Analysis of Tour Operations Management at Trailfinders Company

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of tour operations management, focusing on Trailfinders, a leading travel company in the UK. It examines the influence of current trends on the tour operator industry, including the use of technology and niche tourism. The report assesses the stages and timescale involved in holiday development, different methods of contracting holiday components, and the calculation of selling prices. It also evaluates decisions related to brochure planning, suitability of traditional brochure replacements, and methods for promoting luxury holidays. Furthermore, the report evaluates strategic and tactical decisions made by different types of tour operators, offering insights into the complexities of tour operations management. Desklib offers a wealth of study resources, including similar reports and solved assignments for students.

TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1..............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 INFLUENCE OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS ON TOUR OPERATOR INDUSTRY...............4
TASK 2..............................................................................................................................................7
2.1 ASSESSING STAGES AND TIMESCALE IN DEVELOPMENT OF HOLIDAY......................................7
2.2 DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING AND ITS SUITABILITY AND EVALUATION FOR
DIFFERENT TOUR OPERATOR AND HOLIDAY COMPONENTS..........................................................9
2.3 CALCULATION OF SELLING PRICE OF HOLIDAY FOR GIVEN DATA...........................................11
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................12
3.1 EVALUATION OF DECISION FOR PLANNING FOR A BROCHURE...........................................12
3.2 ASSESSMENT OF SUITABILITY TO REPLACEMENTS OF A TRADITIONAL BROCHURE AND
RECOMMENDATION OF MOST SUITABLE FOR THE LUXURY HOLIDAYS....................................14
3.3 EVALUATION OF SUITABILITY OF VARIOUS METHODS TO PROMOTE HOLIDAYS AND
RECOMMEND APPROPRIATE ONE FOR LUXURY HOLIDAYS......................................................15
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................17
4.1 EVALUATION OF STRATEGIC DECISION TAKEN BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF TOUR OPERATOR
....................................................................................................................................................17
4.2 COMPARISON OF TACTICAL DECISIONS TAKEN BY SELECTED TOUR OPERATOR IN VARIOUS
SITUATIONS................................................................................................................................18
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Tour Operator management refers to managing several holiday packages which are being
prepared by organizations for its staff members. A tour operator package refers to a holiday
package in which all the detailed information about the package is mentioned such as
destination, mode of transportation, holiday description, organizers, security arrangements etc.
Tour Operations management is very important for the travel and tourism industry because it
seeks out new opportunities for destinations along with satisfying the ever-changing needs of
travellers. In this particular assignment, a leaflet is prepared by the tour operator company
named ‘Trailfinders' which is one of the largest travel companies in the UK. The assignment will
cover a detailed study of its operations in the tourism industry and the existing trends in the
tour operations management. In the later sections of this assignment, various steps involved in
the creation of holiday packages by the tour operator companies is briefed. In the next
segment, the analysis is done for the assessment of various stages and methods for contracting
the tour components with respect to the development of holidays. In Continuation, various
aspects of working in the marketing team of the tourism industry and planning decisions for
selecting a particular brochure for an alternate traditional brochure for different types of tour
operators are also explained. In the later sections, various suitable methods of distribution of a
holiday for different tour operators are examined along with an evaluation of decisions made
by various tour operators.

TASK 1
1.1 INFLUENCE OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS ON TOUR OPERATOR
INDUSTRY
LEAFLET
INTRODUCTION TO TOUR OPERATOR
COMPANY – TRAILFINDERS
A tour operator company helps to facilitate
different types of travellers from around
the globe. Tours operator companies play a
vital role in providing holiday packages both
at domestic level and international level.
Trailfinders is a tour operator company in
the UK and provides holiday packages for
various countries like Australia, New
Zealand, African Countries etc. This
company provides a lot of services to its
customers like Clinic Services, Travel
Essentials, Passport Services, Visa Services
and much more. Some additional holiday
packages that trail finders provide is
accommodation, sightseeing and food
services (Moutinho, et al., 2013).
RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS
In the present market scenario tour
operator companies like trail finders
provide a lot of services like online booking
facility of holiday packages, Latest offers
such as red-hot offers, beach holiday offers,
flight offers, family holiday offers and much
more. Some additional offers also include
independent travellers and senior citizens.
EFFECT OF RECENT TRENDS
These trending trends and developments in
the tour operator companies attract more
and more tourist from all corners of the
world. People also get attracted on social
media platforms like Facebook when tour
operator companies like trail finders
advertise their latest offers for several
destinations. Social media is a becoming a
bigger platform for tour operating
companies to market and advertise their
holiday packages and by doing so it attracts
one-fourth population of the entire world.
By providing offers on airline travels the

connectivity of people in reaching these
holidays destinations is increasing now a
day’s which also increases the businesses of
the tour operating companies.
NICHE TOURISM
Figure1:NicheTourism
Source:[http://www.travelbizmonitor.c
om/Features/incredible-india-going-
niche-8721]
Niche tourism refers to a type of tourism
intended for a separate audience that
means audiences that are interested in a
particular type of tourism such as cultural
tourism, medical tourism, rural tourism etc.
Niche tourism is also broadly classified into
various segments such as Photographic
tourism, adventure tourism, wildlife
tourism etc. Tour operator companies like
trail finders target these special tourists and
provide many offers to facilitate them
(Marson, 2011).
USE OF TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS
FOR TRAILFINDERS
In the present market scenario, it becomes
essentially important for tour operator
companies to utilize the right distribution
technology for accessing the large customer
base and make their products readily
available for them by use of technology
(Masron, et al., 2016). This way technology
will help a tour operator to increase its
distribution both offline and online. Some
technological developments include online
booking system which provides various
facilities such as reservation, currency and
language services, real-time bookings,
online payment options and much more.
Another aspect includes the use of channel
manager as implemented by Trailfinders, in
which the channel manager is a system
which allows the tour and activity operators
to manage all channels of distribution. For
example, the tour operator of Trailfinders
Company works with the online travel
agents (OTA), hotel concierges, global
distribution systems, local visitor centres in
order to sell its products and services. Some
important tour operator software’s like
revenue management also help in
customization and personalization of

products which can easily manage multiple travel services offered by tour operating
companies (Grainger,2016).

TASK 2
2.1 ASSESSING STAGES AND TIMESCALE IN DEVELOPMENT OF HOLIDAY
For a tourist, it is essentially important for Trailfinders to develop a plan for booking a holiday
destination which can be further illustrated through timescale of the plan. A timescale plan
helps in the management of time for a tourist in a holiday destination. Having a timescale plan
in hand will allow a tourist to better utilize his time in visiting or covering all possible
destinations that he intended to visit while booking the holiday destination (Lumsdon, 2016).
Some essential timescale plans involve
Research: With respect to educational tour from London to Brussels and Belgium some
conclusions are derived before executing a plan such that it is better to find out the type of
hospitality service first being arranged by tour operator companies for tourists. Several other
factors can also be researched as political and social factors.
Determining destination: This is the process of choosing the best holiday destination that
interests particular tourists. This may include factors concerning the climatic conditions
favourable, weather conditions etc.
Negotiation & Costing: After selecting a holiday package next comes the process of negation
with the service providers from the tour operator companies like trail finders in matters
concerning the accommodation facilities, transport services, travel services etc. The cost of tour
package can also be determined by related expenses such as accommodation expenses, travel
expenses, marketing cost etc.
Financial Evaluation: After the costing tour operator companies make an assessment of the
profit margins or extra income that will be derived from these businesses.
Promotion: After a tour package is fixed then the tour operating companies like Trailfinders
start promoting this tour package to other college or universities members so that they are

attracted and purchase these tour packages which in turn will increase the profit margin for the
company.
Deployment: At last the tour plan will be executed and various positive and negative outcomes
will be derived for future assessment of developing the timescale of plans for holidays.

2.2 DIFFERENT METHODS OF CONTRACTING AND ITS SUITABILITY AND
EVALUATION FOR DIFFERENT TOUR OPERATOR AND HOLIDAY COMPONENTS
Tour operator companies manage various methods of contract from tourist destination
agencies both domestically and internationally. This may include lodging facilities,
transportation facilities and many other contractual components. These components are mainly
classified into 3 categories such as
Fixed Contract: In this price for a particular service like lodging facility, travel facility is fixed
and cannot be negotiated. This method of the contract is not suitable for students because if
the facilities are booked and students fail to avail these facilities on time because the service
providers will avail the cost of booking as it gets reserved whether or not the facilities are used
(Guo, et al,2013).
Figure 2: Trailfinders Store
Source:[http://lewiscraig.co.uk/client-stories/trail-finders/]

Ad hoc contract: It is a type of service to be availed for the immediate purposes without any
previous planning or considerations (Buckley, 2012). If the no of students is confirmed then
these services are availed so that no additional cost is invested as in case of fixed contracts.
Allocation Contract: This method of contract can be understood by an example let’s assume
Trailfinders booked 21 rooms from a hotel service provider for a particular date. Then the hotel
room provider will allocate all 21 rooms to the trail finder and save the rest available rooms for
allotment at competitive pricing ( Guo & He, 2012). This way trail finders can better fulfil the
needs and demands of visitors.

2.3 CALCULATION OF SELLING PRICE OF HOLIDAY FOR GIVEN DATA
Particulars Cost Per Person (in Euro) Cost for 42 students (in Euro)
Cost Price 420.2 Euro 17635 Euro
Selling price 558.87 Euro 23454 Euro
2 rooms with
breakfast
96 Euro 4032 Euro
Luxury Coach (48
seater)
299 Euro 12544 Euro
Tour Guide 25.2 Euro 1058.4 Euro
The above table indicates the price considerations for several educational tour packages such as
the cost of 2 rooms with breakfast for one person, cost of luxury coach for one person etc.

TASK 3
3.1 EVALUATION OF DECISION FOR PLANNING FOR A BROCHURE
A brochure must be effective enough to represent the brand image of the travel company as it
helps to identify the position of the product or the service the company wants to deliver. The
brochure must be attractive and interactive to convey sufficient information to develop a sense
of assurance in the customer towards the company (Molina, et al. 2010). The planning decisions
which are taken in the designing of a brochure are evaluated as follows-
Cost- The decision for the budget has to be smartly taken which involves the cost of distribution
and the designing process of the brochure. The printing of the brochure and its distribution
together account for around half of the gross profit for the tour operator, Kuoni. The travel
operator company has an arbitrary approach in deciding the budget of the brochures but the
team involved in the distribution and the designing of the brochure keeps in mind the target
market and another medium of distribution of the brochures such as the social and electronic
media in the form of e-brochures also considering the rate of waste of the cost.
Brochure
Cost
Format
Target
market
Print
specifications
Timescale
decsions