Travel And Tour Operation Management - Thomas Cook

TASK 1

P1.1 Recent trends and development in tour operations sectors

It is world where people prefer to do travelling. Therefore, travel and tour industry have faced tremendous growth and also it changing at rapid speed with the changing needs of customers and their preferences ( Travel trends that will drive the tourism industry, 2018). Recent changes in tour and travel industry is related to food facility and also to plan about trip. Similarly, other recent changes in this industry are online delivering of services and some companies have started to provide that services from their own organisation. Other technologies which are recent development in tour operation is regarding online booking under which companies are providing detail information of holidays packages by which individual can book their trip from home only and also able to do payment easily from their home only. Thomas cook & son group is providing details of various destination in their sites by which people will bale to plan their holiday package from home only. They provided all the details of destination which contain details of culture of the city and physical significance also in their websites. Recent development of sites provides all the information of the city which is the major change in tour operation sector. (Hoyos and et.al.,2015.)

Another development in this sector is that company also providing online booking of flights, trains and buses in which travellers want to travel. This development also proves better for tour sector in which peoples are using their websites in booking of any travel convenience. In that Sites Company also provided online booking of hotels for travellers in their destination. Another development in tour sector is to provide last minute booking for passengers from home only. This development of the tour sector is also grown tremendously which increase overall profitability of organisation. Popular destinations in these sectors are wildlife attraction which travellers most get attracted which established in south Africa. Popular destination of South Africa includes Huilo-Huilo Biological reserves, Galapagos Islands etc. another popular destination for travellers will include tropical destination in Maldives where natural beauty of beach attracts customers a lot.

Recent development provides growth but it also leads to some problems which faced by tour sectors. Major effect is that sometimes in online booking mismanagement has happened with customer's booking seat and with management booking seats. Another problem is they face in giving detail information of holiday tour packages. Customers want detail information and sometimes company will not able to provide that detail information by which customers create issues in their bookings. There are many specific destinations by which visitors may attract in company such destinations may include Cutty Sark, Royal Obervatory, heritage of London, etc. wildlife attar cations in South America may also be seen as effective to visit.

TASK 2

P2.1 Stages and timescales involved in developing holidays

There are many types of various stages which involved for the development of holidays. This stage helps managers in developing quality of services in their organisation. To provide quality of packages to customers Thomas Cook adopts various methods in their organisation (Camilleri, 2018). Different stages to visit destination are as follows-

• Market research- To identify customers taste and preference of the business market, market research is used by managers of the organisation to develop strategies which attract more customers in organisation. To develop holiday package market research is the most important task for the tour and tourism sector.
• Planning and Scheduling- after doing successful market research, planning and scheduling is the another method develop by organisation. Planning of holiday package is done according to the taste of customers to business market. Under scheduling, organisation will develop holiday package according to schedule preference of the customer.
• Forecasting- to develop forecasting of holiday package, organisation manager will now research the factor which helps them to develop holiday package in their business. This forecasting will do to measure according to climate and season of the destination place. It developed with the accordance of the seasons of the destination(Holland and Leslie 2017).
• Contracting-organisation will offer their effective services to customers and will also forecast the holiday package as per the desire of the customer. To attract customers, managers of the organisation will now offer different services to customers which include Cab facility, restaurant facility etc.

Itinerary in developing holiday package of Thomas Cook organisation

P2.2 The suitability of different methods of contracting for different component of the holiday and different types of tour operator

Contracting helps client of the organisation to save unnecessary cost and also to develop their demand from organisation and will able to get effective service quality according to their desires. This contracting also helps organisation to attract customers in providing services which they expect from organisation(Giaoutzi, 2017). Thomas Cook has adopted two different methods:

• Sales only contract- Under this organisation will provide effective holiday package which is sightseeing tour (from London, UK to South America) in accordance with the customers. This contract generally provides by tour operator in the peak season of the destination by which company will able to improve their sales. Thomas Cook pays for actual services which is consumed by customers and return it to vendors of the organisation.
• Fixed contracts- This method is used by organisation to deliver the best quality of services to customers of the organisation. By this contract company will able to satisfy customer as per their desires. Thomas Cook has developed contract with vendors which is known to be small contracts and which also includes Cab faculties, catering etc.

These are different methods of contracting which developed by Thomas Cook organisation to satisfy customer in providing effective holiday packages which is sightseeing tour (from London, UK to South America) as per their desire(Robinson and et.al., 2016).

P2.3 Calculation of selling price of a holiday

A group of students are visiting that is from London, UK to South America Their visit in city is not more than 8 days and number of students who are visiting destination are 45. To measure tour expense, it is measured in Euro and Pound. To calculate this expense, exchange rate will be considered as 1 Euro=0.85 pounds.

In this tour of students room will be shared between two students. One room is allotted between sharing of two students and it will be calculated as 45/2= 23 rooms.

Cost of one room will equal to 60 Euro= 60*.85= £51

Cost of 23 rooms for 8 days will be = 23*8*51=£9384

Cost of hotel for one person will equal to 14 Euro which is equal to 14*.85=£11.90

Therefore, cost of hotel for 45 students for 8 days= 45*8*11.90=£4284

Selling price of holiday in tabular form

Profit margin is 20% i.e. 19068*20%= 3813.6

Therefore, selling price of package would be= 19068+3813.6= £22881.6

Thus selling price for package for 45 students would be £22881.6

Therefore, selling price of one person would be= 22881.6/45= £508.48

TASK 3

P3.1 Planning and designing of brochure

Particulars of Brochure

Before developing brochure company have known with brand personality which developed mutual trust that bright and cheerful brochure must will attract visitors in their company. Certain elements to be include while developing these that includes- define ideal customers, develop messhuman-resources-managementage to attract visitors, determine success metrics, development of budget. These elements help company to develop effective brochure.

P3.2 Alternative method of communication and promotion of brochure

To promote company's brochure, managers have developed effective communication with the visitors of the company. It is an effective method for company to attract their existing customers for the holiday package they develop. To develop communication process Thomas Cook used social networking sites by which they directly communicate with the customers. To offer their trips company have developed their sites on Facebook, twitter in which they easily able to communicate with customers directly.

Company also used e-mail marketing strategy and direct messaging strategy by which they will able to connect customers directly and will able to offer their package and to promote their holiday package among them(Course, 2015). This communication process of company also helps them to target particular customer which they think that fits for particular holiday package.

Another method by which Thomas Cook will able to promote their package is by developing their sites in play store of Android or IOS phones by which they will able to offer and promote their package which helps them to attract more and more customers in the market. This effective communication process helps organisation to create awareness in front of customers regarding their holiday packages(Shepherd and Rudd, 2014.).

Company uses non-traditional methods in which promoting with social sites and in official website in effective process but to also provide hard copy in outlets helps company to attract more and more customers in business market. In their websites company needs to develop effective offers and discounts which helps organisation to attract customer to try their holiday package of destination. Non-traditional method of communication helps Thomas Cook organisation to enhance their business growth to make company strong among their competitors of business market.

Non traditional method or traditional method of communication process will only help company when they develop that strong communication between customers so that they will able to increase overall performance and profitability of the organisation. Communication and the promotion is much important tools for the tour operator organisation for developing loyal customer base. By developing loyalty, organisation will able to increase their overall performance and profitability. Developing strong communication will overall helps in knowing what consumers want from an organisation. Promotion helps in attracting customers, by satisfying their needs and expectations.

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P3.3 Non-traditional method of distribution that used to sell holiday package for different types of tour operators

To sell holiday package, company used different types of non-traditional method to sell them in marketplace. These methods may include direct mail, social sites, and travel agencies by which company will be able to sell their holiday packages. These are as follows-

• e-mail

This method is developed by organisation to communicate directly to the customers of the business market. Under this method company choose to communicate with customer directly via e-mail process. In this company provide information about their holiday package directly to customers which helps them to attract customers to use company services. Direct mail is the effective way of communication by which company will be able to provide information regarding effective tour packages(Timothy, 2018). Company also able to send copy of their holiday packages to buyer's mail which provide detail information about the holiday package services of the organisation.

• Social sites

This is the another method of promoting holiday packages among customers which helps to increase large numbers of buyers in organisation. In this digital world people are more active in their social sites which helps company to develop direct communication with the customer's of the business market. Facebook, Twitters are platform in which company will able to develop effective information of their services which helps them to attract more and more customers in the organisation.

• Web- sties

This is the most effective non-tradition method under which different tour operators are stay connected with their customers through web-sites of organisation. These web-sites is done through internet or through social sites. Web-sites helps organisation to promote their holiday package to travelling whether it is through plane, bus or train (Monaco, 2018). The more creative is the web-site of company, more visitors will get attracted in the company.

These are some non-tradition methods which travel company used to increase their sell of holiday package. By developing these methods company will able to attract more customers and will also able to increase overall performance and profitability of the company. It helps them to stay connected with customers directly so that they will able to promote their services in front of customers of business market.

TASK 4

4.1 Emerging trends in UK tour operations sectors and various responses by tour operators

There is lot of competition which Thomas Cook has faced in their tour sector. Therefore, company needs to develop effective strategies by which they will able to face competition in this business market. Different competitors are providing tough competition whether it is in offering discounts or to developed effective offer for package (Holmes,2018). Tour operators has to do research on visitor’s preferences by which they will able to factors which required to modified in the company.

Another issue faced by Thomas Cook organisation is the new technology advancement in organisation. Therefore, company have faced uncontrollable issues like political and legals factors of the macro environment. Company also has to developed changing customers demand by which they will able to attract visitors in business market.

Company has developed policies in which they will able to attract younger populations of the business market. They developed an effective holiday package to face competition from their competitors of business market. To attract customers of like families and educational tour they are developing effective tour holiday packages which helps them to increase their sales volumes. They also started doing promotional activities in social media marketing by which they will able to direct communicate with customers. In last five years, Thomas Cook has developed many strategic decisions which helps them in improving their performance. Such factors are strong customer demand delivery, customers innovations, significant growth in Turkey and North Africa helps company in achieving sustainable growth. They also have good strategic progress in their own brand hotels and resorts. Company has launched hotel fund joint venture with investment company.

New hotel concept such as Cook's club is also opened by the organisation. Casa Cook hotel is also opened by the company which is dedicated to the families of the society. Company also aimed in developing strong relationship with hotel partners by which they will able to differentiate holidays which is in accordance with customers.

They also developed effective brochure by which they will able to meet needs of target market. They also develop an ungraded technology in their organisation by which they will able to attract more customers in their organisation. All these activities helps Thomas Cook organisation to support tour operator by which they will able to response change in business market.

4.2 Comparison between tactical and strategic decision in tour operation sector

Company develop tactical and strategical decisions in their organisation to develop future growth of the organisation. Tactical decision helps organisation to implement strategies which helps in provide effective company's growth in business market. To achieve long run success of company strategic decisions are developed by organisation (Abdelmonem and et.al., 2018). It is a type of action plan which used by company to achieve long run success of the company.

Tactic decisions developed by organisation to implement necessary resources of the company. Thomas Cook organisation also develop tactical decision in their organisation so that they will able to develop effective resources in their company. Organisation develop strategies decision to expand their overall business growth. Strategies decision helps to achieve business growth because it helps to develop overall prices of their goods and services, it also helps to develop resources which helps to achieve long run success of the company.

To implement strategies company will have to develop right kind of person which have that knowledge to achieve organisational objective by doing effective work in organisation. Therefore, tactical decision helps company to appoint that right person in right place of the organisation and to attract large numbers of visitors in organisation. Tactical decision of company also helps them to connect customers directly because in this company will use social marketing strategies in which they will provide their offers and discounts to attract large number of visitors in their organisation.

Haggis adventure is the another tour operator company which is also has developed tactical and strategical decision to enhance their growth in business market. Company has developed strategies which is regarding effective promotion and advertising activity. Another strategic decision of the company is regarding proper utilisation of resources to achieve overall business objectives of organisation. With the developing of tactical decision, company has appointed skilled employees which are always ready for taking company's challenges. This motivation among employees also helps company in expanding their business growth among the competitors of the market.

This marketing strategy helps both organisations to develop effective services which they provide to customers and also to develop feedbacks from visitors which helps them to improve their overall performance in organisation.

Thomas Cook applied tactical decision to improve their overall performance and profitability in organisation. These decisions helps them to attract more customers and to develop their competitive position in business market. They also developed these plans to focus on specific segments like educational tour, couple tour etc.

Conclusion

From the above study it can be concluded that tour operator sector needs to develop active changes in their organisation to attract more customers. In this report an explanation is given on recent trends and development in tour operations sectors. Further, in this report stages and timescales involved in developing holidays and suitability of different methods of contracting for different component of the holiday and different types of tour operator is studied. Further, in this report planning and designing of brochure and alternative method of communication and promotion of brochure is also explained with non-traditional method which of distribution that used to sell holiday package for different types of tour operators. Lastly it can be concluded that company have to develop effective changes by which they will able to attract visitors in the comopany.

REFERENCE

Camilleri, M.A., 2018. The Business of Tourism: An Introduction. Strategic Perspectives in Destination Marketing. p.1.

Camilleri, M.A., 2018. The Tourism Industry: An Overview. In Travel Marketing, Tourism Economics and the Airline Product(pp. 3-27). Springer, Cham.

Holland, J. and Leslie, D., 2017. Tour Operators and Operations: Development, Management and Responsibility. CABI.

Giaoutzi, M., 2017. Tourism and regional development: New pathways. Routledge.

Robinson and et.al., 2016. Operations management in the travel industry. CABI.

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