Trailfinders Ltd: Strategies for Effective Tour Operations Management

This report provides an in-depth analysis of tour operations management with a focus on Trailfinders Ltd. It examines the effects of current market trends and developments on the tour operator industry, including technological advancements, personalization, increased disposable income, and the impact of online reviews. The report assesses the stages and timescales involved in developing holiday packages, using a summer vacation educational tour from London to Brussels and Brugge as a case study. It evaluates the suitability of different contract methods for various components of the holiday and calculates the selling price based on provided information. Furthermore, the planning decisions taken for a selected brochure are evaluated, considering aspects like issue identification, cost, target market, tagline, format, and print specifications. The report concludes with recommendations for improving tour operations management strategies.

Tour Operations Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................3
Task 1.......................................................................................................................................4
Task 2.......................................................................................................................................7
Task 3.....................................................................................................................................13
Task 4.....................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion............................................................................................................................18
References list....................................................................................................................19
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Introduction
Travel and tourism operators industries involve planning for operation
before they can launch packages into the market. The price determination
for packages, selection for tour destinations, availability of facilities and so
on are decided by studying the recent trends in the market of tour
operation. This assignment, with the help of a specific planning and
management plan for Trailfinders Ltd, has explained the role of planning
and management in tour operations, their steps and procedures, their
significance, and more.
The assignment has taken into account the different types of contract
methods, components of a travel plan, stages and timescales, costs and
management and more of a tour operation plan to establish an in dept
understanding of the whole process. The various stages involved in
planning a travel package is explored through counting of costs, planning
of alternatives, suitability of distribution and more.
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Task 1
P1.1 Analyse the effects of current and recent trends and
developments on the tour operators industry.
Tour operators study, examine and analyze the current market trends
before planning a tour package for their customers (Nagle and Müller,
2017). They treat their travel packages as a product of their industry;
hence plan its basic components like destination, costs, transport and
more.
The current trends and developments the current global tourism industry
has been discussed with their effects in the following points:
 Technological development – The advent of technology has led
to digitization of processes like ticketing, advanced booking,
selection of seats and more (Gurvey, 2018). This has brought about
a change in the quality of travel operations, and has made it easier.
 Personalization and optimization - Customers of tour operations
are increasingly looking for personalizing their tour plans by
planning their routes, transports and more with the help of
customization facilities offered by tour operators (Hoffman and
Offutt, 2015). Holiday packages of tour operators are often filled
with variety of options that can be designed according to the needs
of the customers.
 Increase in disposable income – The economic growth of
developing countries has had a positive effect in increasing the
disposable income of the customers of tour operators (Mason,
2015). The standard of living of people in general has increased,
leading to enhanced growth in tour and travel business.
 Marketing and advertising – With so many varieties available in
the market, travel companies are looking for defining tools and
techniques to market their products and services (Scott, 2015).
Some of the most popular tour operators like Expedia, TUI and so on
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are taking the help of social media marketing to make their
marketing strategy more attractive for customers
 Improved FDI rates – Due to rapid globalization in the past few
years, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amounts have increased,
leading to the business growth of industries worldwide. Now,
countries have more capital and investment to make on their
individual companies, and tour operators are making the most of it
by expanding their travel packages to the countries they are
receiving the maximum FDI benefits from (Sassen, 2016)
 Online reviews – As travel companies go digital with state-of-the-
art websites and mobile apps to organize travel packages, their
online reviews and testimonials matter a lot in influencing behaviour
of potential customers.
 Increase in adventure trips – According to the Travel Trend
Report (2018), people are increasingly looking for more fitness-
based travel plans. They are preferring options of active and
adventure travel like an African safari, hiking the Swiss Alps and
more.
LEAFLET:
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Task 2
2.1 Assess the stages and timescales involved in developing
holidays
In order to make attractive travel packages, tour operators must indulge
in a detailed prior planning based on market trends (Horner and
Swarbrooke, 2016). Planning is the key to devising the best offers and
strategies for travel packages. It must be kept in mind that creation of a
travel plan includes involving the stages and more. The job to create a
detailed plan that involves the various stages and timescales for the
proposed summer vacation tour for 42 students for an educational tour
between London, the United Kingdom to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium.
The plan including stages and timescales to develop the summer vacation
August 2019 educational tour for 42 students is given below:
STAGE
S
DESCRIPTION OF STAGE ACTIVITY BRIEF TIME TAKEN
1. MARKET RESEARCH This activity
involves an in
depth research on
the customer
preferences of
locality, culture
and destination
(Kolb, 2018). This
would be based
on market trends.
Based on the
above, a tour
destination is
chosen (in this
case, it is the UK )
1 month
2. PLANNING and This stage 5 months
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SCHEDULING involves
determining the
tour destination
and investigating
about its
environment,
political situation,
social setting. It is
basically
analyzing the
PESTLE factors of
the destination
(Political,
Economic, Social,
Technological,
Legal and
Environment)
(Hiltunen, 2017).
This stage
involves selecting
the hotels and
planning other
things like date
and capacity.
3. NEGOTIATION This involves
negotiating with
the destination’s
hospitality
services,
alternatives and
options of
exploration, and
more
3 months
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4. TOUR PLAN DEVEOPMENT This includes
finalizing the main
service providers
like hotel
services, caterers,
beverages
management staff
and so on (Van
der Wagen et al.,
2018).
The stage also
involves deciding
on the facilities
that would be
provided to the
customers
availing the
package (here,
students would be
provided a 45-
seater luxury
coach worth with
road and ferry
service; a local
tour guide and
twin room with
breakfast by
Grand
Casselbergh in
Bruges at 92
euros)
6 months
5. FINANCES MANAGEMENT This stage 3 months
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includes
estimating costs
of service, travel,
destination
sightseeing and
more (Dwyer et
al., 2017.
6. MARKETING AND
ADVERTISING THE
TRAVEL PACKAGE
This stage is
where the costs
and facilities have
been decided and
the main
marketing
campaign has
started over
traditional or
digital media. This
is done by
promoting the
travel campaign
through
pamphlets, travel
magazines, social
media and more
5 months
7. POST-TOUR RESEARCH Once the tour has
been conducted,
the company’s
market research
team involves into
getting the
feedbacks,
reviews and
testimonials from
3 months
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its customers
(Bianchi, 2016)
Table 1: Timescales
(Source: Created by the learner)
2.2 Evaluate the suitability of different methods of contracting for
different components of the holiday and different types of tour
operator
The contracts between tour operators and various stakeholders like
hospitality services, aviation, transport and more are usually fixed prior to
18 months of the travel package operation (Veal, 2017). The contract
allows tour operators to estimate their economic capacity in negotiating
with the concerned airlines and hotel services.
Generally, contracts are fixed at one time operations after much
negotiation, but due to the friendly relations between operators and
service providers, adjustments in costs can be made later during the
travel dates (Cetin and Yarcan, 2017).
The following are some methods of contracting that can be availed by
Trailfinders Ltd for the summer vacation August 2019 educational tour
between London, the United Kingdom to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium.
 Fixed contract – In this type of contracting, a fixed term
contractual plan is made which is agreed upon for no further change
in costing and increment of facilities or so (Bowie et al., 2016). This
means that whether the services are used or not, the payment for
these contracts would be levied. It is generally not preferred for
educational tours
 Ad-hoc contract – In this kind of contract, tour operators reach an
agreement of rates with the service providers but it is not a fixed
business commitment to the costing. (Avlonitis and Hsuan, 2017)
This is usually preferred for educational trips
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 Sale-only contract – This type of contract is a fixed cost
agreement between tour operators and various service providers
which includes higher prices than usual due to demands. This is
mostly preferred in holiday packages and business trips
It is therefore better for Trailfinders Ltd to make ad-hoc contracts with
their respective service providers for the educational trip.
The different types of tour operators in the market are the following:
 Inbound operators – These deal directly with foreign tourists,
attending to their visa requirements and other services like
accommodation, transport, currency and more on their arrival
 Outbound operators – These are operators indulging in catering
to multinational tours for foreign countries. They sell travel
packages to people from across the globe
 Domestic operators – These operators deal with local travellers
within the country, focusing on enhancing travel options within the
country
 Ground operators – These are operators that handle and arrange
for facilities for tourists, known as ‘land managers’ or ‘reception
operators’
For the August 2019 summer vacation educational trip of 42 students,
Trailfinders Ltd is acting as the outbound operator by facilitating their
visa confirmation, booking accommodation and so on.
2.3 Calculate the selling price of a holiday from given information
above.
In the current scenario, Trailfinders Ltd is acting as the outbound operator
for the August 2019 summer vacation trip of 42 students (aged 18 years
and above). The trip is between
London, the United Kingdom to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium. The tour
duration is of 5 nights.
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Since it is an educational tour, a special rate has been given for the group
by Grand Casselbergh in Bruge, which includes an amount of 92 Euros
per person for a twin room with breakfast.
The accommodation and breakfast cost for 42 students at 92 Euros per
person = 3864 Euros (for five days)
3864 Euros, when converted to £ equals to 3,418.11 £.
Other costs as mentioned in the case are calculated in the table below:
SERVICES PRICING (in £)
Luxury Coach (including two
drivers, fuel, road and ferry taxes)
7,350
Visitor attractions 45.99 (converting €52 to £)
Local tour guide 902.07 (converting €1020 to £)
Mark-up on selling and
administrative costs
25 %
TOTAL COST 10,372.6
The spot exchange rate is €1.12 per £1.
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Task 3
3.1 Evaluate the planning decisions taken for the design of a
selected brochure.
In Trailfinder’s travel brochures there are usually two full pages describing
the destination of travel. On the basis of its brochures, the following
evaluation have been made:
 Issue identification – The travel brochures by Trailfinders do not
clearly identify the purpose of travel, whether it is an educational
trip or a holiday package or so, it simply mentions ‘Time to Travel to
New Zealand’, or so, which does not appear that appealing the
target audience. It seems that the operator isn’t clear about the
target customers themselves.
 Cost – The cost of travel packages are usually kept optimal that can
be afforded by middle class holiday planners as well as those going
for business and educational trips.
 Target market and budget – The target markets of Trailfinders is
usually the middle class and upper middle class holiday planners.
They could expand their target market to university students
looking for educational trips, as it fits their budget.
 Tagline – The tour operators must have added an attractive tagline
like ‘Mesmerizing New Zealand’ or so. They can normally summarize
the entire experience they are willing to provide their customers in
not more than five words to add as the tagline on the brochure’s
first page
 Deciding the format – The brochure formats could have been
better with more about the facilities provided in the package where
they could have talked about transport, sightseeing and more. The
ideal format for the main page should have been the following:
Name of the destination
Tagline
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Type of package (whether holiday, educational and so on)
Price of the tour package with explained distribution
Mode of transportation
Itinerary of the travel schedule
Accommodation
Meals facilities
 Determining the print specifications – Trailfinders brochures
have a very monotonous picture layout. It includes only landscapes
of mountains and grasslands. The brochure could have been more
attractive if tourist destinations and popular spots would have been
added as images on the front and background of the brochure
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.
According to Pesonen et al., (2015), a traditional brochure is the most
common and oldest way to market the travel package by tour operators.
These brochures are usually printed in colourful print, with attractive font
types to appeal to its target customers. The method of distribution of such
brochures would usually be by hand or through travel magazines.
Though its long time popularity cannot be underestimated, it sure can be
replaced with a better alternative that is e-brochure. The same format can
be distributed online, with a standard font type and smooth colours to
reach out to larger audience through emails and social media marketing.
Online brochures and other alternatives are mentioned below:
 E-brochures – These include online brochures in pdf formats that
can be downloaded from the tour operator websites and newsletters
 Social media – Social media graphics in the form of high resolution
images, video and so on can be shared in place of traditional
brochures (Jenkins et al., 2018)
 Email marketing – This is one of the current practices and
alternative to traditional brochures. Emails regarding travel
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packages with attractive pictures of the destination are shared in
bulk emails with potential customers. This is also called direct
marketing
 Websites – Websites can make use of periodic blogs and gallery to
update customers with the latest travel packages
 Travel agents – This is an alternative to traditional brochure to
minimize the cost, but not an effective market placement strategy
to be followed by inbound and domestic operators
For luxury travel packages, the brochures must be e-brochures ideally and
they should be promoted via social media pages of Trailfinders since the
majority of its target customers are those who access the site digitally
through smart phones.
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.
The different methods of distribution for selling holiday packages as
discussed earlier are e-brochures, emails, websites, social media
marketing, and through travel agents. The suitability of each of these
methods depends on the cost and requirement of the particular tour
operator.
Different tour operators like inbound, outbound and domestic tour
operators consider the market trends, distribution channels accessibility
of their target customers, and so on before launching a marketing
campaign for their respective packages (Law, et al., 2015).
Travel wholesalers operators usually use traditional methods of
distribution like travel magazines, leaflets, brochures, print
advertisements and so on.
Retail travel operators make us of travel agents and travel operators who
are involved in retailing, for distributing their packages.
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Inbound operators are usually engaged in digital distribution through
websites, e-brochures, social media and more.
The marketing team of a luxury travel operator would prefer distributing
their promotional brochure for travel packages via the social media as
majority of their customers fall among the users of digital technology like
smart phones and websites. The promotion of various travel packages of
luxury operators can be most appropriately done through social media
marketing and e-brochures.
Its target customers have an active social media life with regular posts of
their professional and personal lives on Facebook, Instagram and so on.
Therefore, social media as a distribution medium for luxury holidays is a
good idea. E-brochures can be provided over various websites of travel
agents, from where potential customers can download it and assess the
useful information.
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Task 4
4.1 Evaluate the strategic decisions made by different types of
tour operators
The pricing of the tour packages are done based on rack rates, which is
the full rate before any discounts are applied. A mixed pricing is adopted
by tour operators to meet the demands as per different surges during
seasonal changes. Forward booking and promotions on last minutes
pricing are to be incorporated. The common pricing strategies are based
upon per person pricing, per unit pricing and also upon single or double
occupancy. The various types of discounts can be incorporated like Crystal
Ski Holidays incorporates discounted pricing, minimum stay and also on
traveller number on bookings. The tour operators are legally allowed to
charge more in case of previously confirmed bookings. This is the
surcharge policy of demanding extra fee. This usually happens because
the prices of different packages have gone up due to fluctuation in
currency rate, rise in fuel costs, increase in taxes, etc (Robinson et al.,
2016).
The advertisements and promotional campaigns are sought to be
interesting in order to gain attention of the customers. The tour packages
are to be well communicated across the customer’s base so that they can
choose the appropriate plan for them. Bellvilla Holiday Homes and Chalets
have discounts are to be levied upon various packages to increase the
travellers in a package. The branding of tour operators must be clear and
concise and easily communicated among the market. Customer demands
must be kept in mind before designing tour packages. Every customer has
its own aspirations in case of travelling and rejuvenation. Wexas Travel
gives the facility where the rack rate can be customised as per consumer
demands.
The tour operators must be spread across countries to increase the reach
and vast area of expansion. The distribution by Monarch must be well
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adequate to meet the surges during peak hours. The destinations and
coverage must be increased and cover almost every area. According to
Bellman (2015), the tour operators must tie up with transporters in turn
satisfy customers overall. The tour operators may also own some of the
commonly used transport facilities like Easy Jet Holidays own flights and
hotels worldwide.
4.2 Compare the tactical decisions that could be taken by a
selected tour operator in different situations.
The tour operators ensure proper management in response to tactical
situations. These situations are triggered by competitions, pricing
strategies conflicts among companies or the decisions arising out of
external factors. The well known travel and tourism companies like Cox &
Kings often take the fluid pricing strategies. This strategy is commonly
adopted by tour operators; it relates to nudging price up and down in
order to fill up the capacity at expected pace. Cox & Kings changes prices
as per demands and takes in seasonal advantage. During winter, they
reduce the prices of packages to cold counties and during summer, they
reduce packages to hot counties. It helps them to gain advantage over
competitors (Mwesiumo and Halpern, 2018). A variable pricing strategy is
incorporated by Cox & Kings for yield management. It is based on
understanding, anticipating and influencing customer perception. This
increases the revenue, even if it is from limited resources. The occupancy
of contracted beds is maximised, and the coaches and airline seats can be
fully utilised. Cox & Kings develops a strategic plan and follows it wisely
for tactical marketing.
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Conclusion
The assignment has discussed the various stages, methods of planning,
and the requirements for developing a detailed plan for tour operators
that can be further launched into their market of operation. From the
assignment, it can be concluded that tour operators have to undertake a
vast planning and management plan to decide on the pricing, marketing
strategies and more for coming up with a travel package.
The assignment has also discussed how trends and factors like economy,
media and more of a particular region influence market behaviour as well
as travel operator planning for selecting a location. The assignment,
through the educational trip planning of Trailfinders Ltd, has explained
that there are alternatives to the traditional travel brochure which are
more cost effective and widely reaching and that it depends on the
requirements of tour operators to choose any one of the available options
for distribution.
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