Tour Operations Management - Assignment Example

Tour Operations Management Table of Contents 1 Evaluation of the Tour Operations of Thomas Cook Group Plc 3 2 Current Trend and Impact of Tour Operations 4 3.1 Analysis of Summer Brochures 6 (1) Overall Quality and Content 6 (2) Use of Images 6 (3) Style of Copy 7 (4) Ease of Use 8 Suggestions to the Shortcomings 8 3.2 Assess the Suitability of Alternatives to a Traditional Brochure 9 3.3 Evaluation of the Different Methods of Distribution 11 4.1 Evaluation of the Strategic Decisions 12 4.2 Compare the Tactical Decisions 14 References 16 1.1 Evaluation of the Tour Operations of Thomas Cook Group Plc A specific module is designed to evaluate tour sectors of Thomas Cook which is one of the inbound, domestic, UK outbound and specialist tour operators in the UK. Moreover, the designed module involves collecting secondary information from several sources. This module is designed in a particular way that would facilitate in evaluating travel and tourism industry of the UK succinctly. Thomas Cook Group plc is a UK based organisation that primarily focuses on hospitality and tourism. The organisation operates in 19 source markets. It also operates under brand names of Thomas Cook, Condor, Ving, Spies, Neckermann, Jet tours and Tja reborg. Moreover, Thomas Cook also controls several of its subsidiaries directly and indirectly. The organisation has invested in several other companies of the world. Furthermore, the organisation operates through the use of 87 flights in its tourism operations. The operating structure of the organisation comprises of the four segments, which are based on the geographical locations and the origin of the customers. These four segments include the United Kingdom, Northern Europe, Continental Europe and Airlines Germany. In addition, through mergers and acquisitions the organisation has expanded extensively in the past few years. In order to undergo an effective and successful tourism and hospitality operations, the organisation recruits a significant number of employees each year. Presently, it has employs over 30,000 people. Moreover, every year almost 20 million customers are served by the company, which signifies the success and growth of the organisation. Besides, with respect to the tour operations of the organisation, it has been engaged as an inbound tour operator. In this regard, the organisation receives customers from other countries travelling to the UK or other parts of Europe. The organisation also acts as a domestic tour operator, where the travellers only travel to the tourist places that are located within the nation. Moreover, the organisation also acts as an UK outbound tour operator, where the travellers make a tour outside the UK. The operations of the organisation also include the facility for the special travellers. In this regard, it provides complete assistance to the special travellers that travel for certain commercial programs or movies or others. Thus, it also acts as a specialised tour operator (Thomas Cook, 2014). 2.1 Current Trend and Impact of Tour Operations The current trend of tour operations has significant impact on the economy of a nation and so also to the society. It has been observed that there has been significant development in the tourism industry. This is prominently because of the advancement in technology. The advancement in technology has greatly improved the infrastructure throughout the world. This has lead to the development of communication and hence, development of tourism had taken place. Moreover, the sales of ticket through the internet also have been in the trend from the past few years. The customers in the new era prefer to book their ticket through the use of internet as it is more comfortable to them. One of the recent trends of tour operating sector is the use of low cost cruises or airlines. The tour operators of the recent era have undertaken strategies to reduce the cost of operations. This is especially in reducing the cost associated with cruise as well as airlines. Furthermore, the recent trend in tour operating sector also suggests an increase in the environmental awareness. The tour operators in the modern era more concerned for protecting the environment and hence, avoid damage to the environment in their business process. The environmental concern by the tourism companies is majorly because of the constant pressure from the government, non-governmental organisations, and the people. Furthermore, the tour operators of the modern day are extremely inclined towards gaining competitive advantages. In this regard, it is extremely important to generate customer satisfaction. Thus, the business processes of modern the tour operators are more customers oriented and hence, undertake responses from the customers to mitigate their diverse needs and demands. It is also important to note that the recent trend of most of the tourism companies of the world is to attract the customers by the use of travel brochures. These brochures contain a detailed tour plan with images and others. These brochures are attractively designed. The brochures are one of the marketing tools, which is highly effective in drawing the attention of the customers. These brochures are distributed through the internet media and others. The online media is highly effective in distributing these brochures to the mass as well as it gives cost benefit to the tour operators. For example, Thomas Cook has adapted the current trend of tourism industry with regard to the use of websites, call centres, agencies, text messages, telephone call, and may more for the purpose of selling holiday packages. Besides, the company has also been extensively engaged in publishing brochures (Wayne, 2007; Sharma, 1999). Moreover, it is also important to note that the economic scenario of a region greatly impacts the tourism industry. It has been observed that with the higher inflation, the tourism industry greatly falls and on the other hand, with the fall in inflation, the tourism industry rises. The prime reason behind this is associated with the rise of inflation and decrease in the purchasing power of the travellers. Additionally, travelling different places is not a basic need for consumers. Hence, with the rise of inflation consumers spent more on the necessary products rather spending on travelling. Moreover, this form of economic stress that affects the tourism is significantly observed in the recession period. For instance, the recent Euro Crisis has greatly affected the tourism industry in the Europe as well as other parts of the world (Nickson, 2007). 3.1 Analysis of Summer Brochures (1) Overall Quality and Content The brochure considered in the study is a tour to Florida and Las Vegas in the summer of 2014-15 of Thomas Cook. The overall quality and content of the brochure is highly satisfying. The tour package covers almost everything that a tourist desired to entertain from Florida and Las Vegas. In this regard, the tour package includes a visit to the city of Orlando in Florida, and Las Vegas. The tour package also includes a visit to the Sea World parks and Entertainment and Florida Theme Park. It also includes the complete entertainment from Kissimmee, International Drive, Lake Buena Vista, Fly Drive, and many more. Moreover, there are also some of the most famous resorts incorporated in the tour. This includes Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando Resort, Walt Disney World Resort Hotels, Universal Orlando Resort Hotels, and Florida Villas. Besides, the brochure also contains detail information regarding flights, booking condition as well as the travelling insurance. Thus, it is evident that the selected brochure of Thomas Cook has covered almost everything in details regarding the tour plan to Florida and Las Vegas in summer 2014-15. This implies superior quality and content of the brochure (Thomas Cook, 2014). (2) Use of Images The use of images in a travel brochure is a very decisive factor to be considered by a tour operator in order to attract the customers. It gives a view of the tourist spot that the travellers would travel. In this regard, the brochure of Thomas Cook contains several images that depict the entire tour program in pictorial format. It gives a pictorial representation of the cities as well as the tourist spot. The brochure also contains images of the resorts as well as the facilities that the travellers would derive from such resorts in the region. It further encompasses the images of the entertainment sites that are included in the tour plan. Moreover, the brochure also contains images of the route map through which the travellers would be travelling. In addition, pictorial representation of the flights and other means of transports that would be used in travelling are also illustrated in the brochure. The use of images in all aspects not only increases customers’ attraction, but it also increases the customers’ reliability towards the organisation. Furthermore, it is also important to note that the images used in the brochure are also of high quality that depicts real view of the spot. The quality of the image in the brochure is relatively high and clearly depicts the true colour of the spot (Thomas Cook, 2014). (3) Style of Copy The style of a brochure is another major variable for any of the organisations in the travelling industry. The sophisticated style of brochures of an organisation greatly attracts the travellers or the customers. It has been observed that majority of the tourism companies use lot of images to construct the brochures. The use of images not only attracts the customers, but also increases the reliability of the information in the minds of the customers. It is also important to note that brochures are more appealing, when the contents are framed with the use of minimum words to provide maximum information. Contextually, the brochure of Thomas Cook for the summer holiday tour to Florida and Las Vegas in 2014-15 is built accordingly to portray sophisticated style. The brochure of Thomas Cook contains all the relevant images of the tour that highly attracts customers. Moreover, the brochure also reflects all the relevant and detailed information regarding the tour. At the same time, the words used in the brochure is also very less. This is because of the precise writing style and also because of the pictorial description of the tour plan. Moreover, the style of the brochure is also very lucid and detailed that can be inferred from the map and the route of travelling as mentioned in the brochure. Furthermore, the simplicity of the style of the brochure can also be inferred from the tabular depiction of the price of all the facilities. The tables also contain detail of the available seats in the tour plan. Thus, the style of the brochure is highly sophisticated and of great advantage to the travellers (Thomas Cook, 2014). (4) Ease of Use The aforementioned brochure of Thomas Cook is of extremely easy to use for the consumers. The prime reason behind this is the extensive use of images throughout the brochure. The pictorial format of describing the tour plan is very easy to understand from the perspective of the user. Moreover, the brochure is also constructed in a lucid manner with minimum words to address maximum information. The ease of use can also be inferred from the depiction of the tables and graphs in the brochure. The tables and graphs as mentioned in the brochure renders an ease of gathering information regarding the tour. Thus, the brochure prepared by Thomas Cook is of extreme ease for the users to use and gather needed information (Thomas Cook, 2014). Suggestions to the Shortcomings Although the brochure prepared by Thomas Cook is of superior quality considering all the above factors, yet there are a few shortcomings that cannot be avoided. One of such is with regard to the content of the brochure. It is advisable that the content of the brochure should also include a brief comparative analysis of Thomas Cook to its competitors. Moreover, it should also highlight the point of differentiation with the other competitors. Furthermore, there is another shortcoming that the brochure possesses. This is related to lack of motion pictures in the brochure screen. It is also advisable to introduce web links in the brochure. This web links can be used to play videos related to the tour. The introduction of video sample in the brochure would be extremely attractive to the customers (Thomas Cook, 2014). 3.2 Assess the Suitability of Alternatives to a Traditional Brochure The approach of attracting the customers by the tourism companies through the use of brochure is from a long time. Brochures are one of the most effective marketing methods for tour operators. Generally, brochures are used for the purpose of providing adequate information to the customers. The traditional brochures are usually in the form of printed book. However, in the present day brochures are also viewed in the digital screen. The traditional printed brochure differs significantly with the alternatives of the present day that are used by the tour operators. In this regard, there are several alternatives available to a tour operator in order to share information regarding the tour to the customers. This includes CDs, video, internet, intranet, television, and many more. These alternatives of the modern day are of extreme quality. This is especially with the image quality. The image of these alternatives possesses true colour and extremely high resolution and others that improve the quality of an image. Moreover, the traditional format of brochure is incapable of providing videos and motion pictures. However, the alternative tools of the modern day are equipped with videos and motion pictures. These videos and motion pictures create more attraction to the customers. Besides, printing of the traditional brochures is more costly in comparison to the alternatives that are available in the modern day. Moreover, creating of brochure in digital screen costs very little. The alternatives to the traditional approach also take less time to be prepared as compare to the traditional printed books. It is also important to note that the alternative to brochures in the modern day is easily distributed to the consumers in negligible period of time. This is prominently because of the introduction internet and intranet in the modern era. The distribution of the traditional brochure requires the use of postman or haulier. This is indeed very time consuming and not reliable too, because in the delivery process the brochure might get damaged. This is unlike in case of delivery through email, where there is no possibility of the damage of the brochures. Besides, the alternative methods of providing information to the consumers and thereby attracting consumers also include the introduction of agents. The agents take responsibility of attracting customers for the travel operators and hence, get commissions. This approach has been very effective as the representatives of the tour operators meet face to face with the customers. This approach is highly effective because face to face to communication is more convincing and reliable from the perspective of the customers. It is also important to note that through direct meeting with the customers, all the issues and the confusions of the customers are sorted out immediately. It would also lead to the development of immediate feedback from the consumers, which is extremely important from the perspective of the tour operators. Thus, it is evident that the alternatives to the traditional brochure of a tour operator are extremely effective and suitable considering the recent trend of competitive era of tourism industry (Hara, 2008). 3.3 Evaluation of the Different Methods of Distribution In the modern era of competitive business environment it is extremely important that the tour operators undertake strong strategies to sell and distribute tour packages. In this regard, it is observed that there are several methods through which selling and distribution of the tour packages are performed. These include direct sell, call centres, teletext, telephone, agencies, internet, and many more. In this regard it is observed that for an inbound tour operator it is advisable to use the call centres, teletext, telephone, or even internet facilities. These approaches would be highly effective because the customers are located in other countries of the world. Establishing communication with customers and selling the tour packages through this means would be effective. The prime reason behind this is that the communication in distance is extremely suitable through the use of this means. The tour operators can also contact with an agent that operates in the region of the distant customers (Butler, 2010). However, for domestic tour operators, organisations can chose any of the methods. It is advisable that the organisation chose all the methods for the better outcome. It is also important to note that although selling through the agents is highly effective, but it incurs significant cost to the tour operators. Thus, considering domestic tour to be less profitable as compare to the international tour operator it is advisable that the tour operator must limit on selling through the agents. However, the organisation can effectively use internet, telephone, teletext, telephone, call centres, and others (Butler, 2010). In case of the UK outbound operators, the tour operators should use each and every tool for the sale of the tour packages. One of the tools that is highly effective deals with engaging tour agents. The use of an agent is highly effective in convincing customers. The other tools like the use of internet and direct sale are also effective and these tools provide more cost benefit to the organisation. Besides, the use of teletext, telephone, and call centres can also result favourable outcome for a tour operator (Buttler, 2010). Moreover, for a special tour operator, it is important to sell tour packages effectively through the use of proper and adequate distribution channel. The sale of special tour packages is highly important as it returns higher profit to the organisation. Hence, in this particular tour packages, it is important for the operators to include all the tools of distributing and selling. However, one of the selling tools that are extremely important in the perspective of an organisation with regard to special tour packages is the use of agencies. The use of the agencies is of extreme importance as it serves an effective convincing tool (Buttler, 2010; Hayward, 2000). 4.1 Evaluation of the Strategic Decisions There are certain strategies undertaken by the tour operators in the recent past years by the several travel and tour organisations. These strategies have led the organisations to grow at a higher rate and hence, gain competitive advantages. One of such organisation that has showed high strategic decisions with regard to domestic tour operator is the Yatra.com. The organisation has introduced several strategies in improving the tour packages of the domestic nation. This is extensively observed in its operations in India, where the organisation has undertaken every possible strategy to attract customers. It has been observed that the organisation is highly focused on making direct sales to the customers. In this regard, it has applied several marketing tool like internet, tele-calling, tele-text, and social networking sites among others. This strategic decision has proven to be highly effective for the organisation. The use of internet sources to provide information to the customers is very cheap and hence, it has given significant cost benefit to the organisation. Moreover, the website of the organisation also contains detailed information regarding domestic tours. The website also contains videos of the tour packages. These videos are highly attractive in nature and hence, attract customers significantly. Although the videos of the tour packages provide information that are highly convincing, but it is equally important to note that the website do not provide ample information regarding the tour. It is advisable to the organisation to should include detailed information regarding the tour, which would further attract the customers. Besides, the organisation has also applied several other strategies for the purpose of selling the tour packages. This includes the use of agencies and outsourcing process through the use of call centres. These strategies are highly effective as these approaches are more convincing to the customers. It is also important to note that the agents are closely related to the customers and thus, the customers usually prefer to purchase tour packages from agents. Furthermore, with regard to domestic tour operator in India, it is also important to note that the use of agencies and call centres is highly cheap. Thus, it provides a significant cost benefit to the organisation and facilitates in increasing the efficiency and profitability of the organisation. Therefore, the strategy applied by Yatra.com is satisfying considering the extensive use of agents. However, the organisation should also include more detailed information in its website with tables and charts (Yatra.com, 2014). One of the tour operators that have been highly effective in dealing with inbound tour packages is the Thomas Cook. The organisation has been very effective in applying strategies to attract customers from other countries. In this regard, it has been observed that the website of the organisation has been very effective in attracting customers. The websites are designed sophisticatedly with every detail regarding the tour. Moreover, the organisation has also been highly efficient in attracting customers through the use of telephone calls, text messages, call centres, and others. These strategies are also very effective in nature as the representatives of the organisation provide detail information regarding the tour. Moreover, all the issues and the confusions of the customers are sorted immediately by the representatives of the organisation. Thus, the overall strategies of the organisation regarding inbound tour packages have been highly effective and satisfying (Thomas Cook, 2014). 4.2 Compare the Tactical Decisions Thomas Cook is one of the well reputed tour operators in the world that has implemented competitive strategies for the successful growth of the organisation. In this regard, the tactical decision that has led the organisation to gain customers is significantly observed in the UK outbound packages. It is observed that the websites designing and direct sales of the organisation have been very effective. The website is designed accordingly to provide maximum information through the use of graphs, charts, tables, and many more that provide easy use of information. The quality of web site designed is highly competitive in the tourism industry. Moreover, the organisation also uses skilled call centres for the purpose of convincing the customers. This tactic also gives competitive advantage to the organisation in order to obtain maximum market share. Furthermore, another tactics applied by the organisation in order to attain greater competitive advantage with regard to the UK outbound customers is the use of agents. The agents used for the purpose of selling tour packages to the UK outbound customers are more effective in convincing the customers. The customers generally purchase tour packages from agents, thus the organisation establishing contact with the agents can reap substantial benefits (Bowie, & Buttle, 2013). Besides operating as a UK outbound tour operator, Thomas Cook also operates as a Specialist tour operator. The organisation has also been very effective in applying strategies or tactics that provided competitive advantage to the organisation. The organisation can use any of the selling strategies. It is also advisable that the organisation must use all the relevant tools of selling. The use of internet, telephone calling, text messages, call centres, agencies, and others are equally important for obtaining special customers. However, it is wise to undertake the tactics of selling tickets through the use of agents. This is because the agents are highly skilled in convincing and hence, selling tour packages to the customers requires high convincing power which is not possible to achieve from other marketing tools such as internet or teletext. The prime reason of the effectiveness of the agents is the effective communication process. The face to face direct conversion is the best method of communicating with the customers. Moreover, the immediate feedback can be received from the face to face communication. Thus, these feedbacks enable agents to predict the needs and the requirements of the customers more efficiently, based on which they can suggest or convince customers to purchase particular holiday packages. Unlike in the first case study which reflected the extensive use of videos in the official websites of the company, i.e. the Yatra.com, the website of Thomas Cook involves minimum use of videos to convince the customers. Although the strategy of Thomas Cook is ideal but it is suggested to the company to incorporate more videos in its websites. Such inclusion would facilitate the company to draw the attention of large customer base towards its website which would eventually contribute in increasing the sales of holiday and tour packages offered by it (Thomas Cook, 2014; Holden, 2004). References Bowie, D. & Buttle, F., 2013. Hospitality Marketing. Routledge. Buttler, R., 2010. Giants of Tourism. CABI. Hara, T., 2008. Quantitative Tourism Industry Analysis: Introduction to Input-output, Social Accounting Matrix Modeling and Tourism Satellite Accounts. Routledge. Hayward, P., 2000. Leisure and Tourism: Heinemann GNVQ Intermediate. Heinemann. Holden, A., 2004. Tourism Studies and the Social Sciences. Routledge. Nickson, D., 2007. Human Resource Management for the Hospitality and Tourism Industries. Routledge. Sharma, K. K., 1999. Tourism and Culture. Sarup & Sons. Thomas Cook, 2014. Florida & Las Vegas 2014-15. Thomas Cook Brochure. [Online] Available at: http://www.brochure-store.co.uk/Brochures/Thomas-Cook/TCTTFLS214/cover-contents/Pages1#Pages3 [Accessed December1, 2014]. Wayne, P., 2007. Information and Communication Technologies in Support of the Tourism Industry. Idea Group Inc (IGI). Yatra.com, 2014. Perfect Holidays. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.yatra.com/ [Accessed December 01, 2014]. Read More