Tour Operation Management: An Analysis of Trailfinders' Strategies

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TOUR OPERATION
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task1................................................................................................................................................2
1.1Analyse the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour operator’s...2
Industry........................................................................................................................................2
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Assess the stages and timescales involved in developing holidays.......................................3
2.2 Evaluate the suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of the
holiday and different types of tour operator................................................................................5
2.3 Calculate the selling price of a holiday from given information below................................7
Task3................................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Evaluate the planning decisions taken for the design selected brochure..........................9
3.2 Assess the suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for different types of tour
operators and recommend the most appropriate for your tour package....................................11
3.3 Evaluate the 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.. 13
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................15
4.1 The strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator........................................15
4.2 Compare the tactical decisions that could be taken by a selected tour operator in different
situations....................................................................................................................................17
M1. Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions................................................19
M2. Select/ design and apply appropriate methods/ techniques................................................19
M3. Present and communicate appropriate findings.................................................................19
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................21

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Gantt chart.........................................................................................................................4
Table 2: Selling Price Calculation...................................................................................................7

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Online Boucher designed and uploaded by Trailfinders................................................11

Introduction
The global economy is notably increasing with the involvement of travel and tourism sector. The
travel sector is experiencing a boom due to the enhance increment and inclination of people
towards travelling and visiting more places with a motive of site seeing and exploration. Tour
operation management is related to planning, and understanding the current market
circumstance, implementation and inspection of various operations in order to provide best
service to the tourist and to attain goals and objective of the tour operator organisation. In this
present report discusses current trends that impact the tour operators.
In the next task, studies are made regarding designing a brochure explaining about a tour and the
organisation is brief together with a discussion about other alternative techniques that can be
used for replacing the traditional brochure making. In this report, illustration will be provided
regarding various tactical and strategically decisions that different tour operator needs to make
for effective service of the organisation concerning travel and tourism. Therefore, for gaining in-
depth knowledge about tour operation management functionalities of Trailfinders will be
evaluated which is an leading tour operator of UK.
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Task1
1.1Analyse the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour operator’s
Industry.
s
2
.
Boundaries of the countries are minimising due to
Globalisation has impacting positively the tour
operators industry providing productivity and
profitability globally along with expansion
Tour operator concerns with the travel and tour sector
along with holidays planning and execution as per visitors
need. Presently this sector is blooming exponentially with
the rising demand of the tourist regarding services. With
the development and enhancement in technology the
organisations are impacted and are encouraged to make
various customised changes in the service and products
offered to the clients. This ultimately is impacting helping
in overall development of this sector.
The main reason behind the growth and
development of tour operator is the growth in the
economy of a nation (Vitez, 2018). The people are
having a high margin of disposable income, this
income is referred that money that a person can
save after making all his investment. With the
increase of disposable income living standard of an
individual get enhanced
Progression in technology including online payment
options, marketing, advertisement and booking is effective
in growth of this sector in terms of operation management,
data storage and maintenance. Thus the customers are
provided with more services as per their needs and demand
effortlessly (Smith, 2014. ).
EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS
ON THE TOUR OPERATOR’S INDUSTRY
Customised and more supportive services and product
regarding the tours are provided to the Customers
associated with Trailfinders in comparisons to other tour
operators. This has help Trailfinder to attain more
competitive advantages, thus Trailfinders has suitably
accepted and implemented strategies such as cost cutting
and also to provide more services for more customers with
the satisfied services.
Introduction
Cost effectiveness
Technological Development
Globalisation
Increasing disposable Income
Conclusion form the above discussion can be done
that modifications are required in the tour operator
organisation in order to cope with all the current
trends and developments happening in this sector.
Through proper application of modification and
alteration more benefit can be achieved by
Trailfinders.
Conclusion

Task 2
Executive summary
Tour packages in any firm are developed with the help of various stages and procedure involved.
The tour operators of Trailfinders must set the timescale for selling their holiday packages to the
50 students and are required providing them necessary information and details regarding their
holiday to Brugge for 5 nights. The calculation of selling price and cost involved per student will
be discussed in the task below. Contracting methods by tour operators also play an important role
in increasing profits.
Introduction
Tour holiday packages are developed in service industries involving various stages and steps
with proper planning and strategy formulation. The below task will discuss such steps along with
the timescale required by Trailfinders for their holiday packages. Different types of tour
operators use different kind contracting methods for the purpose of promoting their travel
packages. The selling price of holiday package of 50 students is given in the current task.
2.1 Assess the stages and timescales involved in developing holidays
The planning of the process and development of a holiday package must be done by considering
proper time scale for every activity and operation to be performed. At the initial level during the
development of the holiday package proper planning must be done with respect to every
alternative technique for effective decision making. Overall planning process has various stages
which have been discussed here:
Research for location: the initial stage of planning included making proper planning for the
selected location for including it in holiday package as per the visitor’s demands. And all the
requirement of the customers must be considered while making plans through the technique of
PESTLE analysis (Anthony, 2018).
Generating: While developing holiday packages planning must be done effectively. Plans hence
created regarding various operation and activities that ate to be included in the tour package after
the selection of the destination site. This stage is also known as the plan summarization that
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offers information regarding various facilities including accommodation, transportation etc. It
provides an overview of the holiday package.
Package Prizing: Trailfinders adapts effective method for pricing while making plans for the
holiday package defining prices to be charged for the overall package. The charges to be
considered while package prizing is the cost of transportation, accommodation cost, fuel charges,
foreign exchange, other taxes included in different nations. Prizing estimation is effective in
realizing the overall budget which needs to be included for providing quality services and
products.
Validation of holiday package: Promotion of the holiday package must be included in this
stage, thus the organization need to consider various advertisement and marketing techniques for
drawing customer’s attention and making them aware of the organization and the business
activities. Trailfinders uses different marketing sources for attracting customers.
Plan Implication: This is the last stage while developing holiday package, where the planning
for the package is practically implemented. For the implication of the plan, all the function must
be controlled managed and organized in an effective manner. The implementation of the package
plan influences the overall services and performance of the organization.
Holiday package development and execution can be categorised into stages which have been
discussed below and 5 month time period is considered for the overall completion of the project.
Table 1: Gantt chart
Timescale
/Events
Research
of site
Creating
and
developing
itinerary
Prizing
estimation
Validation
of package
Plan
Implication
1st Month
2nd
Month
3rd Month
4th Month
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5th month
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2.2 Evaluate the suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of the
holiday and different types of tour operator
For designing a proper holiday package the tour operator needs to consider various features and
factors associated with the sector. While planning and implementing the tour package the tour
need to consider two distinctive contracts method: Fixed and sale only contract. These methods
of contracting are used by different tour operators. The main purpose of these contracts is to
ensure the best service and product to be supplied to the customers while organizing a holiday
package involving various vendors and suppliers:
Fixed contract: In the case of fixed contracts, the main focus is on the collective or quantitative
approach according to which the product sale is done (Benur, and Bramwell, 2015.). The ability
is of the tour operator capable improved effectively by increasing the number of sales made
among various customers globally. Fixed contracts are beneficial for tour operator even during
offseason when sale decreases comparatively. However, before signing the contract the risk of
un-utilization among the tour operators can be found. In fixed contracts, the constructive benefit
can be gained by the tour operator by means of offering service and product in optimal charges
and by introducing discounts and off without disturbing the profit margin. The main
disadvantage of this type of contract to the tour operator is that the service provider needs to be
paid in those seasons when the service or products are un-utilized as per the contract signed. The
level of risk remains high but the organization attains high returns.
Fixed contracts can be profitable mostly for transportation facilities such as cab booking for the
customers associated and these services are included in a holiday package for site seeing.
Trailfinders chooses to implement ‘Fixed Contracts’ for including local guide services to the
visitors while visiting different location for better understandings.
Sale only contract: This sort of contract is signed among vendors and tour operators and the
services process under these contracts are comparatively higher then fix pricing. Sale only
contracts are generally seasonal and the demands and current trends are considered along with
the future scope before signing these types of contracts. The main advantage of these sale only
contracts is that the occurrence of any kind of risks is although minimum but the discount scope
is less too.
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As per the present scenario provided Trailfinders need to organise a tour for 42 students, thus
sale the only contract between hotel and the organisation can be sighed with a clause that
payment will be paid only for the occupancy of bed used by the students for accommodation for
a period of 5days (Chan et al 2015). Even the catering service must be with these contracts as a
different student might have a different selection of food thus payments will be made according
to the bill of ordered.
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