Tour Operators Management: Trends, Holiday Development & Brochure

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of tour operator management, examining the impact of current trends and developments on the industry, including globalization, marketing techniques, budget airlines, developed technology, customer satisfaction, and environmental awareness. It assesses the stages and timescales involved in developing holidays, evaluating suitable contracting methods for different components. The report also calculates the selling price of a holiday package and evaluates planning decisions for brochure design, considering alternatives to traditional brochures for product promotion. The analysis encompasses market research, negotiation, cost assessment, planning, scheduling, managerial staffing, and evaluation to enhance tour package effectiveness. Desklib provides access to this document and many other solved assignments for students.

tour operators management

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INTRODUCTION
There has been tremendous growth in tour operator industry across the globe. Furthermore, with
an availability of different kind of services provided by them to their customers, there has been
the surge in their revenue generation resulting in its development worldwide to a high extent.
The tour operator provides different packages which are promoted in the market via different
strategies in order to attract the maximum number of customers. In recent times, it has become
possible for the customers to purchase the tour packages from any places using a new medium
such as offline stores, online websites and web applications. Various services such as
accommodation, travelling lodging facilities have been provided by tour operators so as to satisfy
the needs of the customers. The customers could choose from among various tour operators
which fulfil their requirements. In this report, several aspects of tour operators along with their
strategies would be thoroughly discussed.
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TASK1
1.1 IMPACT OF CURRENT AND RECENT TRENDS AND
DEVELOPMENTS ON THE TOUR OPERATORS INDUSTRY
Figure 1: Trailfinder Logo
Source: [Dannen, 2014]
Product development team of Trailfinders
Ltd has evaluated recent trends and
developments on the tour operator industry
across the world. It has been also analysed
that their tourism industry across the globe
is going in a transition phase and various
business enterprises have been affected by
it. As per the EU Package Travel Directive,
tour operator could be defined as a
combination of tour and travel parts so as to
produce a complete holiday package for the
tourism (Goretti, 2013). To promote the
products, travel brochures are produced via
advertisement. There are various recent
trends and development which have
significantly affected the tour operation
industry. These trends are:
 Globalisation
 Marketing Techniques
 Developed Technology
 Customer Satisfaction
 Environmental Awareness
 Budget Airlines (Nikraftar and
Hosseini, 2016)
Impact of Globalisation
 Ease of Travelling
 Increase awareness about a new
destination
 Terrorism
Trailfinder has gained from globalisation as
it has been able to provide tour package of
unknown places have become quite popular
among people.
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Impact of Marketing Techniques
 Discounts
 Collaboration with other markets
 Funding of advertisement by the
government
Trailfinder has been able to successfully
persuade UK Government to provide
funding for advertising of its tour package
among the people.
Impact of Developed Technology
 Online Booking
 Better Infrastructure
 Effective Promotion
Trailfinder has been able to provide better
promotion methods via internet so that
people would be able to know better tour
packages offered by the company.
Impact of Customer Satisfaction
 Maintaining Brand Loyalty
 Customer Retention
 Improvement in quality services
Trailfinder has been able to improve its
services by scheduling tour programs as per
the needs of customers thus satisfying them
with ease.
Impact of Environmental Awareness
 Conservation of natural resources
 Restriction in travelling to unspoiled
areas
Trailfinder has been severely impacted as it
has been unable to schedule tours for those
areas where travelling has been either
banned or restricted in order to protect their
natural environment.
Impact of Budget Airlines
 Increase in tourist volume
 Increased opportunities for middle-
income groups for travelling
Trailfinder has provided tour packages in
affordable price so that middle-class family
could also enjoy travelling tours.
There are various types of tour operators
prevailing in the tourism industry. These
are:
Inbound Tour Operators
These operators fulfil the needs of tourism
for foreign tourists visiting the host country.
Various services from accommodation to
entertainment are provided to them which
start from their arrival until their departure.
They help in increasing the revenue for the
government (Jacobsen and Munar, 2012).
Outbound Tour Operators
These operators fulfil the tourism needs of
tourist belonging to the host country. They
conduct the marketing and selling of tourism
services for those host tourists who are
visiting other countries. They have a
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negligible contribution to the government
revenue.
Domestic Tour Operators
These operators operate tourism services for
those people who want to travel within the
country borders. Due to their efforts, various
new packages for domestic tourism has been
developed which has enhanced nation
integrity of that country (Goodall and
Ashworth, 2013).
Specialist Tour Operators
They organise tours for those group of
people as per their choices. They are most
knowledgeable operators who have a wide
range of providing services for different
tourist destinations.
Major Tour Operators in the UK
Thomas Cook AG
 Origin: Germany
 Revenue/ Year: 8.2 billion Euros
 Areas of Operating: Germany, UK,
France, India, Egypt, Central
European Countries, Canada
 No. of Tour Operators: 30
TUI AG
 Origin: Germany
 Revenue/ Year: 24 billion Euros
 Areas of Operating: European
countries
 No. of Tour Operators: 81
My Travel PLC
 Origin: UK
 Revenue/ Year: 8 billion Euros
 Areas of Operating: UK, Northern
Europe, North America
 No. of Tour Operators: 39
Vertical Integration
For the tourism industry, it could be referred
to as a collaboration of tour operators with
transport companies or hotels to provide
services to the users. In the UK, TUI uses
vertical integration in its business (Khairat
and Maher, 2012).
Horizontal Integration
In the tourism industry, it could be defined
as merging of two tour agencies to minimise
competition. In UK Thomas Cook and
Sunworld merged together to increase their
market share and decrease the competition.
Role of Different Trade Bodies
AITO: Association of independent tour
operators which specialises in providing
independent tours.
ABTA: One of the largest tour operator in
the UK providing advice about their tour
packages to holiday planners.
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UK CAA: A public organisation of UK
government to frame a policy for the
aviation industry.
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TASK 2
2.1: ASSESSMENT OF THE STAGES AND TIMESCALES
INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING HOLIDAYS
In the tourism industry, planning is an important part. Tour operators develop tour packages in
an orderly basis so as to catch the attention of the customers. There are various stages involved in
developing and planning holidays:
Market Research
It is an overall research done about a given industry and their environments to find out that its
product has the capability to sustain in the given market or not. It also works on the current
trends so as to satisfy the needs of the customers. It includes economic research which includes
economical studies of the host country from which tourist are travelling to the destination
country towards which they are travelling. It also includes other researches such as product
research, competitor research, customer research, sales research and so on (Kozak and Baloglu,
2010).
Negotiation
For proper holiday planning, it has been necessary to have a good negotiation with service
providers such as hotels, vendors and travel operator for a well-planned tour. It is basically done
to maintain an affordable price for tour packages.
Assessment of Cost
Cost assessment would help in finding out total expense which would be incurred for
development of tour package by tour operators. This assessment would be important to manage
and control expenses such as travelling, accommodation, research cost and so on.
Planning and Scheduling
The management of tour and operator agency would conduct a proper planning to provide a
schedule for tour travelling. In the given case study, the tour would be conducted for five nights
so that the adult students would be able to enjoy the trip in an appropriate way (Mak, 2011).
Managerial Staff
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To provide a proper holiday package, the management of tour operator should recruit staff
having experience and knowledge about working in this industry. The staff should have
knowledge regarding destination, decision making, customer services and proper handling of
problems.
Analysis and Evaluation
For providing better tour packages, the tour agencies should analyse and evaluate these packages
by collecting customer feedbacks and developing effective marketing techniques to make this
tour successful. The analysis section displayed that it would take at least five months for
developing an effective tour package and this could be done through utilising service of
timescale using Gantt Chart (Mariani, et al. 2014).
TIME
SCALE
MONTHS ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE
RESEARCH
NEGOTIATION
COST ASSESSMENT
PLANNING AND
SCHEDULING
MANAGERIAL
STAFF
ANALYSES AND
EVALUATION OF
TOUR
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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
Contracts could be defined as an agreement signed between two parties after agreeing on certain
aspects related to the contracts. When tourism industry is considered, the contract is made
between tour operators, tourists and service providers which are very much essential as it helps
to safeguard their rights and provide a protective shield from any issues (Zaei and Zaei, 2013).
There are different methods of contracting for different components of the holiday and could be
explained as follows:
Fixed Contract
This contract prescribes fixed prices for packages offered to the customers by tour operators. As
the price of tour package is fixed, each customer is provided with similar services. However, in
case of a large group, the option of modifying package is available. This type of contract is
effective during bulk booking when a large number of people books tour at the same time for
which they receive discounts an offers.
Sales Only Contract
These types of contracts have higher prices when compared to a fixed contract. Their demand is
higher during peak season as there is a higher requirement during that period and thus provides
opportunities for service users to earn a large amount of profit. The aim of such type of contract
is providing high-quality services to the customers albeit at high prices. The only drawback for
this contract is that when there is an increase in prices for tour packages, the interest among
customers becomes low (Kärcher, 2013).
Ad-hoc Contracts
It deals with the extra arrangement of seats which are usually done by operators; so as to arrange
better services for their customers in advance.
In the given case study, the services of fixed contract method have been utilised for prior
booking of flights and hotels.
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2.3: SELLING PRICE OF A HOLIDAY
The Grand Casselbergh in Bruges is providing their services at the special rate to Trailfinders
Ltd. A room for two is 92 euros for each person which also includes the breakfast. A travel bus
with the full facility of 42 people capacity is under £7,350. The local guide will cost £1020 for
the entire duration of the tour (Swarbrooke and Page, 2012). In addition, Trailfinders Ltd. adds a
markup of 25% to the overall cost. The tour package price has been given below:
Cost Calculation Amount
Cost of rooms and BB 92*42*5 € 19,320.00
Total variable cost € 19,320.00
1 euro = 0.89 pounds
Variable cost in pounds 19,320.00*0.89 £ 17,194.80
Bus Cost £ 11,200.00
Guide Cost £ 1,020.00
The total cost of the tour is £ 29,414.80
Mark up of 25% = £ 7353.70
Total Tour Price = 36,768.50
Number of Tour Members is 42
Then Tour Price of Single Person is £ 875.440
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TASK 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the given report, different decisions regarding the planning of a good brochure for the
promotion of product would be discussed. Furthermore, various alternatives to the brochure have
also been discussed in the given report.
3.1: EVALUATING THE PLANNING DECISIONS TAKEN FOR
THE DESIGN OF A SELECTED BROCHURE
A brochure is a template which is designed by the tour operators so that people would look for it
and choose that tour package. As brochure provides the first impression of the tour operators in
front of the tourists, it is advisable for them to make effective planning decisions before
designing it. There are various benefits associated with a brochure. These are:
 Conveying tour package
 Building image of the company in the market
 Informing about the position of the company (Kozak and Baloglu, 2010)
Figure 2: Brochure Format for Trailfinder
Source: [Bronner and de Hoog, 2011]
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