Tour Operations Management: A Case Study of Trailfinders

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Tour Operations Management
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Table of Contents
Task 1 (LO 1).............................................................................................................................4
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Discussion..................................................................................................................................5
1.1 Analyse the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour operators
industry.......................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
Reference list..............................................................................................................................9
Task- 2 (LO 2)..........................................................................................................................11
Introduction..............................................................................................................................11
Discussion................................................................................................................................12
2.1 Assess the stages and timescales involved in developing holidays...................................12
2.2 Evaluate the suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of
the holiday and different types of tour operator.......................................................................14
2.3 Calculate the selling price of a holiday from given information above.............................16
Conclusion................................................................................................................................17
Reference list............................................................................................................................18
Task – 3 (LO 3)........................................................................................................................20
Introduction..............................................................................................................................20
Discussion................................................................................................................................21
3.1 Evaluate the planning decisions taken for the design of a selected brochure....................21
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...................................23
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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 a luxury tour
package.....................................................................................................................................25
Conclusion................................................................................................................................28
Reference list............................................................................................................................29
Task – 4 (LO 4)........................................................................................................................31
Introduction..............................................................................................................................31
Discussion................................................................................................................................32
Conclusion................................................................................................................................36
Reference list............................................................................................................................37
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Task 1 (LO 1)
Introduction
Tour operation can be defined as a type of a business that aims at serving the individuals with
tour and travel components. In this study, the selected companies are Thomas Cook Ltd and
Artisans of Leisure, which is studied for undermining the recent trends in the tour and travel
industry. In other words, these two companies have been selected because they are market
leaders in their place of origin that is in the UK and US and hence their changes in the trends
are followed by the industry. The basic purpose of this report is to determine the operating
activities of these travelling companies by identifying the current development and trends in
this particular industry.
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Discussion
1.1 Analyse the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour
operators industry.
Tour operators are considered as a company or organization that make purchases of the
travelling components from the suppliers and thereafter aggregate those to form a tour
package, which they effectively market in order to attract the customers, and then they sell
directly or indirectly to the customers by applying their own price tag (Räikkönen, 2014).
There are four types of tour operators which is summarized in the below section:
 Outbound operators: the outbound operators generally serve the customers with
international visits that is in other words it can be said that the outbound operators arrange
travels from one country to another for the purpose of tourism (Chan, Hsuand Baum,
2015).
 Inbound operators: The inbound operators arrange tourism wherein the incoming
operators are the residents of the country visiting places for the purpose other than
tourism.
 Domestic operators: The Domestic operators arrange the travel and tourism for the
residents of a country for visiting the own country’s destination for the purpose of tourism
(Kuzakhmetova et al., 2016).
 Direct sell operators: In some cases, the tour operators indirectly sell their services to the
customers with the help of the tour agents that is in other words it can be said that in this
case the tour operators are indirectly selling their holiday packages to the customers with
the help of an intermediary (Weilerand Black, 2014).
Thomas Cook and Artisans of Leisure are the two leading tour operators in the UK and the
US; hence, these two companies will be studied in order to determine the recent trends in the
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tour operating industry. Thomas Cook is UK based international travel company, which was
formed by a business combination that is merger of two companies namely Thomas Cook AG
and MyTravel Group plc. Thomas Cook has segmented its market based on the frequency of
travelling and hence has targeted the individuals from different age groups who frequently
travel. The competitors of this organization are TUI Travel, Cox and Kings, Virgin and
Emirates. The travel agency provides wide range of products and services ranging from
packaging holidays, hotels and resorts, Charter and scheduled passenger airlines, cruise line,
to travelling services.
However, Thomas Cook Ltd possesses wide range of products and services but recently it is
losing up its market share due to the new entrants in the industry. Thomas Cook Ltd. is
integrated vertically with Thomas Cook travel agents, Thomas Cook airlines and cruise and
Thomas Cook tour operators that is the organization has several companies under a single
umbrella. The organization has global and European links because it serves globally with its
wide range of products and services. Thomas Cook ltd being a market leader in the tourism
industry sometimes provides customised services like Tunisia is trending destination of
holiday and in this context Thomas Cook ltd increased its flights to this destination along
with accommodation facility. Thomas Cook ltd already had cruise lines along with the
airlines. Thomas Cook ltd has a corporate policy of following sustainable tourism wherein the
organization is limiting the harmful impact of emission and hence executed Environment
Management System in the organization (Cook, 2018).
‘Artisans of Leisure’ is US based travel and tourism company that offers cultural and other
tours in the international destinations which is privately owned. The company is
particularised in the arrangement of the foreign luxury independent tour and travel and hence
its range of services are aligned to this ranging from developing culinary tours to family tours
and many more. Artisans of Leisure geographically segment its market. Zicasso is considered
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as a competitor for the organization. Artisans of Leisure offer luxury and customised
international trips to its special customers. Artisans of Leisure have also expanded in the
cruise market wherein the company offers travel in the private shore. The organization is
fully aware of the environmental policies and they support sustainability of the business
through environment friendly approach(Artisansofleisure.com, 2019).
ABTA is considered as a leading trade association in the tour and travelling industry for tour
operators, travelling agents and service providers who work as a middle person with their
clients. This travel association is ranked as the largest trade foundation in the UK. The role of
ABTA is representative of the tours and travel industry and hence presents the views of such
industry to the public and government and other business bodies. The association also
protects the interest of the members like tour operators, travelling agents and other
organizations related to these activities. The trade association is comprised with the members
up to 750 tour operators, and more than 4,500 travelling agency (Fletcher et al., 2017).
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Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is evident that for understanding the travel and tourism sector it
is important to study the recent trends of the industry. This particular assignment defined the
tour operators followed by discussing the various types of the tour operators. Thereafter the
recent trends of the Thomas Cook Ltd and Artisans of Leisure are discussed on several
aspects. The last part of the study effectively discussed about the role of the trade association
or trade body of the tour and travel industry ABTA that is largest trade association of the UK
in this sector.
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Reference list
Artisansofleisure.com. (2019). Luxury travel - Artisans of Leisure - Private luxury tours in
Europe, Asia, Africa, South America & South Pacific. [online] Available at:
https://www.artisansofleisure.com/ [Accessed 3 Jun. 2019].
Chan, A., Hsu, C.H. and Baum, T., 2015. The impact of tour service performance on tourist
satisfaction and behavioral intentions: A study of Chinese tourists in Hong
Kong. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 32(1-2), pp.18-33.
Cook, T. (2018). Thomas Cook | Media Centre. [online] Thomascookgroup.com. Available
at: https://www.thomascookgroup.com/ [Accessed 3 Jun. 2019].
Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D. and Wanhill, S., 2017. Tourism: Principles and practice.
Pearson UK.
Kuzakhmetova, S.Y., Sitdikova, L.B. and Shilovskaya, A.L., 2016. International tour
operators' responsibility guarantees in developing legislation in the Russian
Federation. Tourism Management Perspectives, 20, pp.66-69.
Räikkönen, J., 2014. Enabling experiences-The role of tour operators and tour leaders in
creating and managing package tourism experiences.
Weiler, B. and Black, R., 2014. Tour guiding research: Insights, issues and
implications (Vol. 62). Channel View Publications.
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Task- 2 (LO 2)
Introduction
The key purpose of this report is to understanding the different stages that are involved in the
holidays along with the timescale. The managers of the Trailfinders which is a UK based
travel company expects to create and educational tour and luxury coach for the adult students
and in order to have an insight this particular assignment is proposed. In other words it can
be sad that this reports identifies the stages and timescale of the holidays along with assessing
the different methods of contracting and hence determining the selling price of Trailfinders as
per the provided information.
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Discussion
2.1 Assess the stages and timescales involved in developing holidays
Several stages are involved that are effective in developing holidays and hence can assists the
management of Trailfinders for developing and educational tour and luxury coach as well.
 Market research: The initial stage of developing the educational tour from the UK to
Belgium is to conduct a market research which is essential for Trailfinders in order to
understand the taste and the preferences of the young adults that is the students. In this
context the market research is conducted online through the official website of
Trailfinders (Mason, 2015).
 Planning and scheduling: Planning in this context will assist Trailfinders to design and
develop the packages as per the demand of the young students in this educational tour.
Along with this the scheduling aims to support the organization with setting the
timeframe for the educational tour which will be scheduled in July 2021 (Gunn, 2014).
 Forecasting: Forecasting plays a pivotal role in developing holidays and in this context it
will help the management of Trailfinders to assess the climatic changes in Belgium.
Assessment of the climatic changes is very important in the educational tour because the
students will be travelling with many crops and hence this forecasting will enable the
company to execute the tour in the appropriate time frame (Komppula, 2014).
 Contracting: Contracting will enhance the satisfaction level of the young students in this
educational tour because this particular stage will offer the customised services to the
young students as they desire (Randelli, Romei and Tortora, 2014).
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Figure 1: Stages in developing educational tour in Trailfinders
Source: Created by learner
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