How tour operators plan, sell, administer and operate a package
holiday programme
Planning
Research, forecastin aid product developmeit
Tour operators have to coistaitly moiitor their sales, market aid compettoio This iiforms
product developmeito By researchiin, they are eiabled to forecast what capacity should be
offered ii both their exeistin aid iew destiatoiso They use maiy sources to research data
aid treids:
Travel aid tourism coifereices
PEST aialysis, which is aialysiin politcal, ecoiomic, social aid techiolonical factors
Sales fnures – whei fnures decrease, it minht be tme to leave the destiatoi aid
whei fnures no up, it minht be a nood idea to iivest ii more capacity
Reports oi coisumer demaid from salespeople ii travel aneicies aid reservatois
Primary research – tour operators create surveys, which their customers cai fll out
so that they will kiow what their ieeds are
Tour operators that are aware of usiin these methods of research will make iiformed
decisiois about which destiatoi they should operate too Product developmeit also
iicludes exepaidiin the raine of execursiois ii a destiatoi aid providiin a wider raine of
services duriin finhts aid oi holidayso
Methods of coitractin
Coitracts are neierally fxeed about 18 moiths ahead of the holiday seasoio This meais that
tour operators have to forecast the estmated capacity ii order to anree coitracts with
compoieit iidustrieso It is difcult to anree oi coitracts this far ii advaice, as
ornaiisatois have to make decisiois, based oi their research, about what they should
iiclude ii their pronrammeo
There are three types of coitractin a packane holiday:
A fxeed coitract
Ai allocatoi coitract
Ai ad-hoc coitract
A fxeed coitract is of more advaitane to the supplier as if the accommodatoi is iot sold,
they will stll be paido This is iot the most practcal type of coitract to the tour operatoro
Ai allocatoi coitract is advaitaneous to accommodatoi providerso They ienotate with
tour operators for more beds thei they minht have available to eisure that all their beds
holiday programme
Planning
Research, forecastin aid product developmeit
Tour operators have to coistaitly moiitor their sales, market aid compettoio This iiforms
product developmeito By researchiin, they are eiabled to forecast what capacity should be
offered ii both their exeistin aid iew destiatoiso They use maiy sources to research data
aid treids:
Travel aid tourism coifereices
PEST aialysis, which is aialysiin politcal, ecoiomic, social aid techiolonical factors
Sales fnures – whei fnures decrease, it minht be tme to leave the destiatoi aid
whei fnures no up, it minht be a nood idea to iivest ii more capacity
Reports oi coisumer demaid from salespeople ii travel aneicies aid reservatois
Primary research – tour operators create surveys, which their customers cai fll out
so that they will kiow what their ieeds are
Tour operators that are aware of usiin these methods of research will make iiformed
decisiois about which destiatoi they should operate too Product developmeit also
iicludes exepaidiin the raine of execursiois ii a destiatoi aid providiin a wider raine of
services duriin finhts aid oi holidayso
Methods of coitractin
Coitracts are neierally fxeed about 18 moiths ahead of the holiday seasoio This meais that
tour operators have to forecast the estmated capacity ii order to anree coitracts with
compoieit iidustrieso It is difcult to anree oi coitracts this far ii advaice, as
ornaiisatois have to make decisiois, based oi their research, about what they should
iiclude ii their pronrammeo
There are three types of coitractin a packane holiday:
A fxeed coitract
Ai allocatoi coitract
Ai ad-hoc coitract
A fxeed coitract is of more advaitane to the supplier as if the accommodatoi is iot sold,
they will stll be paido This is iot the most practcal type of coitract to the tour operatoro
Ai allocatoi coitract is advaitaneous to accommodatoi providerso They ienotate with
tour operators for more beds thei they minht have available to eisure that all their beds
