Types of tour operators and their characteristics. Functions and features of the activities of tour operators

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The tour operator provides a wide range of travel services and simplifies the reservation of services in other cities and countries, taking on these tasks. In the field of tourism services, it occupies a special niche. In the article, we will consider the types of activities of tour operators.

Description of the concept

A tour operator is an organization whose responsibilities include completing trips based on contracts with relevant service providers. At the same time, the wishes and needs of customers are taken into account. Various types of tour operators develop and compile travel routes, are responsible for their operation, place advertisements, and calculate the cost of tours depending on the direction. Then they sell them directly to the end consumer or through agencies.

The latter, in turn, purchase tickets in the transport network, hotel rooms, then form a package and sell it to generate income.

In some cases, the tour operator sells certain types of offers. If ahe has a good reputation, as a result of high sales volume, he receives preferential prices from service providers and participates in promotions. Thanks to this, the tour operator can insure vouchers against possible price changes and form "burning deals". It is worth noting that the prices for hotel rooms for him are lower than the retail price of the hotel itself.

If we consider the type of activity of the tour operator in a global sense, then it is a producer of a new type of tourism product, since its main activity is the creation of a comprehensive offer. As a rule, he sells services separately as a necessary measure. For example, if a charter flight was booked and the remaining tickets need to be sold. Or if you have purchased hotel rooms at a reduced price that need to be sold quickly.

The difference between a tour operator and a travel agent

In practice, in some cases it is quite difficult to clearly identify the differences between these two representatives of this type of business, since they are involved in solving similar problems. A travel service provider can be both at the same time.

For example, a company develops and sells itineraries to travelers and other companies and at the same time acts as an agent, buying ready-made tours from other companies and selling them further.

But you can still identify the main differences between them:

1. By income system:

1.1. The tour operator purchases a certain tourism product. Hisincome is formed from the difference between the purchase price and the sale price. Often, he buys various kinds of travel services and forms a complete package with his own pricing algorithm.

1.2. The travel agent, in turn, acts as a retailer, and his profit is made up of interest on the sale of an outside product. It sells certain types of services, for example, air tickets, hotel rooms at the set prices of a tour operator or a manufacturer of a particular offer.

2. By tourism product affiliation:

• tour operator has a certain stock of it constantly;
• travel agent, in the presence of consumer demand, requests a specific type of service and only then sells it.

The active development of the tourism business and great competition are driving a change in the structure of service providers for travelers.

Functions

The concept and activities of the tour operator impose a number of obligations on it. They include completing the following tasks:

1. Monitoring the needs of potential and current travelers for tourism products.

2. Formation of promising programs and their implementation in the market in order to determine the corresponding demand.

3. Mutual cooperation on a contractual basis with suppliers of such travel services:

• hotels that accommodate tourists;
• catering service;
• transport companies providing servicesfor the transport of tourists;
• excursion organizations, museums, parks, cultural and historical committees that provide tourists with excursion services;
• enterprises providing household services;
• administration of sports complexes for the possible use of sports facilities and equipment by tourists;
• show producers, cinemas, theatrical productions providing entertainment services;
• directorate of agricultural and hunting lands, landscape gardening and fishing farms in order to provide opportunities for recreation in such places;
• by the local municipality for the public implementation of services focused on people and the environment.

4. Calculation of the price of the tour, taking into account the situation in this market. Determination of tariffs and pricing policy in the formation of various comprehensive programs, social status, etc.

5. Providing tourists traveling on an organized route with the necessary equipment and inventory, as well as promotional and souvenir goods.

6. Regardless of the type of tour operators, their functions include the selection, appropriate training and appointment of personnel contacting and coordinating tourists, as well as monitoring the implementation of service programs (guides, tour guides, drivers, instructors, etc.)

7. Prompt communication with vacationers in the service process and, if necessary, solving problems that arise.

8. Quality control of the services provided.

Classification and types of tour operators

A tour operator is primarily a specialist in the formation of a certain type of tourist product or in working with specific directions. The profile of his activities may be widespread in the tourism industry or, conversely, little known.

A tour operator can gain wide popularity for its profile of activity as a result of advertising campaigns and promotions, a system of discounts and bonus programs. However, excessive promotion may negatively affect his desire to develop other tourist destinations and create new tours.

Providers of these services are divided into the following types by type of activity:

1. Mass market operators who sell air charter tours to visited places. They have a large turnover, provide a flow of tourists to countries with a developed industry, such as Turkey, Greece, Egypt.
2. Specialized operators, that is, those that sell tour packages in accordance with their focus or market segment. They work with one offer or focus on a specific type of tourism. They have a smaller staff and partners and a smaller financial turnover. Specialized activities also involve working in concentrated tourist areas with certain hotels, for example, only luxury or, conversely, in countries that are rarely visited by tourists, but around the world.

Features of narrowly focused service providers

Among the types of tour operators are specialized firms. They differusing:

1. Special interest: active or sports tourism, organizing an African safari or river rafting, etc.
2. A specific destination, such as travel to Alaska, Europe, etc.
3. Specific clientele: families, retirees, VIPs.
4. Certain accommodation locations: hostels, sanatoriums, holiday homes.
5. Consumption of a specific mode of transport: cruise liners, trains, motor ships.

Classified by location

Consider the features of the types of tour operators and tour operating. Classify them as follows:

1. Outbound tour operators. They are focused on providing overseas tours. Such activities require significant investments of funds, constant monitoring of the market. The tour operator must thoroughly study the proposed destination in order to tell the client about all the nuances.
2. Local. Compose and organize tours within the country of location. Such firms work with the local population, as well as incoming tourists from other countries.
3. Tour operators at the reception. They are located in the country of destination and provide services to incoming travelers. Such firms maintain contact with field operators and know in advance how many people should arrive and which hotel they will check into.

Tour operator activity profiles

Also in this market segment, it is customary to single out such types of tour operators (examples of their activities will also bereviewed):

1. Proactive. Such tour operators have agreements with firms at the reception or directly with hotels. The difference from conventional firms lies in the fact that the company completes the tourist product with at least three components. Among them are: transportation, placement and any other at the discretion of the operator, not related to the previously mentioned. Qualified firms provide a full range of services in the chosen direction, among which all the routes of the client's movement are thought out in detail.
2. Receptive. Such tour operators work at the reception. They have agreements with companies that provide entertainment services, arrange sightseeing and the like. This activity is called pure tour operating.

Often in practice, travel companies engage in combined activities.

Single-profile firms

These types of travel agents and tour operators work mainly in one specific direction and offer the corresponding tours. The benefits of monoprofile operators include:

• achieving a high level of professionalism in dealing with a particular type of tour or destination;
• quality staff service;
• the possibility of accreditation in the embassies of the state, in cooperation with which the operator specializes;
• definition of a service firm as an organizer of a particular type of tour or operating in a particular direction.

The disadvantages of monoprofile include:

• dependence of the tour operator on the organizer of travel services;
• need to regularly transform product offerings.

This type of activity can be evolutionary or starting. In the first option, the tour operator offers the latest product in this industry and tries to introduce it to the masses, in the other case, he initially planned to narrow down the specialization.

Multifunctional firms

Let's consider a different type of tour operators and their characteristics. Such firms simultaneously operate in different directions with different types of tours.

The advantages of being multidisciplinary include:

• multiple opportunities to cover the tourism market;
• flexibility of the operator's activities with an emphasis on different types of products, the demand for which depends on consumer conditions;
• possibility to combine tours;
• minimal dependence on a particular destination and service provider.

Among the shortcomings are: a decrease in the quality of tours provided, the need for a large number of employees, serious investments and expenses.

Structure of a tour operator company

First of all, the structure of the tour operator identifies separate divisions, the relationship between them and their integration into one whole.

The structure of the firm lies in the relationship of layers of management and activity areas, formed in such a way as to achievepositive results in the work of the travel company.

One of the main directions related to the structure of the tour operator is a clear division of labor, hiring and retaining specialists to perform specific work, those who can do it better than others from an organizational point of view.

Features of activity and work cycle

The work of providing services for traveling abroad or traveling around the native expanses for the purpose of recreation has its own nuances.

The features of the activities of the tour operator include:

• development and compilation of tours;
• interaction of the tour operator with suppliers of tourism services and products;
• formation of competent personnel for the implementation of each tour;
• development of the agent network;
• ensure and control the quality of services provided.

The cycle of work of the tour operator is divided into three stages:

1. Tour design.
2. Planning.
3. Promotion of the finished product.

Types of contracts between travel agents and tour operator

At the moment, the following types of contracts are widely used, according to which mutual obligations between the tour operator and the travel agent are regulated:

1. Agency contract.
2. Commission agreement, on the basis of which the travel agent sells the product of the tour operator and receives a commission for it.
3. Agreement for the provision of services for a fee, which is carried out on mutually beneficial terms specified in the relevantdocument.
4. Contract of sale.
5. Commercial representation agreement, which involves the representation of the interests of the tour operator by a travel agent.
6. Mixed contract.

In conclusion, it can be determined that there are several types of tour operators. A person who wants to spend his vacation in an interesting place, but does not know how to organize leisure, can contact one of them to get help.