HND in Hospitality: Tour Operations Management Report on LCB Tours

This report provides a detailed analysis of tour operations management, specifically focusing on LCB Tours. It begins with an introduction to the tourism industry and the importance of customer service. The report then delves into Task 1, which includes a leaflet for the product development team, and discusses the effects of current trends on tour operators. Task 2 covers the stages and timescales involved in holiday development, methods of contracting, and the calculation of selling prices, along with pricing strategies. Task 3 evaluates planning decisions for brochure selection, the suitability of traditional brochures, methods of selling holiday packages, and strategic and tactical decisions made by different tour operators, including LCB Tours and Expat Tour Travel. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and providing references for further reading. The report examines how LCB Tours makes decisions related to brochure design, pricing, and marketing, providing insights into their strategic and tactical approaches.

Tour Operations
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 Leaflet for Product Development Team............................................................................1
Effects of current and Recent Trends and developments in tour operator industry for the
different tour operators................................................................................................................1
Research about LCB Tours Tour Operator in UK.....................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Stages and time scale that are involved in development of Holidays.........................................4
The Suitability of methods of contracting by different types of Tour Operators........................5
Calculation of Selling Price for any Holiday for per person in pounds......................................5
Different Strategies for setting right price of any holiday-:........................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Evaluation of Planning Decisions for Selecting a Brochure for LCB Tours .............................7
Suitability of Traditional Brochures............................................................................................8
Different Methods that are used in for selling of Holiday Packages.........................................8
Strategic Decisions taken by different tour operators.................................................................9
Tactical Decisions for LCB Tours .............................................................................................9
Creative Thinking for two different tour operators...................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is changing and it is totally an service driven industry and to be an successful
entrepreneur there is need for delivering the products with high quality and mainly customer
service(Tour Operations Management, 2018). So this project report is totally based upon tour
operations and management of holiday packages. This project report states that regarding
different types of operators and current trends in the tour operators industry. In this report there
had been taken a tour operator from UK named as LCB Tours. The analysis of working and
different strategies that had been adopted by them have been discussed in this report. This report
also consists regarding used of different types of brochures and how they are created.
TASK 1
Enclosed in leaflet.
TASK 2
Enclosed in PPT.
TASK 3
3.1 Evaluation of Planning Decisions for Selecting a Brochure for LCB Tours
1. Cost -: the cost must be ascertained before making a brochure. If brochure is more
expensive than also it is of no use. The following can be factors must be taken in
considerations while considering cost of brochure. They are-:
1. Design of Brochure-: The design of a brochure must be according to the holiday
packages and it must be decorative and attractive to customers (Marchoo, Butcher,
and Watkins, 2014).
2. Quality of prints-: As they are made on colour they must be printed on photo sheet as
it looks attractive
3. Number of Copies-: The tour operator must see that only required number of copies
are printed and not more than as it will lead to wastage and may increase the cost of
the package as this cost is somewhere included in cost of package.
2. Format of Brochure-: the format of brochure must also be defined and it totally depended
upon the size of brochures. The following can be types of format for brochures-:
1. Two Folds
2. Three Folds it looks like a booklet.
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3. Target Market and Budget for brochure-: If target market is known to tour operator, they
may design brochure which is suitable for that market (Mills and Wiser, 2015). For
example if target market is any Islamic countries, so if some sort of green colour is used
that attracts them.
4. Determining print specifications-: this must be as per the target market as if local
language is used as font it attracts more to tourist of that target market. For example if
target market is any Islamic country then the language that should be preferred for
brochure is Urdu.
5. Timescales and stages of production-: This should also be determined as when to launch
the brochure and also in how many stages as there are chance that requirements and
demands of target market changes. So, if it happens old brochures will be wasted.
The disadvantages that is being identified in this process can be reduced by carefully
evaluating it. This will help in analysing the whole process effectively by the company in order
to have good brochure at the end.
Basis LCB Tours Expat Tour Travel Trafalgar
Cost of brochure 8 Pounds 6 Pounds 5 Pounds
Format of brochure Three Fold Two Fold Leaf
Target Market Edinburgh Scotland England
Print Specifications English English Scottish Gaelic
Timescales 3 times in a year 2 times in a year 2 times in year
3.2 Suitability of Traditional Brochures
Types of
Brochures
LCB Tours Expat Tour
Travel
Trafalgar Easy jet Holidays
E- Brochure Required as cost
effective and can
be circulated
easily as the area
Not required as
they work as
inbound tour
operators
Required covers
very large area
They also require
as they also cover
very large area
and it is not
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is wider practical to
distribute in
larger area.
Social Media They are sending
brochures through
social media as
these are easily
accessible.
Yes to attract
local customers
for all
generations.
They are using
for attracting
customers as they
mostly sell
customized
packages (Spann,
Fischer and
Tellis, 2014).
They are also
providing there
brochures on
social media as it
they are cost
effective and can
easily be
circulated
Newspapers and
Magazines
Magazines that
are located in
different locations
Local
Newspapers
Local and some
newspaper in
nearby area
Leaflet in
Newspapers.
3.3 Different Methods that are used in for selling of Holiday Packages
LCB Tours Expat Tour Travel Trafalgar Easy jet Holidays
As they are operating
around the world,
they are involved in
selling holiday
packages online and
even through direct
distribution.
They are two level
distribution method
where in they are
operating from there
head office and
providing
commissions to third
party if they are
making booking d for
them.
They are using direct
distribution method as
they had opened
various franchise
offices in the nearby
areas and also in some
countries where they
operate.
They are operating
through online travel
agency where they had
created website and
selling there packages
direct to customers it is
easy and cost effective.
4.1 Strategic Decisions taken by different tour operators
Basis LCB Tours Expat Tour Travel Trafalgar Easy jet Holidays
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Pricing Strategies Providing more effective
prices by them to their
customers. So, they
believe in Pricing
Strategy.
High prices as
compared to others.
Moderately low. High prices for their
services and products.
Surcharge policy They try to keep it
minimum in order to
maintain a good relation
with their customers.
Medium surcharge
policies.
They have high
surcharge policy has a
huge impact on their
business.
They have moderate
surcharge policy in
their company.
Positioning and
image/branding
As they are working
a as inbound operator
there strategic policy
is to image branding
as they want to create
goodwill and position
among different
outbound operators,
so they can take
service from them
(Raj and Griffin,
2015).
The strategy policy
used by them that they
believe in faster
distribution and
execution so that is
why they had opened
various offices in the
nearby places.
As they mostly deal
with specialised
packages so they
believe in customer
satisfaction so they are
using policy of the
choice of product as
per requirement of
customers.
Choice of product
in relation to
customer portfolio
They provide all their
services as per the
requirement of their
customers.
They try to compare
their services with
tour operators in
order to gain
competitive
advantages.
They try to give all
kind of services
irrespective of the
demand in market.
They manage their
demand as per the
requirement.
Distribution
decisions
As they are working as
both through Direct
The use both offline
and online methods
They try to sell their
services mostly offline
They also use both
offline and online
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distribution and online
so there main target is
for selling different
products as some time
they even sell at loss.
to distribute their
decisions.
by distributing their
brochure.
methods to distribute
their services and
products.
Tactical Decisions for LCB Tours
Situation 1: It becomes very difficult for the organization to manage the tourists effectively on
the season or peak time of tourism in the country.
Tactical Response: This will help in analysing the past experience of the organization.
Tactical Pricing: This will help in delivering their services as cheapest price in order to attract
more customers.
Tactical Marketing: In this process effective marketing will apply by the organization in order
to achieve their aims and target.
Situation 2: How to deal with the proper operational management of the organization in order to
perform their duties effectively.
1. Tactical Response-: The tactical response team of LCB Tours will manage following
things-:
 They will help in meeting challenge for the future (Tactical Decisions, 2018).
 Will help in maintaining there core mission for protecting the needs of community
2. Tactical Pricing-: These are termed as short term price variation that is aimed for
preventing competition or to gain in market entry.
 They always compare price before launching of any product
 Before making entry in any market they provide good discounts.
3. Tactical Marketing- This type of marketing believes and focusses on different details to
achieve goal.
 As they had determine pricing strategy
 They had rebrand there one tour package as it was not working well for them.
Creative Thinking for two different tour operators
Tactical Decisions LCB Tours Expat Tour Travel
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Tactical Responses They had taken out certain
research and development for
achieving there goals
They had been working to
exploring more new places so
they can make additions in
there brochures
Tactical Pricing For preventing major
competition they check and
compare different situations.
They provide heavy discounts
in off season to meet there
expense.
Tactical Marketing The tactical marketing
techniques used is Pricing
Strategy.
The tactical marketing policy
used by them they believe in
branding of there work by
taking feedbacks from
customers
CONCLUSION
By summing up this above this report is suggests that travel and tourism business in UK
is increasing day by day. So, for this they must be equipped with all amenities that are required
to pursue this business. This above report also concludes that LCB Tours is working very
effective and efficiency in this business and also have good reputation in UK. This report also
concludes the policy that is adopted by LCB Tours is helping them in increasing there revenue
and the brochure which they had made is also very attractive. This report also concludes that for
distribution of products the method that had been undertaken by them is very sound and
effective.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Benur, A.M. and Bramwell, B., 2015. Tourism product development and product diversification
in destinations. Tourism Management. 50. pp.213-224.
Li, B., Hou, P.W., Chen, P. and Li, Q.H., 2016. Pricing strategy and coordination in a dual
channel supply chain with a risk-averse retailer. International Journal of Production
Economics. 178. pp.154-168.
Long, Y. and Shi, P., 2017. Pricing strategies of tour operator and online travel agency based on
cooperation to achieve O2O model. Tourism Management. 62. pp.302-311.
Marchoo, W., Butcher, K. and Watkins, M., 2014. Tour booking: Do travelers respond to
tourism accreditation and codes of ethics initiatives? Journal of Travel & Tourism
Marketing. 31(1). pp.16-36.
Mills, A.D. and Wiser, R.H., 2015. Strategies to mitigate declines in the economic value of wind
and solar at high penetration in California. Applied Energy. 147. pp.269-278.
Nagle, T. T. and Müller, G., 2017. The strategy and tactics of pricing: A guide to growing more
profitably. Routledge.
Raj, R. and Griffin, K.A. eds., 2015. Religious tourism and pilgrimage management: An
international perspective. Cabi Press.
Spann, M., Fischer, M. and Tellis, G.J., 2014. Skimming or penetration? Strategic dynamic
pricing for new products. Marketing Science. 34(2). pp.235-249.
Zeng, X., Dasgupta, S. and Weinberg, C.B., 2016. The competitive implications of a “no-haggle”
pricing strategy when others negotiate: Findings from a natural experiment. International
Journal of Research in Marketing. 33(4). pp.907-923.
Online
Tactical Decisions. 2018. [Online]. Available Through
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/business_management/business_enterprise/
decision_making_business/revision/1/>
Tour Operations Management. 2018. [Online]. Available Through
<http://www.solimarinternational.com/training-education/tourism-management-and-
operations>
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