2 COMPARE THE TACTICAL DECISIONS THAT COULD BE TAKEN BY A SELECTED TOUR OPERATOR IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS......................................................................................15 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................16 1
INTRODUCTION Tour operation management business administration is the significant aspect of the travel and tourism industry that manages the tourist destination and helps the general people to visit these places accordingly. Tour operators are responsible to develop the tour packages for the people and they integrate with other companies in order to provide satisfactory services and goods to the people. In this assignment, different aspects of the travel industry and the current trends effects will describe. Further, different significant stages for the development of holiday package will describe in which the time frame is the most important key area. The suitability of diverse contracting methods will also describe and after this significance of brochure and its promotional strategy will explain that plays a viable role in order to attract the customers. In the end, tactical and strategic decisions comparison study will cover the area. 2
TASK 1 UNDERSTAND THE TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY WITHIN THE TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR 1.1EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS ON THE TOUR OPERATOR INDUSTRY LEAFLET: 3
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TASK 2- UNDERSTAND STAGES INVOLVED IN CREATING HOLIDAYS 2.1 STAGES AND TIMESCALE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOLIDAY PACKAGES- The travel and tourism sector is one of the most comprehensive industries that also contribute their large part in the economy of the country and enhances the profitability rate as well. As there are several tour operators who are responsible to provide services and goods to the visitors and also develops the holiday packages for them so that they can easily make their plans and take the advantages in a single price or package accordingly. Following stages are to be considered in order to develop the holiday packages such as- Market research: in order to identify the needs and demands of the people according to trends, it is important to research the marketplace. With the proper analysis of the market, the organization can easily make the decisions and it is also helpful to determine the influencing factors as well (Lacej and Kalaj, 2015). Assessment of cost: after deciding the tour package and researching the market, the second step is the assessment of cost in which the pricing strategy of the services and goods would be finalized in order to attract the customers. The tour operator makes several strategies and approaches and in the starting phase, they fixed the costing of a tour package and then make the decisions accordingly. Staffing and management: the customer satisfaction is the key aspect of any business administration and in order to provide services and the facilities to the people, the proper management of staff members must be acquired. As the tourism industry also provides the opportunity for employment, so that the general people can easily take the benefit and helps in the enhancement of profitability as well. Negotiation strategy: the tour operators collaborated with other companies towards enhancing the effectiveness and profitability rate as well. Many other service sectors are integrated with the tour management industry in order to provide the services and gods to the customers at single package such as accommodation, food, transport etc. so the tour operators initially 4
negotiated with them towards giving the discounts and other attractive offers as well (Glover, et al. 2016). Evaluation and Analysis: in the last step, after the development of the plans and tour packages; the most important factor is to analyses the plans in order to check the quality and ensuring the stability as well. The timescale framework is figured out with the help of Gantt chart and it will take at least 6 months to implement- TIMESCALE1-2 MONTHS2-3 MONTHS3-4 MONTHS4-5 MONTHS5-6 MONTHS MARKET RESEARCH ASSESSMENT OF COST STAFFING AND MANAGEMEN T NEGOTIATION STRATEGY EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS Figure: Gantt chart 5
2.2 SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING FOR DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE HOLIDAY AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR Tour holiday packages are referred as the brochure and leaflet types in which the entire information and the details of destination place are described in an effective manner, which attracts the customers easily and they can also make their plans accordingly. The brochure must be effective and attractive in order to gain the high attention of the people and helps them to provide the required services and the goods that can satisfy their needs and demands as well. The pricing strategies are the cost base methodology that sets the standards and deciding the pricing of the goods and services accordingly (Page, 2014). the tour operators make the pricing strategy for the customers by adding different costing and mark up value by which they can also gain the profit and enhances the effectiveness accordingly. Different contracting methods are described below that is utilized by the tour operators such as- Fixed cost pricing strategy: in this strategy, the tour operators fixed the cost of tour packages and in which each and every required facilities or service are included so that the people can easily take the benefit of it and make their holiday plans accordingly. In the fixed cost pricing strategy, the selling price of the tour package has been established by adding the markup cost variable that helps to generate the revenue and make the profit for the organization as well. Sales only contract: this is the pricing contract in which the tour operators decide the price according to the season or the destination place. The pricing based on the sales contract is comparatively high. As there are majorly two kinds of the season for visiting such as offseason and the other is peak season. In the off-season, the pricing is relatively low while in peak season, when the demand of customer is high, so the tour operator also sells their tour packages on high price accordingly (Holland and Leslie, 2018). These both the contracting methods are usually utilized by the tour operators in order to develop the tour holiday package and providing the services and goods accordingly. as fixed 6
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cost service is the most efficient and best method for selling the tour package comparative to sales only contract methodology. 7
2.3 CALCULATE THE SELLING PRICE OF A HOLIDAY The Grand Cassel Bergh in Burges proposed a new strategy and develops the tour package of summer vacation 2019 for the students for 5 nights. The total numbers of students are 42 and the price of one room is euro 96 of one room in which two people can stay that also includes breakfast. The luxury bus service charge isÂŁ 11,200 that includes the overall charges of two skilled drivers, managers, taxes and the fuel or ferry taxes accordingly. local guide fees are around of ÂŁ 945 for the entire tour and by adding the 33 percent markup, the exchange rate is about 1 euro is equal to 0.89 pounds. COSTCALCULATIONTOTAL AMOUNT Single room price including breakfast 96*42*5âŹ20,160.00 Total variable cost⏠20,160.00 1 euro = 0.89 pounds Variable cost in pounds20,160.00*0.89ÂŁ17942.40 Cost of bus serviceÂŁ 11200.00 Cost of guide serviceÂŁ 945.00 Total cost of the tour package =ÂŁ 30,087.40 Adding 33 percent mark-up = 9928.84 Total price = ÂŁ 40,016.24 Total students = 42 Per head pricing = ÂŁ 952.76 8
TASK3-BEABLETOREVIEWBROCHURESANDMETHODSOF DISTRIBUTION USED TO SELL HOLIDAYS 3.1 THE PLANNING DECISIONS TAKEN FOR THE DESIGN OF A SELECTED BROCHURE The brochures and the leaflet designs are the effective method to increase awareness among the people and give them information and the data about the tour packages of certain destination according to their demands and needs accordingly. An attractive brochure helps to enhance the profitability and by which, high attention of customer can be gained. The tour operatorsâ management departments used various strategic approaches and then make the decision regarding provide effective brochure design by which the people can get attracted even by seeing this and make their plans to visit the place accordingly (Needham, et al. 2017). The KUONI also promotes their tour packages in an effective manner and develops interesting or attractive tour packages for the people. For developing the brochure, following steps are to be considered firstly that are described below- Market research: the first step of the travel and tourism industry is the researching of the marketplace so that they can easily analyse the needs and demands of the people, which help to make the efficient decisions in order to develop the brochures. It gathers the whole data according to the recent trends and makes the process easier for the tour operator industry. Selection of target market: it is important to select the target market in order to provide them with such required services and the facilities accordingly. The management or marketing departments of the tour operator management company segment the market and then positioned their company or target the people and then make the decisions as well towards providing those services (Bruni, et al. 2017).Selection of target market has been acquired on the basis of gender, status, purpose, age group etc. Development or planning: the tour operator management department makes the decision or strategic approach in order to make effective or attractive brochure design so that they can 9
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easily gain the attention of people and enhance their profitability and effectiveness of the organization. Organizing and supervising: managing the staff and entire organizational things are the most important factor and the management department of the organization controls the operations and monitors the business practices effectively (Mwesiumo, et al. 2017). The marketing department of the company makes the strategies and designs the brochure in an attractive manner towards the attainment of the organizational goals and objectives and makes the company more profitable as well. 10
3.2 SUITABILITY OF ALTERNATIVES TO A TRADITIONAL BROCHURES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR The brochures and the leaflets are the effective methods that the several kinds of tour operators have been utilized in order to gain the high attentive audience and promote their market as well. The major aim of the tour operators is to enhance the profitability and provides the required services to the customer and gains competitive advantages as well. They used several methods to give information and the data to the people and the other alternative option of the handout is in various terms that the company used nowadays according to the advancements and requirements accordingly (Andergassen, et al. 2017). As the brochure includes entire data and whole information regarding the tour destination place and it helps to advance the tourism destination and puts the great impacts as well. The other ways to promoting the tour packages and selling the tour packages to the people through the E-brochure, online sites, magazines, print media, audio and visual brochure style and many more methods are utilized by the tour operators towards attracting the customers. The e-brochures are the type that can be easily accessible by the customers and it is actually highly attractive and the effective in nature, which helps to enhance the profitability and the effectiveness of the company as well (Filby, et al. 2015). There are several benefits of the e-brochures because it has the nature of visual and audio both by which the people can easily get the entire information in an effective manner and make their plans to go out accordingly. 11
3.3 SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION USED TO SELL A HOLIDAY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR AND RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR TOUR PACKAGE There are various methods and strategies that the tour operator management utilized for promoting the services and the facilities of them, which they provide to the people, while their entire tour. As mentioned above that the brochure in different styles is used to attract the customers and gain the attention of them because in which entire information and the details about the tour. Promotional strategies for the provided services and the facilities must be effective and in the manner in order by which the company easily gains the profit and enhances their effectiveness too (Cetin and Yarcan, 2017). The tour operator KUONI utilized various methods for selling their brochures and tour packages that are described below- Direct distribution: it is the effective method of selling the tour packages to the customer direct because in which the management departments direct sell the services and there is a benefit too, that the people can directly communicate with the company management staff in order to get the further details. The travel agents are responsible to sell these services to the people directly and it can be sold through the online and offline both the practice. Via travel agents: the travel agents are those who are responsible to give the details to the customers actually they are the mediator and provide each and every information to the customers on the contract basis of the company. They are the key aspects because they have the ability to convince the people for certain holiday tour by which the organization can easily enhance the profitability and the effectiveness as well. Thus, these are the strategic approaches and methodologies and apart from that, they also take the help of social sites such as YouTube advertisements, Facebook, Twitter and the Instagram etc. these are the platform where the people nowadays more active and easiest way to communicate with the customers directly and also helps to identify the needs and demands accordingly (Lozano, et al. 2016). Moreover, there are various advantages and disadvantages too but the organization makes some of the contingency plans according to reduce the negative consequences and make their organization more profitable as well. 12
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TASK 4- UNDERSTAND STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL DECISION MAKING FOR TOUR OPERATORS 4.1THESTRATEGICDECISIONSMADEBYDIFFERENTTYPESOFTOUR OPERATOR As the travel and tourism industry is the most comprehensive and effective sector that also contribute their large part in the economy of the country and enhances the effectiveness and value of the organization. There is various tour operators are responsible to provides services and the facilities to the people and makes the decision according to it. As they used several approaches and methods for promoting their brochures and the tour packages and in the initial step, different aspects are considered towards making the effective decisions and attracting customers as well as making the organization profitable as well (Sigala, 2014). As the pricing strategies of the tour operator business i.e. fixed cost and the sales contract, so the tour operators used various tactics and the approaches for attracting the customers. The major strategic approach of the company is STP by which they select the target market and position their organization accordingly and then makes the decisions as well. Some of the following strategies are as follows- STP:segmentation,targetingandpositioningisthemajorstrategicapproachthatthe organization used in order to select the target customers on the basis of gender, age group, status, purpose and many more aspects. Firstly, the tour operator business management researches the market in order to identify the needs and demands of the people, so that they would be able to make the further decisions accordingly towards attracting the customers and gain the competitive advantages. Further, the budget system has been also estimated and helpful regarding the services by which the company can easily mark up their profit rates and enhance the service area and accomplish the organizational target as well. Seasonal aspects of the tour: as it is mentioned that there are two kinds of major seasonal aspects in which the people decided to visit the place (ArgĂŒelles, et al. 2016). The offseason and the peak season; these are two major aspects and in the offseason, the pricing strategy of the organization is comparatively low while in the peak season, all the tour operator companies 13
charges high for the tour package, so it is the time to gain the profit and competitive advantages. Discount tactics: the tour operator sometimes makes the decisions according to provide discounted offers to their valuable customers, which attracts more of the people and also helps in gaining the competitive advantages as well (Robinson, et al. 2016). It is more important for the company to identify the customer needs and research the market to determine the other companies pricing strategy and then make their plans according to it that can be benefitted for the people as well as an organization too. 14
4.2COMPARETHETACTICALDECISIONSTHATCOULDBETAKENBYA SELECTED TOUR OPERATOR IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS As it is mentioned that the tour operators make various strategic decision and use the several tactics for developing the brochures and promoting it in an effective manner as well. The major decision while developing the tour package is the accommodation, food, transport services, and many more. The strategic decision of the tour operators can be defined as the short term decision, in which the organization sudden takes the decisions and makes the strategy according to the situations and the conditions as well such as surcharging, positioning of brand, portfolio relation, investments etc. while the tactical decision includes external factors, fluid pricing, yield management, contract-based decision, consolidation and many more. Moreover, the tour operator also conducts the meeting with their other service providers in order to negotiate the other services that are included in the tour package by which the high attention of people can be gained (Andergassen, et al. 2017). During the entire process, the tactical decision has been made in order to provide effective and satisfactory services or facilities to the people. As the promotional tactics and the marketing strategies must be effective and attractive in order to gain high attention and enhances the effectiveness of the organization with the brand values and high customer satisfaction. 15
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CONCLUSION The aforementioned assignment depicted the study of tour operator management, which is the major department of the travel and tourism industry and also contributes their huge part in the economy of the country. The significance of brochures and the promotional strategies has been described in the manner by which the high attention of audience can be gained effectively. The effect of current trends in the development of travel industry is also explained in manner. The different process of developing tour packages have been described with the strategic and tactical decision accordingly. 16
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