HND Hospitality - Tour Operations Management Report and Analysis

This report analyzes tour operations management, focusing on LCB Tours. It explores the industry's trends, the process of creating holiday packages, and decision-making regarding destinations and distribution methods. The report evaluates brochure design, suitability of alternatives, and distribution methods for different tour operators. It also examines strategic decisions like pricing and branding, and tactical decisions such as pricing changes and marketing strategies. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and provides an overview of the tourism industry, emphasizing the importance of adapting to market changes. The report uses examples from companies like Saga Holidays and Scenic Tours to illustrate the key concepts.

TOUR OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................3
Covered in Leaflet.............................................................................................................3
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................3
Covered in PPT.................................................................................................................3
TASK3.......................................................................................................................................3
AC 3.1 Evaluate the planning decisions taken for the design of a selected brochure......3
AC 3.2 Suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for different types of tour
operator.............................................................................................................................5
AC 3.3 Suitability of different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday for different
types of tour operator........................................................................................................5
TASK 4......................................................................................................................................6
AC 4.1 Evaluation of the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operators. 6
AC4.2 Comparison of the tactical decisions in various situations....................................7
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Tourism refers to travelling for the sake of deriving pleasure (Filby, Stockin and
Scarpaci, 2015). One of the most essential of this industry is management of tour operations
done by tour operators. This report is about LCB Tours which is a well renowned tour
operator making use of extensive marketing strategies to promote its holiday or tour
packages. This report includes the recent trends and developments in tour operator’s industry
and its impact on business organisation. Also, it covers the stages and timescales involved in
developing holiday packages. Decision making regarding destinations and distribution
methods for selling holiday packages, contracts made with service providers and tourists, use
of digitalisation and other promotional strategies are also discussed. Apart from this, the
evaluation of strategic and tactical decisions has been discussed which needs to be considered
by tour operators in keeping in mind the preferences of customers.
TASK 1
Covered in Leaflet
TASK 2
Covered in PPT
TASK3
AC 3.1 Evaluate the planning decisions taken for the design of a selected brochure
A brochure is a template designed by the tour operators to attract the attention of
customers towards tour packages. It is a marketing strategy adopted by business organisations
in tourism industry so that people opt for their packages. There are various purposes of
designing brochures. It allows the communication of suitable information regarding the tour
package and also aids the organisation in building its image in market and tourism industry.
Saga Holidays and Scenic Tours are two tour operators situated in UK who design and
develop brochures. The planning decisions taken by both the companies in relation to the
formation of brochure include: Design: The design of the brochure includes the structure or layout and the
artwork that has been carried out to make the brochure seem appealing to the
customers. While Saga Holidays design 2D brochures with simplem print and

quality, Scenic Tours develop 3D brochures which attract the customers at
first sight.
 Cost: It is essential for the entity to determine the cost of making brochure.
Cost includes expenses of paper, printing, designing and distribution. Saga
Holidays develop brochures that are economic while Scenic Tours believes in
spending huge amount on designing of brochures as it is the key element to
attract customers towards the tour packages.
 Format: Format of the brochure involves the font size, colour, writing style,
cover, contents etc. Content is linked to topic and the colour of the paper
selected should complement the contents and font. Photos and graphics are a
visual treat for customers. Scenic Tours designs a brochure that is almost
perfect in every sphere considering all the aspects like color combination,
font, size etc. On the other hand, Saga Holidays design a brochure that
provides maximum information to people, it may be less attractive than the
brochures of competitors.
 Target market and budget: It is essential for the company to determine the
target market and thus budget helps in determining the type of brochure to be
designed. While Scenic Tours distribute a large number of brochures offline
and also offer the same on their website, Saga Holidays spends less on
distribution of brochures and aim at targeting the customers by aid of e-
brochures.
 Print specifications: This comprise of the decision taken by company
regarding the colour schemes to be used. Scenic Tours opt a 3D print that
easily influence the customers to buy the holiday package. Saga Holidays
design a simple brichure with wide range of information for the people.
LCB Tours should opt for designing a brochure like Scenic Tours as thir brochure is
attractive, catchy and at the same time provides a wide range of information about the cost,
travel destinations nad facilities provided by them. This creates demand for holiday tour
packages of company. Thus, by adopting to design suchb brovhure, LCB Toures can increase
its sales easily.

AC 3.2 Suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for different types of tour operator
With growing advancements in technology, it has been noticed that tradition methods
of marketing are not effective. One of those methods is creation of Brochures. Various new
methods of advertising have arisen over year which can be adopted by LCB Tours to increase
sales of holiday packages. Online selling, sales through call centres are a few ways to reach
audience directly. Entity can create audio and video brochures and place it on their website to
gain more attention of people. The company can also promote its packages through
newspapers and commercial magazines. Also, E- mail marketing can be adopted by
management to reach to a larger audience. Nowadays, with the aid of advertising agencies
also, the company can promote the sale of its tour packages (Dhiman, 2012). Social media is
yet another factor that acts as a driver for increase of revenue and margins for the company.
Thus, with the help of digital technology, organisation can appeal to a wide base of
customers.
AC 3.3 Suitability of different methods of distribution used to sell a holiday for different
types of tour operator
The different types of distribution methods used for selling holiday packages include
online marketing, direct selling, telephonic sales and advertising agencies etc. The suitability
of the various methods of distribution for different types of tour operators is as follows:
 Direct Distribution:- It is the distribution method where tour operators
directly sell holiday packages to its customer without involvement of mediator
or third party. It is most suitable for domestic tour operators as there target
customers are domestic residents so, they can directly communicate with
customers and explain detail of tour package.
 Online travel agencies:- In this distribution method, tour operators involve
third party to communicate with customers and influence them to buy the
holiday package of company. These travel agencies maintain a website over
which detail informationed about tour packages of comapnies are given. This
distribution method is suitable for specific tour operators as these service
providers only render amenities in specified locations.
 Visitor information centre:- It is a distribution method where tour operators
manage a centre which customers can visit to gain information about various

holiday packages of company. This method is most suitable for inbound
tourist as they provide holiday packages to people belonging to different
country, so this distribution method will assist them in providing services to
such tourists.
TASK 4
AC 4.1 Evaluation of the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operators
Strategic decision-making is the process of making decisions by being aligned with
the organisational goals and objectives. It is essential for every organisation operating in
tourism industry to remain aligned with the growth and development in industry and
modifying their processes as per the recent trends. Following are the some of the strategic
decisions made by various tour operators like LCB Tours:- Pricing strategies: The decisions regarding the pricing of package is done
keeping in mind the cost of designing and promoting the package. The tour
operator has to analyse whether or not to offer discounts and also the extent to
which it is offered to arrive at the effective price of the program.
 Surcharge policy: Surcharge policy is a strategy which emphasizes upon
increasing the price of holiday tours in peak seasons of tourism industry.
 Image positioning or Branding: A tour operator needs to have good brand
image in market so as to attract a large number of customers to opt for its
package.
 Product choice: Tour coordinator needs to select a suitable package for the
customer as per the preferences informed by them (Su and et. al., 2014).
 Distribution channel: There are two types of distribution channels that are
largely used by the travel operators. Direct selling is one of those types
comprising direct interaction with the target audience. Second is the indirect
channel which includes the use of services of intermediaries. A tour operator
selects that distribution channel which seems suitable for the business and
target customers.

AC4.2 Comparison of the tactical decisions in various situations
Various decisions have to be taken by tour operating organisations to achieve
successful execution of a holiday or tour package. Tactical decisions are the medium- term
decisions aimed at implementation of strategies in relation to tours. Below are the tactical
decisions that are considered by LCB Tours:- Tactical responses: Different tour operators have to take decisions with
regards to changes in external and internal environment of tourism industry.
The management of LCB Tours also recognise the importance of these
decisions and thus make strategies that comply with the current scenario of
industry.
 Tactical pricing: Change in price of package as per the changes in economy
of country and pricing policy of rival entities is another tactical decision taken
by management. LCB Tours makes use of Surcharge pricing policy to gain an
edge over competitors.
 Tactical marketing: Tactical marketing involves the formulation of
advertising and promotional strategies adopted by company keeping in mind
the industry and competition businesses. A number of strategies are opted by
LCB Tours like online marketing, traditional brochures, booking over internet
etc.
CONCLUSION
This report gives an insight into the various aspects of a tourism industry. It focuses
upon the recent trends in industry and its impact on the development of tourism business. It
also provides an understanding of the different stages involved in the process of creation of
tour package. It has helped in developing knowledge about the ways in which the various
decisions regarding are made. Suitability of the different methods of distribution for various
types of tour operators have been discussed with an aim to improve the quality of amenities
offered by the operator to customers. It also provides information about the tactical decisions
taken by a tour operator in various scenarios that may arise in the market.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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