Tour Operation Management

Task 1 Understand the tour operator industry within the travel an tourism sector

Tour operator is a person or company who purchases the different items that make up an inclusive holiday in bulk, combines them together to produce package holiday and then sell the final product to the public either directly or through travel agencies (Yale 1995). A package holiday consists of at least two of the following. Services must be sold to customer to cover a period of 24 hours and should include an overnight stay (Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours): - Transport (flights, ferry crossings, coaches)

Accommodation (for period of 24 hours)

Other tourist services (foreign exchange, airport transfers, guiding etc.

) To be able to serve customer a tour operator must know the customer as of what are the needs and requirements of a customer and how much he/she is willing to pay for the services offered. For a better understanding of customer. A tour operator may design a special product to target a particular group of customers; which can be based on different social, economical or geographical factors.

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Such sub setting of market is known as Niche Marketing. Stanton states niche marketing as “a method to meet customer needs through tailoring goods and services for small markets” (Stanton et al. 1994).

Tour operators are very important within tourism industry, as they help people to choose better their holidays and also gather several services and products together by realising holiday packages which makes traveller’s life easier as they do not have to spend time choosing appropriate flights , hotels, destinations and other services that they need.

Tour operator is an organisation that activates within tourism industry and has as main role making holiday packages which include travelling services and accommodation for their customers.

A Tour operator provides tourism services for travellers. As it can be seen above, its main role is to design and offer holiday packages. Holiday packages include travelling services, accommodation, different other services as transportation from and to the airport, excursions during holidays, and all these for a wide range of destinations and touristic resorts that tour operators collaborate with. Also, the role of a tour operator includes advices for customers to choose the holiday that is best suitable for them.

Task 1.1 Analyse the effects of current and recent trends and developments on the tour operators industry Trends In Hospitality Sector Hospitality is all about offering warmth to someone who looks for help at a strange or unfriendly place. It refers to the process of receiving and entertaining a guest with goodwill. Hospitality in the commercial context refers to the activity of hotels, restaurants, catering, inn, resorts or clubs who make a vocation of treating tourists.

Helped With unique efforts by government and all other stakeholders, including hotel owners, resort managers, tour and travel operators and employees who work in the sector, Indian hospitality industry has gained a level of acceptance world over. It has yet to go miles for recognition as a world leader of hospitality. Many take Indian hospitality service not for its quality of service but India being a cheap destination for leisure tourism. With unlimited tourism and untapped business prospects, in the coming years Indian hospitality is seeing green pastures of growth. Availability of qualified human resources and untapped geographical resources give great prospects to the hospitality industry.

The number of tourists coming to India is growing year after year. Likewise, internal tourism is another area with great potentials. 1. Low cost carriers: Travelers in general are more price sensitive to airfare than they are to hotel room rates. Often a low airfare will stimulate demand for travel even if hotel prices are increasing. LCCs are a good option for busin ess travelers, as they have advantages like low costs, more options and connectivity.

2. Budget hotels: More than 50 per cent of occupancy of a majority of hotels comes from the business travel segment. The average room rate (ARR) realized from business travelers is normally higher than from leisure travelers. Heightened demand and the healthy occupancy rates have resulted in an increase in the number of budget hotels.

Task 2. 1 Create two new holiday package tours for the operations and planning department for Thomas Cook

Task 2.2 Evaluate the suitability of different methods of contracting different holidays and different types of tour operator

In the first instance, the company must select between contracting directly with accommodation providers or through the use of a third party agency (Cooper et al 2008). Negotiation directly may help the company to save money by excluding the fees of a third party however, the downside is that the company may have to deal with a large number of accommodation providers each with their own peculiarities and unique circumstances. On the other hand, the company could opt to use another intermediary who will undertake such sub-contracting on the behalf of the tour operator, for the tour operator this reduces complexity in the contracting process in that the tour operator now has only a single point of contact (Holloway et al 2009).

However, on the downside the tour operator will now incur additional costs from the fees levied from a third party, in addition the tour operator will also lose a degree of control over the accommodation which is to be provided and arranged by the third party. This may have an impact upon the tour operator whose clientele falls with the A and B social bands and so have very specific requirements in relation to their individual accommodation needs in comparison to other segments of the market.

Outbound Tour Operators take residents from one country to travel in another country. These tours take travellers all over the world and to every continent. Where do the tours go? The most popular place is Europe, but that's just a start on opportunities. Add to that the South Pacific, China, Australia, Patagonia, Antarctica, worldwide cruising, the Middle East. Where would you like to go? Inbound Tours involve non-residents traveling in another country. Companies that provide local assistance for tours arriving in their country or town are called Inbound or Receptive Tour Operators. They are commonly used on international trips, particularly where language issues are part of the mix. These companies make the local arrangements for airport pickup and delivery, arrange for activities, hire local guides, attend to all the details of the stay, and help in emergencies.

A Receptive Tour Operator could be a ground transportation company, or a Destination Management Company (DMC). If you are working for a Receptive Tour Operator, you likely are a local who is working WITH the inbound tour, not FOR its tour company. If your tour is the Inbound Tour, for example traveling to Argentina, then you work with the local Receptive Tour Operator, who is handling the travel details for you, and can be counted on to speak really good Spanish if you can't. Consider jobs with Trek America if this niche is of interest. Task 2.3 Calculate the selling price of a holiday from given information below.

Task 4 Evaluate the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator and compare tactical decision taken by a tour operator