Tour Operator Management: Strategies, Decisions, and Brochure Design

TOUR OPERATOR
MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
The tourism industry contributes a lot to the GDP of the various nations and this industry is also
responsible for generating the revenue in the United Kingdom. The different types of the
packages are being provided to the consumers. This report helps in giving the overview of the
tour operator industry enlisting the different types of the phases considered in the creation of
the holidays as well as in the brochures. Along with this, the various, as well as the tactical
decisions, are made by these tour operators so that they can be compared in the various
situations when encountered.
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TASK 1
1.1 EFFECT OF RECENT AND CURRENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENT ON TOUR
OPERATOR INDUSTRY
A tour operator is a person or the company
responsible for creating the holidays as well
as the vacations for the travellers with the
help of providing the reservations as well as
the facilities of the accommodation
provided to the customers by the tour
operators (Mariani, et al. 2014). The tour
operator is responsible for combining the
travelling as well as the various components
needed in it so that customer can enjoy and
have a memorable experience. This also
includes the airport facilities, the hotel
facilities, as well as the other services
provided by the tour operators (Kapiki,
2012). There are various categories of the
tour operators namely inbound, outbound,
Domestic, Ground, and the direct Sell
Operator.
Figure 1 Tour Operators
Source: Admin, 2010.
The direct sell operators are those
operators providing numerous offers to the
consumers by selling the package of the
holiday to the public. These are also called
the mediators as firstly they purchase the
holiday package from the organization itself
and then they sold off the holiday package
are done to the consumers. These
operators help in providing the low cost for
the packages (Frey and George, 2010). This
has been made available in the market. The
inbound tour operators are those operators
which provide tourism to the foreign
clients. The whole facilities are provided
from source to destination. The facilities of
accommodation, guides related to the
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travel, food associated with the travelling,
the forms of entertainment are being
provided (Elkington, 2013). The
collaboration is also done with the tour
operators internationally so that the holiday
package can be built as well as sold. The
brand image of the country is created with
the help of making the available resources
to maximize and attain the profit. The
example of an inbound tour operator in the
UK is GTI Travel Group. The outbound tour
operators are those operators which
provide holiday package of the native
country. The travelling included in this
operator is combined with the facilities
provided by the inbound tour operators so
that high foreign exchange can be earned.
The example of popular outbound tour
operator of UK is First Choice as well as the
My Travel. The Domestic Tour operators
help in operating within the area
domestically so that the travellers can see
the inside of the domestic country
(Maloletko, et al. 2014). The domestic
tourism is not popular since the travellers
would like to visit the international tours
which in turn generate the high returns as
well as the margins. The integrity is
maintained at the domestic level. The
example of domestic tour operator of UK is
Leisure Breaks. The specialist tour operators
are those operators who choose certain
type in designing the package. The
numerous varieties were included in such
packages (Duman and Tosun, 2010).
Another name of the specialist tour
operators is the tailor-made operators as
the preference is given by the tourists. Their
preference consists of the food as well as
the transport facilities, and the location
preferred by them. These operators possess
the high knowledge of the information of
the various destinations of the tourists
(Wearing, et al. 2010). The package is
designed according to the budget given by
the tourists.
The tour operators in the United Kingdom
give their attention generally to the tours
organized internationally so that high
profits, as well as the margins, can be
attained. The country popularity is also
spreading thereby providing the foreign
exchange associated with it. The TUI AG is
the tour operator Of the UK that helps in
providing the international tours thereby
generating the revenue of 23.8 billion Euros
and is currently operating in the 15
countries of Europe. The 81 tour operators
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are included in it (Mitchell, 2010). The
Thomas Cook AG is the popular tour
operator of UK which operates in the areas
of Germany, Hungary, Egypt, Ireland,
Austria, Poland, etc. the 30 tour operators
are included in this group. The revenue
generated by the Thomas Cook is about 8
billion euros and is originally operated in
Germany. The First Choice tour operators of
UK consists of about 28 tour operators and
the area of operation includes France,
Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, etc. the
39 tour operators are included in the My
Travel PLC thereby generating the revenue
of 8.2 billion Euros.
Vertical Integration helps in collaborating
with the various associates in the business
performed at the various levels (Burns, et
al. 2014). When the investment is done by
the tour operators in the companies of
transport as well as the hotels then this is
termed to as the backward vertical
integration and if the investment is done by
the tour operators in the various agencies
of the travelling then it is termed to as the
forward vertical integration. The focus of
the TUI Group is generally on the Vertical
Integration.
Figure 2 Vertical Integration
Source: Admin, 2013.
Horizontal Integration helps in doing the
merging process of the various agencies of
travelling so that the competition can be
reduced to some extent. In the year of
1995, the Thomas cook tour operator has
joined hands with the Sunworld so that the
standards of the company can be increased
(Joskow, 2012). This helps in generating the
higher market share thereby gaining the
competitive advantage.
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