Tours and Travel Management Assignment

Program	Diploma in Travel and Tourism
Unit Number and Title	Tours and Travel Management
QFC Level	Level 5

Introduction

An operator is a person who operates and combines all the components of tours and travels and makes a perfect holiday for the tourists. They create the whole package starting from the transportation like charter plane plus the accommodation like hotels and the local services which is also included in the package. They sell their packages according to the standards set by the “5 a’s of tourism”. A destination where a passenger can stay and take rest is termed as accommodation. Example- hotels, guest houses etc.The basic transportation facility that is required by the passengers while visiting the place is termed as accessibility. Amenities are the basic services that tourists need while they are out of their home such as toilets, food, communication facility, medical help, emergency services etc.Attractions are based upon then interest of the tourist that has to be designed by the tourist operators to satisfy the demand and wants of the tourists. Like- parks, museums, historical monuments, beaches etc.The tasks performed by the tour operators after reaching to the  tourist destination  are termed as activities. (Mintzer, 2012)

Task 2

2.1 Assess the stages and timescales involved in developing holidays.

Stages involved in creating a tour package

• Research
• Tour schedule development
• Negotiation with people who supplies tourism
• Cost involve in a package tour
• Financial estimation and pricing
• Administrative staff
• Marketing of a tour package
• Tour brochures
• Climatic conditions and tourism
• Analysis of sales
• Feedback from customers and staff(Bruce-Lockhart, 2008)

Research – Destination and Market: In research we’ve to start with a tour product and the n we’ve to seek a market for selling that product. These tour products are included the destination area which consist of –

• Tourist potential
• Touristic appeal
• Accommodation
• Other services

Some steps that involved before entering into a tourist market-

Step 1- We have to identify the economic, political, social and climatic condition that affects the future growth of the package tours. (Tai, 2012)

Step2- The tour operator has to identify whether the target market is small or large. Because if the target market is small, he earns a large amount but if the market is large he is unable to earn a good amount of profit.

Step3- Making a kind of tour that exactly meets what a passenger needs in his or her tour. You have to fulfil all the needs and provide perfect hospitality to them so that they are satisfied with what u have provided. (Editorial board, 2015)

Step4- We have to identify the key destinations according to their interest areas and also the alternate destinations. Alternate destinations are identified because in case we are unable to provide the key destination we can provide an alternate sop that they can enjoy their holidays.

Step5-

Approaching the suppliers- In this stage we’ve to approach all the agents of tours and travel which can provide the best holiday packages to our customers.

Step6-

Making the policy decision- You have made all the policies regarding the development of holidays and then you have decided the best policy out of all. (Garrod and Go?ssling, 2008)

Tour itinerary development- First of all we have to understand what itinerary is all about. Itinerary is a description that carries all the relevant points like destinations, route points, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing activities and other services. Tour operators have to research on both destination and tour ingredients to review the questionnaires completed by previous tour participants. Tour operators examine the familiar tours which have done in the past and after the successful operations and examination they develop the perfect itinerary for the customers.

Negotiations with tourism suppliers and vendors- The tour planner have to work with many other persons like airline, lodging companies, transports operators car rentals, ground operations, sightseeing vendors and so forth. They have to manage a good relation to make work easier. Their aim is to provide hospitality. A tour planner can also make some negotiations with the other suppliers through his contacts and travel agencies. In case the tour company has a goodwill which is renowned and having a long and old history he has the power to make a good negotiation.

Costing of a package- There the many elements that are involved in the cost of the tour package. To make it easy to understand we’ve broke the elements into arts-

• Transportation cost (air, water, rail, and road)
• Accommodation cost
• Local arrangement cots
• Payroll cost
• Research cost
• Marketing cost         

Transportation cost- It involves the cost that is incurred while taking the medium of travelling. Generally the costs of aircrafts or air transport in higher. Also it is the most expensive mode of transportation. Railways are the cheapest transport but it also depends on the distance and the tier you select. Roads are having a good connectivity water transport are little bit slow n adventurous.

Accommodation- A convenient arrangement of rooms and other basic amenities which a person needs to stay at a place is termed as accommodation. Like hotels, paying guest, guest houses etc.

Local arrangement cost- A basic cost that incurred at the time of visiting the localize places. Example food, local transport, sightseeing etc. (Bruce-Lockhart, 2008)

Payroll cost- A cost of paying off the salary and wages of the employees who rendered services to us is known as payroll cost. These consists of pay sheets where the amount is mentioned that a business pay to his employees. (Garrod and Go?ssling, 2008)

Research cost- Research cost is a cost where by a research is done to know about the tour and then all the decisions are take place according to the result of the research.

Marketing cost-When a product or service delivered to a customer it incurs some cost, that cost is termed as marketing cost. This cost transfers the title of owner from seller to consumer. It also includes storage cost, promotion cost, distribution of gods and services

Financial evolution and pricing- In this, the tour planner has to evaluate the exchange rates, decide the future selling prices and then he has to finalise the tour prices. He has to decide the price structure In advance approximately ten to twelfth months before. He also has to examine the risks involved in a tour such as exchange rates, payment to vendors, hotels, and other destinations.

Administrative staff- As we know that the tour operates are totally depends upon the nature so it requires some extra personnel. They recruit personnel who are social, good humour, a sense of ethics, decision maker, love for people, adventurous and places. (Editorial board, 2015)

Marketing a tour package Marketing of tour requires sophistication. It is the responsibility of tour operators to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers by giving them perfect services that reached to  customer satisfaction .

Tour operator brochures- A brochure that contains all the information regarding tour is termed as tour operator brochure. It persuades and motivates the customers to purchase goods and services.

2.2 Evaluate the suitability of different methods of contracting for different components of the holiday and different types of tour operator.

There are several methods of contracting which are developed for different components of the holiday. These contracts are:

Sale only Contracts: Sale only contract is to provide the property to the individual who is paying for it. Sale only contracts are made for the selling purpose and there are certain restrictions attached with the contract. This type of contract has a sign on the product which could be sold in that particular region only and cannot be sold legally in other region. It is necessary that sale only contract should be checked by the individual that whether the product is original or is being sold illegally.

Another is Fixed Contract: this type of contracts is rigid in nature which cannot be changed or amended in near future. Fixed contract is held between the seller and customers so as to ensure that the terms and conditions should remains fixed and do not change with the change in the requirement of the seller and customer. Fixed contract also remain with the employee and employer that remains for the years it is a long term contract that is held between the employer and employee.

Ad Hoc Contract: This is the in which specific problems are solved which are not generalizable in nature. These types of contracts are not intended to be adapted to other purpose. Such type of contracts are not necessary for the tour operators as there will be not benefits provided to the tour operator for such type of contracts.

Tour operator is of four types basically.

• Inbound tour operator- An operator who deals with foreign tourists and provide them all kind of services at the time of their arrival like transfers, accommodation, conveyance, transportation, entertainment, currency etc.
• Outbound tour operator- These kinds of operators are work according to the specialisation. They generally operate and design multinational tours. They arrange the travel documents like visa passport etc.( Gillen, Kirby and van Riemsdijk, 2015)
• Ground tour operator- these kinds of operators are also known as reception operators. They manage the accounts finance entries etc. They provide land arrangements as they deal with large tour companies. Example car rent, entertainment part etc.( Maru, 2013)
• Domestic tour operator- this is the most growing operator of today’s generations that are the large players of travel industry. They usually focus on the abroad market. In UK also these operators are most aggressive and effective due to their policies.

2.3 Calculate the selling price of a holiday from given information below.

Calculations of selling price of this holiday-

• Hotel name = St. Michelle hotel
• Price for per room = 60 Euros for a twin room (2 adults sharing) on room basis.
• Firstly we have to convert these Euros into pounds.
• (1 euro = .79 pounds)
• 60 Euros = 60 x .79 =47.4 pounds(a)
• 10 Euros = 10 x .79 = 7.9 pounds(b)
• There are 15 students which means that 12 students can stay in 6 rooms.(c)
• 3 student in one room(d)
• Supplement for bb is 7.9 pounds
• Transportation by 20 seater luxurybus = 1000 pounds(negotiable which includes driver, fuel, road and ferry taxes)
• Local guide = 200 pounds

Solution-

Hotel accommodation - 47.4 pounds x 7rooms =331.8 x 5

Bb supplement - c

Transport (1000 pounds) - 1000 pounds/15 students = 66.67 x 5

Local guide (200 pounds) - 200 pounds/15 students = 13.34 x 5

Serial no.	Headings	Calculations	Amount
1	Hotel accommodation	47.4 pounds x 7rooms x 5	1659
2	Bb supplement	7.9 pounds x 15 students  x 5	592.5
3	Transport (1000 pounds )	1000 pounds/15 students x 5	333.35
4	Local guide (200  pounds)	200 pounds/15 students x 5	66.7
Total			2651.7

Hence, it could be seen that total profit is 2651.7 then 10% profit margin for this will be 265.17 Euros. The profit that company will gain from providing the services will be of 265.17 Euros.

Task3

3.1 Evaluates the planning decisions taken for the design of the brochure.

Brochure - A brochure is a printed informative document which is folded in to a pamphlet or a template. They are the promotional pieces that can be used as  promotion and advertisement of any company or organisation consisting of all the information about the products and services. They are distributed by radio, or handed out personally through sales persons or could be uploaded online. They are also known as ‘grey literature’. Grey literature is the information that a company or an organization publishes to general public.

Types of brochure (according to folds)-

• Letter fold
• Gate fold
• Roll fold
• According fold
• Double fold

Printed brochure- A paper which is thick and glossy used to give the customers an initial impression of the quality of the organization. It is attractive to look and also printed in a vibrant colour to attract more and more customers. Printed brochures are the most common form of brochure.

Types of brochures-

• e-brochures
• Traditional brochures
• Modern brochures

The planning decisions taken for the design of a selected brochure is as follows-

You have to know your purpose before you start making a brochure

• You should limit your fonts. There should be just a heading, subheading, and copy of the font. Headline is also important part of the brochure because it defines the whole purpose of the brochure.
• Put the readers as your first priority. When you are designing a brochure, you’ve to understand that the readers are the end of the brochures. You’ve to design it in a way that it is understood to the customers or readers.
• The language of the brochure must be simple and understandable to the readers. Sometimes simplicity leads to attract more people.
• Use more colours, drawings, sketches, graphs so that your brochure will be more attractive and impressive.
• You’ve to keep only the important data and information in the brochure. Don’t try to be wacky or different just to attract a massive population. Be crisp and sorted(Gillen, Kirby and van Riemsdijk, 2015)
• You’ve to make a good first impression to the readers because brochure is the first thing that reaches to the customers.
• Use of more pictures makes your brochure more presentable. It will be in your budget and also make a good impression on the readers.
• In this way you can make your brochure which will stand out of all and make a very good impression to all the readers.(Pender and Sharpley, 2005)

3.2 Assesses the suitability of alternatives to a traditional brochure for different types of tour operators and recommend the most appropriate for your tour package.

Different type of tour operators needs different type of brochures. It depends on the needs and requirements of the business. Generally, the tour operators need traditional method of making a brochure but now a day’s modern brochure is come to an existence which is replacing the use of the traditional brochure:

• 3d Vouchers are more attractive which attracts the focus of the people with the effect of which they could get information related with the tour packages. It is necessary that tour operators should use 3d vouchers so as to attract the people towards the tour packages availed by the tour operating company (Maru, 2013).
• Publishing the brochures with the help of social media will give access to the mass population. In present scenario it could be seen that people prefer to purchase the things which are published on social media sites. It is necessary that tour operators should spread the awareness with the help of social media sites so as to ensure that proper set of information could be shared to the target population and they could get attracted towards the tour packages. Brochures could be published on YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter so as to attract the mass population towards the tour packages.
• Most appropriate way that could be adopted is publishing on the social media sites as it is one of the best ways to cover huge number of people towards the products and services provided by the company (Verma et al., 2012). Such type of activity also helps in saving paper and expenses incur in printing the brochures.

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 your tour package.

This includes the best to deliver your product to the customer is a way that is affordable to the customer as well as profitable to the organization. The best strategies to effectively market tours and travels package to customers, are here. Cost effective distribution is very important to manage the cost of the package.

There are two types of methods of distribution of a product to the customers. Those methods are as follows-

• Domestic way of distribution of product and services &
• International way of distribution of product and services

We’ve to understand various ways by which we can sell our products to the potential customers. We have to opt the most cheap and effective medium of distribution.

Retail travel agent- Retailers are the persons that provide an accessible place for the customers either online or on retail shops or offices. They directly sell the products to the customers. Tour operators just have to pay a commission of about 10% depends upon the contract between them.

Wholesalers- Wholesalers are the business houses that sell your products through retailer distribution channels either online or shop front. They also sell many other products and make a link between your products to other products which helps in promotion of your product. They also combine different packages to each other. They directly negotiate the price of the products and merge other products and then further distribute them to retailers or directly sold to customers via websites.

Inbound tour operators- Inbound tour operators are the coordinators that coordinate travel arrangements on behalf of travel agents and overseas wholesalers. This usually involves planning the itinerary, negotiating prices, costing the various parts of the itinerary like transfers; accommodation, tours as well as they arrange the payment part also.

The most appropriate method for distribution of our products is international one. Because Japanese students want to travel to Paris, France. So we have to apply the international method of distribution of our package. It will be more suitable and easily accessible to use and apply. (Ritchie, 2009)

Task 4

4.1 Evaluate the strategic decisions made by different types of tour operator

Thomas cook group is one of the biggest travel and tourism groups of the world. It provides services to almost 4500 travel agencies and it is having more than 285000 employee’s resources. It has almost 90 self-owned/leased planes. It serves approximately 17 million travellers annually over 2500 destinations. The main brands under it are Thomas cook, air tours; direct holidays etc. It is divided into 5 geographic regions: UK, Ireland, Europe, North America and airlines Germany. This information is giving us an in-depth analysis of Thomas cook group plc. It provides us the whole structure as well as inner insight of the business. We also have to understand the key competitors and the other stake holders related to it. The company analysed its strengths and weaknesses on a continue basis to improve them and brings out a change into the organisation. (Pender and Sharpley, 2005)

They analyse monetary, strategic, and functioning factors. Growth is assessed according to the standards set by the head of the company. The report of Thomas cook contains important corporation information like trade structure, procedure, the company past, main products and services, key contributor, key workers, decision making people, different positions, subsidiaries. It also provides all the relevant information about the financial ratios of last five years as well as temporary ratios for the previous four quarters. Financial ratios include productivity, limits, returns, liquidity, influence, monetary position and competence ratios. To be the group’s people at the front position of its trade, it has started a number of innovative and influencing strategies. Like commerce operate staffing, guidance, growth of personnel, reward policies, etc. (Braund and Porter, 2010)

Marketing strategies of Thomas cook-

Marketing mix- A mix of worth, values and services that a company offers to his client in termed as marketing mix. It consists of 4 ps’ (product, place, pricing, promotion). These are the basics of marketing mix that helps the organization to remain on the top position.

Product- A product is the total value that is transferred by the firm to its customers. The total creation consists of both tangible (e.g. raw materials, description, accessories) and intangible parts (e.g. name, product line, client services). In a broad term, the basic motive is to provide satisfaction to the customers.

Pricing- Price refers to the cost of the creation that is paid by the consumer in exchange of goods and services. It reflects the built in value of products &services. To attain a revenue goal, a company can apply different types of pricing policies depending upon the nature and size of the business.

Consequently, in marketing terms- PRICE = PRODUCT VALUE: As per the policy, if the price of a product is higher there is fall in the demand of the product. Their satisfaction depends upon on the price they paid for a particular product and service. When the price of a product falls, it becomes more attractive and hence demand rises. (Tai, 2012)

Place- Place refers to the location of the business as well the way of allocation between process and customers. Location plays a very important role as there is a direct or indirect link between place and the other factors. In short we can say that distribution of products & services, mediators, transportation, market, etc. are the main constituents of place.  There is a chain through which the products and services are carry forwarded.

Promotion- The publicity of a product is termed as promotion. The company follow many types of promotional techniques. In simple words we can say that when you spread information about of product and services to a massive population that term is known as promotion, so that they become familiar to your product.

Cox & kings: Cox and kings is a travel company that was established in 1758 when Richard Cox was appointed as the regimental agent to the foot guards. It is now a well-established travel company with its headquarters in India. It is now the longest established travel company. It is also an educational travel group with operations in 23 countries. E.g., UK, Japan, Australia, etc. its branch office is in Moscow & Maldives. If we moved to the history of the Cox & kings we noticed that they were army agents, travel agents, printer and publisher, news agents, cargo agents, ship owners, bankers, insurance agents, and many more works. This company grew through the 18^th& 19^th centuries. They now secured an established position in London. The company now has set up five branches in India after 1905. (Bruce-Lockhart, 2008)

4.2 Compare the tactical decisions that could be taken by a selected tour operator in different situations

Comparison between Cox & Kings and Thomas Cook Thomson on the basis of strategies and tactics-

Thomas cook- There are various tactical decisions that could be taken by Thomas Cook in various situations. Thomas Cook is one of the most known tour operator providing effective set of tour and travel services to the target customers. Tour packages keeps on changing according to the requirements. In case any festival occurs in UK then Thomas Cook reduces its price of the packages so as to attract effective number of people to UK. In case of excess it could help in availing rooms in the hotel as there are various hotels which are linked with Thomas Cook which helps Thomas Cook in availing accommodation services to the customers coming to UK with the help of Thomas Cook (Pender and Sharpley, 2005).

Cox & kings- Cox and Kings is another big fish in the market of travel and tourism there are various travel and tourism services that are offered by Cox and Kings to its customers. Cox and Kings believe in providing quality services to the customers using its services. In case of excess like at the time of Christmas there are many visitors who visit UK to enjoy their holidays. Many of the people face issues with flight and hotel bookings. In such case Cox and Kings have a tie up with the airline company and various hotels of UK and it can avail the flight for the customers and provide the assurance that they will get accommodation facilities in such type of peak season also such type of activities helps in building positive image in the mind of the customers available in the market (Braund and Porter, 2010) (Tourism Marketing, 2015).

Conclusion

The aim of the study is to measure the behaviour of the travel and tour industry, image of the brands (Cox and Kings, Thomas Cook), destinations, brand loyalty, potential of tourism, products & services, and the  marketing strategy  made by the tour operators and the mediators. In the past years tour operations are not much effective but with the increase in the interest of travelling of people, tour operators are becoming more developed. Many innovations are coming into tours and travels industry which leads to expansion and growth of this industry. Through this study we understand the need of the tour and travel industry in the growth for the growth of any country.

References

Books
Ash, N. (2001). Travels with my daughter. Toronto [Ont.]: Dundurn Press.
Braund, K. and Porter, C. (2010). Fields of vision. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Bruce-Lockhart, J. (2008). A sailor in the Sahara. London: I.B. Tauris.
Editorial board. (2015). Tourism Management, 51, p.IFC.
Garrod, B. and Go?ssling, S. (2008). New frontiers in marine tourism. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Mintzer, R. (2012). Start your own travel business and more. [Irvine?]: Entrepreneur Press.
Journal
Editorial board. (2015). Tourism Management, 51, p.IFC.
Gillen, J., Kirby, R. and van Riemsdijk, M. (2015). Tour guides as tourist products in Dalat, Vietnam: Exploring market freedoms in a communist state. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 56(2), pp.237-251.
Maru, L. (2013). Sustainable Entrepreneurship: A Study of Tour Operator Firms in the Kenya Coast Region. Academy of Management Proceedings, 1(1)
Page, S. (2012). Tourism management. Tourism Management, 33(2), pp.485-487.