Tour Operations Management Assignment

Introduction

Travel and tour industry is rapidly growing as well as rendering support to the economy of the country. Travel and tourism are considered as the main contributor of the economic treasuries. Because of this, they always get funding from their government. Thomas Cook group is a Tour agency which was formed by both Thomas Cook and a travel group in the year 2007. Its head office was at Peterborough based in England. According to Thomas Cook developing and implementing an operational plan explores the discussion about operators and companies inside the tour and travel sector. The following are the stages that are involved in developing and implementing an operational plan.

Assessing Steps and Timescales Involved in Holiday Developing Plan

1. Research and Finalization of Destination The finalization of destination for tour plan is not an easy as many people may think. Research must be performed over the required destination to decide on various locations which can be good tourist opinions. Thomas group and his team give easy access to links and websites to allow searching of locations and provision of better packages. The group also provides customization property such as customers can either add or remove such locations from tour products. 2. Tour Planning After terminus from the targeted market is decided. Next stage is to make arrangements for the actual tour. The group provides with all the possibilities as per the client's requirements. During planning section, some elements should be involved such as agreeing on the date the trip will take place, managing a cab at the reception either from the railway station or airport, check on the food facility, give a brief description of a chart representing all the places which are intended to be visited according to time and lastly preparing a guide about somebody who will be helping to visit all the intended to be visited, hospitality provision facility. 3. Negotiation It is normal that not all the times that clients get contented with the provided services. To increase sale, Thomas group makes negotiations with clients to reduce the price or include more services such as improving the change in the destination as the price of the package remains unchanged. The negotiations are usually made during conversations with the clients. 4. Plan Development Thomas Cook group didn't emphasize required location only but also emphasized on the comparative areas operators. As it has been earlier discussed Thomas Cook group provides customization facility for adding to and removing from the tour product. Customers may want to go through some areas which are excluded from the package. The group offers such a facility to their customers so that they can add such places. 5. Tour Execution This usually marks the end of the holiday package. The tour's success often depends on how efficient the management was. In this stage, Thomas Cook and his team change the commitments into realities. They give out tour guides, escort, and manuals to understand everything. In this phase, the design is carried out after the research is done. Thomas Cook group provides a good experience for the tourists.

Evaluating appropriateness of the approaches of contracting components

Tour operators normally use two methods to contract a variety of components. These are fixed contracts and the sale only contracts. Tour packages offer a range of services such as accommodation and so many others as a way of facilitating their customers. Thomas Cook together with Flight centers are the two main operators who are always considered in describing those two different methods used for contracting. The two various methods include are discussed below. 1. Stable Contract It is used so that the whole capacity is used by the company. Flight centers arrange based on the clients'prospects. They make an overview of the entire capacity and makes payment the required. Flight centers usually make advantage of this method because they know that summer is a peak season for tourists thus there is no non-utilization of the capacity. This contract is beneficial to Flight centers as they offer high discounts to their clients as a way to increase their sales. 2. Sale Only Contract This contract is used by Thomas Cook in preparing tour packages. The packages must target specific customer segment; this is because there exists only few client fall present in the segment as a lot is pent during traveling. These tour packages are costly, and therefore most tourists find it hard to purchase them. Because of this, Thomas Cook normally pays hotels or transportation agency as per the utilized capacity. This contract which was prepared during the lean session by Thomas Cook group is important in that it reduces the effect of weak response in any tour package. As per the discussion, fixed contracts offer some effective benefits. Sales only contract, on the other hand, helps in reducing unwanted payment which in turn minimizes the risk of loss.

Calculate Holiday Cost From a Given Information:

The table calculates the tour cost which will be offered to the group. The price varies as it is calculated in two different ways such as for individuals and also couples. The cost is charged according to these two segments. According to this table for the couple package is 351 Euros while for the individual is 219.60 Euros.

Evaluation of Plan Decisions for Design of Selected Brochure

This is a way of displaying information about tourism and as well as the holiday packages conducted by Thomas Cook group. Brochures usually save customers'time. The main purpose of the brochures is to provide the mandatory information and the significant packages details in s single form which includes: food, lodge, place visited, mode of payment and so on. All the other facilities should be encompassed in the brochures and also the catchy headlines. Thomas Cook group made a brochure which was written in a simple language and easy to comprehend by their targeted population.

Planning Decisions for Designing Brochures

1. Format In brochure design, there is need of setting a format on which to follow. When you have a format, it is easy for tour operators to address their information since it is clear and appealing to them. 2. Target Market and Budget Thomas cook group designs brochure based on the targeted segment. That is they prepare special brochures ton specified target segment. In organizing wedding tours and so on a budget has to be considered and it's only realized by an overall evaluation of the targeted market. 3. Stages and Time scale Involved In Designing Brochure During the planning of a brochure is a very important tool in setting proper design to design the whole brochure.

Evaluation of Strategic Decisions Made By Tour Operators

The tour operator system includes flexibility which helps the operators in earning profits effectively in their firms. Tour operators require many strategies and decisions in their working routine. Adequate strategic planning is needed by the tour operators in designing the future objectives of the of the business organization. The following are various elements which are included in it. 1. Discount Pricing Strategy Discount pricing helps the tour operators in attracting a large number of tourists as well as helping to advance competitive advantages over their existing competitors. 2. Target, Segment, Positioning It is important for tour operators to produce market segment based on the profits to formulate enough packages. Once tour operators are done with segmentation, targeting, and positioning, other decisions such as promotion and pricing are then put into consideration. 3. Seasonal Aspects Before you set the price of the holiday packages, there are those factors that you need to consider. All the prices should be set according to the season. The prices during the high season should be different from those of lean season.

Conclusion

The discussion above is made in perspectives on several topics about Thomas Cook, the tour operator agency. Due to the time change and technological advancements, there are several improvements that have occurred in tour operations. Thomas Cook used different techniques to design and sell their brochures as well as targeting large market share. The pricing strategy is important in that it helps in gaining profits by evaluating several market segments and customers to attract many customers.

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