Tour Operations Management: Trends, Holiday Development & Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of tour operations management, focusing on current trends and developments within the industry. It assesses the stages and timescales involved in holiday development, evaluates different contracting methods for various components, and calculates holiday selling prices. Furthermore, the report evaluates planning decisions for brochure design, assesses alternatives to traditional brochures, and examines distribution methods for selling holidays, particularly luxury tour packages. Strategic and tactical decisions made by different types of tour operators are also evaluated, using Trailfinders Ltd as an example, highlighting the importance of adapting to industry changes and customer preferences to achieve profitability and enhance the tourism experience.

TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
TASK 1..............................................................................................................................................3
P1.1 ANALYZE THE EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS ON THE
TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY......................................................................................................3
TASK 2..............................................................................................................................................5
P2.1 ASSESS THE STAGES AND TIMESCALES INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING HOLIDAYS..................5
P2.2 EVALUATE THE SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING FOR DIFFERENT
COMPONENTS OF THE HOLIDAY AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR.........................7
P2.3 CALCULATE THE SELLING PRICE OF A HOLIDAY FROM GIVEN INFORMATION ABOVE.......9
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................11
P3.1 EVALUATE THE PLANNING DECISIONS TAKEN FOR THE DESIGN OF A SELECTED
BROCHURE.................................................................................................................................11
P3.2 ASSESS THE SUITABILITY OF ALTERNATIVES TO A TRADITIONAL BROCHURE FOR
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATORS AND RECOMMEND THE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR
YOUR TOUR PACKAGE...............................................................................................................13
P3.3 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 A LUXURY TOUR PACKAGE.........................................................................15
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................16
P4.1 EVALUATE THE STRATEGIC DECISIONS MADE BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR
...................................................................................................................................................16
P4.2 COMPARE THE TACTICAL DECISIONS THAT COULD BE TAKEN BY A SELECTED TOUR
OPERATOR IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS......................................................................................18
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................19
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REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................20
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INTRODUCTION
In the last few years, the tourism industry has been exponentially grown up and it has also
gained a lot of popularity in the market among the local as well as international customers. The
popularity of travel and tourism sector in the European nations like UK, Ireland, Scotland, etc. is
very high as compared to the other continents in the world. There is an assortment of different
tour operators present in the market that provides various different services to the tourists
from all across the globe. The major purpose of those tour operators in the market is to achieve
higher and higher profits by providing best quality products and services.
The following assignment portrays the different trends that have been developed within the
travel and tourism sector of the nation in the last few years. Being a member of the product
development department at the Trailfinders Ltd, it is very important to analyze the changes
that have been taken place in the sector of travel and tourism due to the introduction of new
trends in the industry. The industry of travel and tourism is related with the several different
industries such as; hospitality industry, food and beverage industry, etc. and thus it is very
important for the tour operators like Trailfinders to develop appropriate strategies and tactics
to attract more and more visitors towards the tourist destinations of the nation, so that every
industry of the country can earn significant profits from it. Thus, the tactical and strategic
decisions that are made by the tour operators like Trailfinders have also been discussed in the
further sections of this assignment.
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TASK 1
P1.1 ANALYZE THE EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND
DEVELOPMENTS ON THE TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY
A tour operator is referred to an agency
that combines different types of travel
components so as to develop a package
holiday. There are several famous tour
operators present in the UK that provides
diverse services to the customers. These
tour operators are; Trailfinders, Thomas
Cook, Visit Britain, etc. Along with the tour
operators, there are several trade bodies
too present in the market which enhances
the travel and tourism experiences of the
visitors by providing appropriate services.
The major trade bodies that are present in
the UK include; Federation of Tour
Operators (FTO), The Travel Association
(ABTA), UK inbounds, UK Civil Aviation
Authority (CAA), etc. The primary role of
these trade bodies is to set laws and
provide extensive knowledge to the
companies in the market. The trends in the
sector of travel and tourism have been
changed very rapidly in the last few years
and are expected to continue with the
changes for the upcoming period of time
(Abrate, et al. 2016). The researchers from
different nations of the world have carried
out various researches in order to identify
these trends in the tourism section and the
impacts of these trends on the economy of
a nation like United Kingdom. The
development of tour operators industry
also gets influenced by the changes in travel
and tourism trends. Thus, the recent and
current trends in the tour operators
industry and their effects on the industry’s
development are as follows;
FLEXIBLE BOOKING OPTIONS
One of the latest trends in the travel and
tourism industry is the utilization of latest
technologies. The advancements in the
technology have enabled the visitors from
different parts of the world to get
information about any visitor attraction of
the globe through a variety of technological
sources. According to the latest technical
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trends, there are several flexible booking
options such as; tele-text, internet
websites, calls centers, etc. that can be
used by the tourists to book their tour
packages easily and quickly.
DESTINATION MARKETING
Another recent trend in the tour operators
industry that has influenced the travel and
tourism sector of the nation like UK is
‘Destination Marketing’ (Agarwal, 2017). In
today’s world, the tour operators like
Trailfinders focuses on attracting customers
by doing destination marketing rather that
doing marketing of the entire nation. This is
done in order to attract targeted audience
towards the tourist destinations. The
different sources that are used to carry out
destination marketing by Trailfinders
include; leaflets, social media marketing,
etc.
NICHE TOURISM
Niche tourism can be considered as the one
of the most impressive trends in the today’s
tour operators industry. The tourists of this
modern time period wishes to visit different
tourist destinations of the world in order to
gain a variety of tourism experiences
(Benur, et al. 2015). Niche tourism is also
referred to the special interest tourism as it
is based on the interests of tourists.
The tour operators like Trailfinders have
also entered niche tourism market and
thus, it now offers an assortment of
different tourism experiences to the
customers such as; adventure tourism,
medical tourism, dark tourism, grey
tourism, sports tourism, historical tourism,
etc.
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
One of the current trends that have
positively influenced the tour operators
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industry of the nation is “Sustainable
Tourism Development”. Every tour operator
of the market aims to achieve this trend of
tourism so as to improve the quality of
tourism experiences that they provide to
the customers in the market. There are
several different ways by the means of
which the sustainability of a tourist
destination can be developed. These
different ways include; by preserving the
heritage and regional culture of destination,
by avoiding all such tourism operations that
leads to the harming of environment, etc.
Thus, the above discussed are some of the
current and recent trends in the tour
operators industry which have impacts on
the industry.
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TASK 2
P2.1 ASSESS THE STAGES AND TIMESCALES INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING
HOLIDAYS
The following report depicts the detailed proposal of the educational tour for the adult
students from London (UK) to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium. The tour would start in the August
2019 during the summer vacation and will last for 5 nights. There are several stages involved in
developing this educational tour. These different stages and the proposed timescales for this
particular tour are as follows;
MARKET AND DESTINATION RESEARCH
The initial stage of the holiday development is market and destination research. It is very
important for the marketing team of the tour operators like Trailfinders to carry out
appropriate research before entering the new destination for tourism. The research is required
to be carried out in order to meet the following purposes;
 To determine the different factors of the tourism destination such as; political,
economic, and social factors that could influence the tour.
 To identify and compare major tourist destinations of the place so as to select best
destinations for the tour.
 To approach distributors and suppliers that would aid in the country to ensure success
of the tour.
DEVELOPMENT OF TOUR ITINERARY
After carrying out the market and destination research, the next and one of the most important
stages that is involved in the holidays’ development with respect to the tour of students from
London (UK) to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium is the development of tour itinerary (Berné, et al.
2015). In this stage, appropriate scheduling of the entire tour is developed by the tour operator.
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COSTING OF THE TOUR
Another important as well as crucial stage in the holiday development is the making up of the
tour’s overall cost. The different components of the tour’s cost are needed to be developed and
managed in such a way that it remains affordable for the students and profitable for the tour
operators. The costs of different entities that are needed to be developed and managed by the
Trailfinders for this tour from London (UK) to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium include; cost of
accommodation, cost of travelling, cost of tourist guides, cost of local arrangements, cost of
luxury coach, etc.
FINANCIAL EVALUATION AND PRICING
Once the costing of the tour gets completed, the next stage that is involved is the financial
evaluation and pricing of the tour. In this stage, the costs of the different components that are
incorporated in the tourism plan are evaluated critically at the financial level (Brito, et al. 2015).
The prices offered by the different suppliers are also compared in this stage so as to select the
most appropriate tour package as per the financial requirements of the students as well as the
tour operators.
DEVELOPMENT OF A TOUR MARKETING PLAN
The last and one of the most significant stages is the development of a tour marketing plan.
Once the research has been carried out and the pricing of the tour is decided, the marketing
team of the tour operators like Trailfinders needs to develop tour marketing plan. This tour plan
would depict the exact details of the tour. The details that are included in a tour marketing plan
are as follows; nature of the tour, location of the tour, tour’s duration, number of tourists,
nature of tourists, cost of the tour, destinations to be visited, etc.
TIMESCALE
The timescale that is involved in developing different stages for a holiday package is as follows;
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TIME SCALE 1st MONTH 2nd
MONTH
3rd MONTH 4th MONTH 5th MONTH 6th MONTH
Market and
Destination
Research
Negotiation
of Prices
Assessment
of Cost
Planning
Financial
Evaluation
Developmen
t of
Marketing
Plan
Thus, the above mentioned are the stages and timescales that are involved in the development
of holidays’ plan for the educational tour from London (UK) to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium in
August 2019.
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P2.2 EVALUATE THE SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING
FOR DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE HOLIDAY AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF
TOUR OPERATOR
There are several different types of methods for contracting the different components of
holidays. These different contracting methods have different suitability depending on the
nature of the tour and the type of tour operator (Guttentag, 2015). Thus, with respect to the
tour by Trailfinders from London to Brussels and Brugge, the suitability of different contracting
methods for a is as follows;
FIXED CONTRACT
This type of contract exists for a specific range of time period. By utilizing this type of
contracting method, the tour operators like Trailfinders can increase their sales of services and
holiday packages in the market. The cost effectiveness of the services can be also increased by
using the fixed contract.
SALE ONLY CONTRACT
This type of contracting method is used by a tour operator in order to create a contract on the
basis of customers’ needs and demands from the company. The difference between this type of
contract and the fixed contract is that the prices of holiday packages are higher in sale only
contract.
AD HOC CONTRACT
In this type of contract, all the available resources are effectively used so as to develop a
holiday package. The prices of the holiday packages that are developed under these types of
contract are based on the hourly prices.
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The above mentioned contracting methods provide an assortment of different benefits to the
different entities of the other industries as well. These benefits to the other industries are as
follows;
TRANSPORT
One of the most essential elements of a holiday is transport. The industry of transportation by
no means can be separated from the sector of travel and tourism, as the business of both the
industries are interrelated with each other and gets influenced with the changes in any one
industry. The expansion of transportation sector of a nation aids to enhance the development
rate of the tourism industry as well. The policies that are made by the government of a nation
in the sector of transportation also positively support the travel and tourism industry of the
country to expand progressively.
HOTELS
The role of hotel and accommodation industry in enhancing the popularity of the tourist
destinations is very vital as well as significant. The visitors of this modern time period likes to
spend their time with friends and family at various different tourist destinations of the world,
and thus the hotels and accommodation amenities aid those visitors to successfully accomplish
their purpose of tourism. For the educational tour of students by Trailfinders from London (UK)
to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium; the tour operator had included a good amount of money for
providing good hotels and accommodation facilities for staying in the nation (Holland, 2017).
ATTRACTIONS
Another essential element of a holiday packages is the visitor attraction. There are several
different visitor attractions present in a nation that attracts a lot of domestic as well as
international visitors towards it. The presence of visitor attractions in a nation aids to generate
better revenues for the country, provide employment facilities to the job seekers, enhancement
of nation’s economy, etc.
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