Tour Operations Management: A Case Study of Trailfinders Ltd.

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes tour operations management using Trailfinders as a case study.

TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................ 2
1.1.............................................................................................................................................. 2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................ 5
2.1.............................................................................................................................................. 5
2.2.............................................................................................................................................. 8
2.3.............................................................................................................................................. 9
TASK 3.......................................................................................................................................... 10
3.1............................................................................................................................................ 10
3.2............................................................................................................................................ 12
3.3............................................................................................................................................ 14
TASK 4.......................................................................................................................................... 16
4.1............................................................................................................................................ 16
4.2............................................................................................................................................ 18
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 20
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................21
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: TUI Logo..........................................................................................................................4
Figure 2: Thomas Cook Logo..........................................................................................................5
Figure 3: ABTA Logo.......................................................................................................................5
Figure 4: UK CAA............................................................................................................................5
Figure 5: BROCHURE FOR TRAILFINDERS.....................................................................................13
2

INTRODUCTION
The tour operator is a company which combines the travel and tour elements to make holiday
package and advertise their services or products, holiday packages through promoting the
brand and producing brochures. The concept of travel and tourism management and the tour
operations management to focusing the analysis on the recent and current trends will be
discussed in this assignment. In the first part, the tour operators industry and their
developments will be focused and in the second part there will be an understanding of the
various stages includes in creating the holiday package. The assessment of the stages and the
timescales involved in the development of the holidays will also be made. The suitability and
contracting for different approaches and components and various types of tour operator will
also be focused in the second part. In the third part, the strategies and tactics developed that
could be taken for Trailfinders Ltd.
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TASK 1
1.1
Oiesve,
T
he one of the most vibrant industry that has
been growing at the rapid pace is the travel
and tourism. With the changes in the
external environment of all around the
globe it is required that the businesses
operating in the travel sector adopts the
changes while avoiding the any sort of bad
situation. The product development team
of the Trailfinders Ltd (Spicer, 2017). has
assessed the current trends that are
emerging in the industry. It has been
observed that the current tourism industry
has been evolving with the different
transitions that are happening in the
business environment. A complete travel
holiday tourism package for the people is
the integration of the tour and travel
together as per the EU Package of the
Travel Directive. The advertisement of the
product is performed with the designing of
the various kinds of the brochures through
the several techniques (Buijtendijk et al.,
2018). There is a different kind of trends in
the market that has impacted the travel
operation of the company. The trends and
their influence on the industry are given
below:
Globalisation
 Feasibility to the tourist from all
around the world
 Exploring the new destinations
 The increment in the terrorist
attacks
Globalisation is the phenomena that have
supported the Trailfinder in designing of the
tour package of the unknown destination
that is yet to be explored by the individual
from all around the globe (Andres, 2017).
Marketing Approaches
 Discounts provision
 Integration with the business
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 Advertisement with the government
The Trailfinder has also merged with the
government of UK so that the fund for the
advertisement can be raised for its tour
package.
Enhanced Technology
 Booking through the online websites
 Improved infrastructure
 Efficient promotion
Customer Satisfaction
 Retention of consumer
 The increment in the brand loyalty
Trailfinder has scheduled the tour programs
according to the requirements of the
travellers that have improved the
experience of the consumers (Robinson et
al., 2016).
The different types of tour operators in the
industry are given below:
Inbound Tour Operators
This kind of tour operator hugely
contributes to the revenue generation by
working for foreign tourists that are visiting
the host nation.
Outbound Tour Operators
These operators work for the meeting the
need of the travellers that are visiting the
tourist destination within the host nation.
Domestic Tour Operators
These operators are the ones that facilitate
with the services of the travel and tourism
within the boundaries of the nation.
Major Tour Operators in the UK
TUI AG
Figure 1: TUI Logo
Source: Ling et al., 2015
Origin: Germany
Revenue/ Year: 24 billion Euros
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No. of Tour Operators: 82
Thomas Cook AG
Figure 2: Thomas Cook Logo
Source:
 Origin: Germany
 Revenue/ Year: 8.4 billion Euros
 Areas of Operating: Germany,
France, Egypt, Canada
 No. of Tour Operators: 32
Vertical Integration
This includes the combination among the
tour operators with other transport and
hotels to provide the facilities to the
consumers (Ling et al., 2015). Thomas Cook
has implied this in the UK in its business
operations.
Horizontal Integration
The horizontal integration is the process of
merging the two organization so as to
maximize the profits and reduce the rivalry.
For instance in UK Thomas Cook Airtours
integrated to increase the market share and
decrease the competition.
Role of Different Trade Bodies
ABTA:
Figure 3: ABTA Logo
Source: Ling et al., 2015
A leading tour operator facilitating with the
advice related to the tour packages to the
holiday planners.
UK CAA:
Figure 4: UK CAA
Source: Block et al., 2018
The policies of the aviation industry are
framed by this public sector organization of
the UK government (Block et al., 2018)
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TASK 2
INTRODUCTION
In the given report the educational tour proposal for the students that are above the age of 18
from the London to Brussels and Brugge has been explained. During the development of the
holiday package, the evaluation of the different stage and time scales has been performed.
Lastly, the selling price of the package with the price per person has been calculated.
2.1
The different ways of the development and planning of the holiday package are given below:
Market Research
At the initial stage of the planning of the tour package the basic step that is to collect the
information that is linked with the destination market. There are several kinds of elements that
are required to be considered before the planning of the tour package (Isa et al., 2018). This
step helps in controlling the budget of the plan also.
In the given tour, the Trailfinder need to discover the various the opportunities that are
available in Belgium so that the best of the services provider in the market can be included with
the assessment of the several elements.
Planning and Scheduling
The second step after the research of the market in preparation of the proper plan that will the
have the several factors for choosing the services for travellers like transportation and
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accommodation (Buckley and Mossaz, 2016). With the proper planning, the tourist can avail the
facilities with the attainment of the maximum benefits.
In the case of the tour of the 7 nights the travelling distance will be evaluated along with the
sightseeing that has been properly planned for reducing the overall travel time further utilizing
the rest of time to discover the unexplored sites of Belgium.
Contracting
The services from the local services providers have been collected with the contracting. Best
prices and affordable services are assured with the negotiations with the providers of the
service. The kind of facilities involves the accommodation services while travelling from London
to Brugges (Enoch, 2016).
Cost Assessment
This would support the tour operator in the estimating the overall expense that can be utilized
for the development of the tourist package for the tour operators. The cost assessment is really
helpful in managing and controlling the costs of travelling, accommodation and other research
costs.
Managerial Staff
The management of the tour operator should recruit the right candidate with the sufficient
amount of the experience and knowledge in the field. They must have the knowledge that is
linked with the destination, decision making procedure, consumer services and proper
management of the issues.
Analysis and Evaluation
The consumer’s feedbacks are collected with the development of the marketing strategies with
the evaluation of the packages by the tour agency (Cottrill et al., 2017). Through this, they can
provide the best services to the consumers with the success of the tour. The timescale can be
assessed with the help of Gantt chart in the five months as given below:
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TIME
SCALE
MONTHS ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE
MARKET RESEARCH
CONTRACTING
MANAGEMENT OF
STAFF
COST ASSESSMENT
INVESTIGATION AND
ESTIMATION
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2.2
The agreement among the two parties is the process in which they agree on the certain subject
along with the various aspects that are linked to it is known as the contract. In respect to the
tourism industry the contract among the tourists, tour operator and providers of the services is
established (Sujan et al., 2015). This is crucial for the safety of the right and provision that has
the protective shield from the problems. The different manner of the contracting in the travel
businesses is done as given below:
Fixed Contract
In this type of the contract, the prices of the packages are fixed for the consumers by the tour
operators. The consumers are facilitated with the same kind of packages and a higher amount
of the benefits is provided to them if they book in the bulk amount.
Sales Only Contract
During the peak season, these contracts are costly on comparing to the fixed contract further
providing the opportunities to the users of services so that the high amount of profits can be
generated. This type of contract is focused on the higher quality of the services and goods that
are provided to consumers (Sammer and Saleh, 2016). The decline in the interest among the
consumer and the increment of prices is the drawback of the contract.
Ad-hoc Contracts
This contract comprises of building a provision that is linked with the extra arrangement of the
seats so that the better quality of the services is provided to the consumers of the company.
In the given case scenario the fixed agreement has been implied for the booking for the flights
and hotels.
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2.3
The Trailfinder has been receiving the special services that are offered by the Grand
Casselbergh in Bruges. A room for two individuals is of 95 euros including the breakfast. A travel
bus with the all kind of the services with the seating capacity of 43 is under £7,450. For the
entire tour, the local guide will cost over £1050 (Bruni et al., 2017). Additionally, the markup
price by the Trailfinder is 25% to the overall cost. The prices of the tour package are given
below:
Cost Calculation Amount
1 Cost of rooms and BB 95*43*6 £ 19,420.00
2 Total variable cost £ 19,420.00
1 euro = 0.89 pounds
3 The variable cost in pounds 19,420.00 *0.89 £ 17,256.80
4 Bus Cost £ 11,300.00
5 Guide Cost £ 1,030.00
The total cost of the tour is £ 29,541.90
Mark up of 25% = £ 7453.80
Tour Price = 36,768.50
Tour members= 43
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