Business Plan: Escape Travel Mobile Application Analysis

This report presents a business plan for a travel mobile application developed by Escape Travel. The report addresses the market problem of connecting tourists worldwide and proposes a mobile application as a solution, acting as a social media platform for travelers. It outlines the benefits, including language barrier elimination and cultural understanding. The proposed business model involves membership fees and B2B ventures. Critical success factors include resource organization, market research, technology implementation, and risk management. The feasibility analysis suggests profitability after the first year. The report concludes that the application has a high potential for success if critical success factors are met. The student's contribution involved collaborative work and secondary research. The report includes references and appendices, providing a comprehensive overview of the business plan.

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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:

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Executive Summary
The given report deals with the innovative idea of launching a travel mobile application by the
organization Escape Travel. The target audience for this product is the tourists travelling across
the world. In return, the travelers need to pay a membership fees to the organization. This mobile
application can also be used a social media platform for the tourists. The report also highlights
the benefits for the product, critical analysis as well as feasibility analysis for it.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Market Problem/Reason due to which innovation is required.........................................................4
Benefits of the idea..........................................................................................................................5
Proposed business model.................................................................................................................6
Critical success factors....................................................................................................................7
Feasibility of the idea.......................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Individual Contribution.................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
Appendices....................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
In modern business times, it is of utmost importance for a business organization to
undergo the process of innovation in order to make their business sustainable. If any organization
fails to innovate new business ideas, then that particular organization will not be able to survive
in the long run (Kuppuswamy & Bayus, 2018). This report will highlight the innovative idea of a
travel mobile application, which will connect different tourists across the world like any other
social media platform. This travel application will be launched by the business organization by
Escape Travel. The organization plans and organizes travel holidays for customers
(escapetravel.com.au, 2018).
Market Problem/Reason due to which innovation is required
Tourism sector has increased by a considerable percentage across the entire world. Australia is
one of the top countries, where the number of tourists is on the higher side (Refer to Appendix 1).
In Australia, there are various tourists travelling in the country or across the world throughout the
year. There are various reasons behind their travelling destination (Refer to Appendix 2). These
reasons are as follows:-
 Exploring new places
 Attending any event
 Vising friends or family
 Academic purpose
 Short breaks
 Family outings
 International trips
However, the tourists face several problems via travelling. These problems can be in the form
language barriers, cultural diversity, etc. Apart from this, there are several tourists who are
planning to visit a particular tourist spot, however, they do not have any particular idea about
theta particular place (Derudder & Witlox, 2016).

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Therefore, it is of great essence to develop a mobile application for such travelers or
tourists, so that they can connect with each other when they are in a particular place or planning
to visit there.
Benefits of the idea
There are several benefits associated with the given business idea. This mobile
application will be useful to connect different tourists/travelers across the world, who are
travelling or planning to go to a particular place. This will help the tourists in various ways
which are as follows:-
 Eliminating the language barrier and cultural problems
 Homely environment for the respective tourist in an unknown place
 A tourist can take feedback of any particular place from any other tourist through this
application
 People from different backgrounds, origins can connect with each other
From the business point of view, this mobile application can be considered as a profitable
venture. The application will charge a membership fees from any customer after 3 months of
joining. The members of this app can chat with other co-members via chat option. Not only this,
they can call any particular co-traveler with his/her permission and the phone number of both the
parties would not be disclosed. This application can be used a social media platform just for
travelling purpose (Wirtz et al. 2016).
Since, tourism sector is booming and certain tourists’ face several issues while travelling,
therefore, the need of this application is inevitable (Linder & Williander, 2017). In addition to
this, the respective organization can also enter into venture with several B2B business with other
organizations in order to cater the market demand for the product (Brinckmann & Kim, 2015).
Proposed business model
Key Partners
Different
Travelling agents
Local
Governments
Key Activities
It is mobile
application for
tourists
It can be used as a
Value Proposition
It will help to
connect various
tourists of different
ages across various
Customer
Relationships
Direct interaction
with the customers.
Customers need to
Customer
Segments
It will cater various
ages of people
travelling across

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Various online
payment platforms.
social media
platform as well
Minimizing cultural
barriers across
tourists of various
countries.
regions or countries.
It will be of high
brand loyalty if it is
successful to cater
the market for the
first 3 months after
its launch.
provide
membership fees
after first 3 months
of free service
.
the world
Different classes of
tourists can use this
application for
their purpose
(Minimum 13
years of age)
The user needs to
provide a valid
identity proof
before becoming a
member.
.
Key Resources
High end technology
to build the mobile
application
Human resource
Start-up costs
required for the
online application.
Channels
Social media
Mobile
Application
B2B business.
Print media
Television
advertisement
Cost Structure
Free-cost for initial 3 months of membership
High-end costs for premium customers (Membership fees-
Premium-providing calling facilities-Starting from $100
dollars)
Normal membership fees (with no calling facility available)
Taking advertisement fees in order to promote tourism of a
particular region or country
Revenue Streams
Membership fees of the customers
Social media advertisement
Business to Business model via promoting
several tourism areas/regions/countries (Demil
et al. 2015)

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Table 1: Business model canvas of the given innovation
(Source: Barquet et. al. 2013)
Critical success factors
There are several critical success factors for the given business idea. These are as follows:-
Organizing the resources
The organization Escape Travel needs to organize all its resources before launching the mobile
application. Resources can be in the form of human resources, marketing resources and
technological resources. Without proper planning, the product would not be successful in the
market (Casadesus‐Masanell & Zhu, 2013).
Proper market research
The organization needs to do the proper market research before launching its product.
The organization needs to understand from where it will get its potential customer base. Based
on a proper market research results, the organization will be able to target their prospective
customers. In addition to this, it can be inferred that the organization needs to consider the
feedback of the tourists and take steps to build the application. The feedback from the tourists
will help the organization to build the mobile application in an effective manner (Magnusson,
Wästlund & Netz, 2016)
Effective use of technology
The given business idea deals with an online mobile application. Therefore, it is
inevitable for the organization to use and implement effective means of technology in order to
make the online application successful (Dang et al. 2016). The success of this idea will depend
how well the organization is technologically strong. Therefore, for the initial few years, the
operational costs of the firm may be on the higher side to make the business sustainable. Due to
this reason, the organization needs to identify effective sources of funds in order to raise the
start-up costs (Rapoport & Hult, 2017).
Contingency plan to control the risk

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It is of utmost important for the firm to have a contingency plan in order to protect itself from
systematic and unsystematic risks. Every business organization faces a threat of market risk,
economic risks, technological risk, etc. Therefore, if the organization do not have a contingency
plan in order to overcome the risk, then, its sustainability will be at stake. Therefore, the
organization Escape Travel needs to have a contingency plan in order to make the business
sustainable in the long run (Hovhannisyan & Keller, 2015).
Feasibility of the idea
The feasibility of the idea can be evaluated with the help of cost benefit analysis for the given
innovative idea of the travel mobile app. The forecasted financial analysis of the plan is as
follows:-
Program Operational Cost Elements FY FY FY FY FY
Changes in Program Operational Costs (Negative Values = Decreased Costs) 2019 2020 2021 2021 2022 TOTAL
A. Personnel -- Operational Costs $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $5,000
A-1.a. (Salaries & Benefits) $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $5,000
B. Plant & Facility -- Operational Costs $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $5,000
C. External Service Provider -- Operational Costs $9,901 $9,901 $9,901 $9,901 $9,901 $49,505
C-1. Contractor Services $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $5,000
C-2. Maintenance & Support Services $650 $650 $650 $650 $650 $3,250
C-3. Network / Hosting Services $601 $601 $601 $601 $601 $3,005
C-4. Data Communications Services $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $7,500 $37,500
C-5. Other $150 $150 $150 $150 $150 $750
D. Data Processing -- Operational Costs $15,000 $15,000 $15,000 $15,000 $15,000 $75,000
D-1. Hardware $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $50,000
D-2. Software $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $25,000
D-3. Other $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
E. Others -- Operational Costs $750 $750 $750 $750 $750 $3,750
E-1. Training of the given software $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
E-3. Other $750 $750 $750 $750 $750 $3,750
Subtotal of Operational Costs ( Rows A through E) $27,651 $27,651 $27,651 $27,651 $27,651 $138,255
F. Revenues / External Contribution / Fiscal Offsets $50,000 $55,000 $60,500 $66,550 $73,205 $305,255
F-1. Revenues $50,000 $55,000 $60,500 $66,550 $73,205 $305,255
Total Changes in Program Operational Costs (Sum of Rows A through E minus Row F) ($22,349) ($27,349) ($32,849) ($38,899) ($45,554) ($167,000)
($22,349) ($49,698) ($82,547) ($121,446) ($167,000)Cumulative Change
Project Cost Elements Project Cost Table
(Project Planning,Development & Implementation Only - FY FY FY FY FY TOTAL
No Operational Costs) 2019 2020 2021 2021 2022
(Salaries & Benefits) $150 $150 $150 $150 $150 $750
Website costs $250 $250 $250 $250 $250 $1,250
Consultant Services $65 $65 $65 $65 $65 $325
Hardware $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Software $200 $200 $200 $200 $200 $1,000
Risk Infrastructure $500 $500 $500 $500 $500 $2,500
Training $50 $50 $50 $50 $50 $250
Total Project Costs (*) $1,215 $1,215 $1,215 $1,215 $1,215 $6,075
Cumulative Project Costs $1,215 $2,430 $3,645 $4,860 $6,075
Total Project Costs are carried forward to the InvestmentSummary form

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Table 2: Feasibility analysis of the given idea
It is expected that the given product will touch its break-even point after the first year itself, if it
meets up with all the critical success factors. The net present value of the product is also
expected to be positive after a span of time. This can be considered as a positive sign and the
product can be considered as feasible in the long-run.
Conclusion
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that the given mobile application of Escape
Travel is expected to be successful in the market if it is successful to meet the requirements of
the critical success factors. The feasibility of the business idea can be considered to be positive
based upon its benefits and market demand. Therefore, it can be said that the product will be
sustainable in the long-run.
Individual Contribution
I have worked collaboratively with others in a positive manner, so that the assignment could be
completed. Appropriate research work was done based on secondary analysis. The innovative
idea was selected based on secondary research and literature review of the articles.

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References
Barquet, A. P. B., de Oliveira, M. G., Amigo, C. R., Cunha, V. P., &Rozenfeld, H. (2013).
Employing the business model concept to support the adoption of product–service
systems (PSS). Industrial Marketing Management, 42(5), 693-704.
Brinckmann, J., & Kim, S. M. (2015). Why we plan: the impact of nascent entrepreneurs'
cognitive characteristics and human capital on business planning. Strategic
entrepreneurship journal, 9(2), 153-166.
Casadesus‐Masanell, R., & Zhu, F. (2013). Business model innovation and competitive
imitation: The case of sponsor‐based business models. Strategic management journal,
34(4), 464-482.
Dang, H. S., Huang, Y. F., Wang, C. N., & Nguyen, T. M. T. (2016). An application of the short-
term forecasting with limited data in the healthcare traveling industry. Sustainability,
8(10), 1037.
Demil, B., Lecocq, X., Ricart, J. E., & Zott, C. (2015). Introduction to the SEJ special issue on
business models: business models within the domain of strategic entrepreneurship.
Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 9(1), 1-11.
Derudder, B., & Witlox, F. (2016). ‘… Travelling, where the Opponents are’: Business Travel
and the Social Impacts of the New Mobilities Regimes. In International Business Travel
in the Global Economy (pp. 171-188). Routledge.
Home (2018) Escape Travel <https://www.escapetravel.com.au/>
Hovhannisyan, N., & Keller, W. (2015). International business travel: an engine of innovation?.
Journal of Economic Growth, 20(1), 75-104.
Kuppuswamy, V., & Bayus, B. L. (2018). Crowdfunding creative ideas: The dynamics of project
backers. In The Economics of Crowdfunding (pp. 151-182). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

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Linder, M., &Williander, M. (2017). Circular business model innovation: inherent uncertainties.
Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(2), 182-196.
Magnusson, P. R., Wästlund, E., & Netz, J. (2016). Exploring users' appropriateness as a proxy
for experts when screening new product/service ideas. Journal of Product Innovation
Management, 33(1), 4-18.
Rapoport, E., & Hult, A. (2017). The travelling business of sustainable urbanism: International
consultants as norm-setters. Environment and planning A, 49(8), 1779-1796.
Wirtz, B. W., Pistoia, A., Ullrich, S., & Göttel, V. (2016). Business models: Origin, development
and future research perspectives. Long Range Planning, 49(1), 36-54.

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Appendices
Appendix 1: Top most travel and tourism-enabled economies
Appendix 2: Incidence of Trips