tour operations and tourism distribution channel management mike morgan dg28 965174...
Post on 20-Dec-2015
217 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Tour Operations and
Tourism Distribution ChannelManagement
Mike Morgan
DG28
965174
mmorgan@bournemouth.ac.ukhttp://balm.bournemouth.ac.uk
The aims of the unit
• Give an overview of the role of intermediaries in the tourism sector
• apply business management approaches to the sector in a practical assignment
• provide an academic framework to convert your operational experience
• provide a basis for a dissertation
The content
• The role of intermediaries in the tourism system
• the elements of tour operations planning
• the strategies of the leading companies
• New distribution channels for tour products
• delivering customer service quality
• the future of tourism distribution
The workAssignment 1
• Group project to design a tour programme
• due 5 June
Assignment 2
• Essay set by Derek Robbins
• due 19 June
Intermediaries
• Those who come between…– Producers/manufacturers– And the end-user customer
• Independent organisations who assist the producers to make the product available to the customer
Definitions
• EU Package Holiday Directive
‘a pre-arranged combination of two or more components when sold... at an inclusive price …includes overnight accommodation’
A tour operator = the organiser of a package holiday
The role of the tour operator
• Purchase in bulk components of a holiday
• Package them into a standardised repeatable product
• Brand them into a single entity
• Offer them to the public at an inclusive price
Middleton
How does this differ from the role of the travel agent?
An agent
• Acts for a principal (the producer of the product)
• provides a service for a fee or a commission
• in British usage a travel agent is someone who sells travel and holiday packages for a commission, usually from retail shops
• This distinction is becoming blurred
Understanding the tourism system
Exercise
• You are managing a hotel in a destination
• Draw a map of the intermediaries involved in marketing your rooms to UK tourists
• How do they add value to the end-product?
• What does each party get from the interaction?
• How easy would it be to find a substitute?
The Tourism Industry
Attractions
Accommodation
Facilities
InternalTransport
InternationalTransport
Tour Operators
TravelAgents
Incoming Tour Operators‘Ground-handling agents’
Customers
National Tourist Office
What theories can help us understand how this industry works?
The value chain• Devised by Porter (1980) to analyse what happens inside
companies - where the value is added to the end product
• Applied by Kogut (1985) to the whole external supply chain
• Terpstra (2000) writes of ‘configuring the value-added chain’
- which activities to do yourself and which to pay someone else to do.
SpecialisationThe same choice faces hotels, resorts, air and sea transport.
• Where does your expertise lie?
• Where can you add most value to the product?
The Value Added ChainTerpstra and Sarathy (2000)
ManufactureAssembly RetailingDesign Components Distribution
Marketing
AccommodationAttractionsTransport‘principals’
PackageTour
BrochureReservations
Travel Agent
How does the tour operator add value?By providing the ‘principals’ with a marketing channel for their products
Marketing Channels
• Sets of inter-dependent organisations involved in making a product available to the end-user customer (Stern and El Ansary 1996)
• Carry not only flows of product but information, promotion, payment and ownership
• Offer the suppliers ‘contactual efficiency’ in reaching the end customer (Rosenbloom1995)
• Make the product available in the ‘utilities’ of form, time and place required by the customer (Bucklin)
• require members to subordinate their own needs to the success of the channel (Stern)– issues of control and leadership, power and dependency
Hotel Tour Operator Travel Agent Customer
Network theory
• Looks at relationships, networks and interactions (Gummesson 1988)
• a complex web of influences on the quality of the product (Holmund and Kock 1995)
• these influences can conflict with each other
• Competition is between ‘networks of value-delivery systems’ (Kotler 1998) rather than individual firms
Elements of a network analysisHakansson and Johanson 1992
• Resources needed to create the product
• Actors - firms, organisations involved
• Interactions - between actors to create..
• Activities that produce the product
• Relationships that develop to ensure long-term commitments
Hotel Tour Operator Travel Agent Customer
Attractions
ResortAmenities
Conferencecentres
Other hotels
Local agent
DestinationNetwork
TouristBoard
Hotel Tour Operator Travel Agent Customer
Attractions
ResortAmenities
Conferencecentres
Other hotels
Local agent
DestinationNetwork
TouristBoard
Hotel Tour Operator Travel Agent Customer
Attractions
ResortAmenities
Conferencecentres
Other hotels
Local agent
DestinationNetwork
Airline
AirlineAlliance
AirportsCar rental
Transport Network
TouristBoard
Financial services-insurancecurrency
IT systems
SupportNetwork
Hotel Tour Operator Travel Agent Customer
Attractions
ResortAmenities
Conferencecentres
Other hotels
Local agent
DestinationNetwork
Airline
AirlineAlliance
AirportsCar rental
Transport Network
TouristBoard
Financial services-insurancecurrency
IT systems
Corporateclients
Retailcentre
Management
Web portals & search engines
• Airline: Easyjet• Hotels: Hotelopia (part of the TUI group)• Car rental: Europcar (part of Volkswagen Group)• Ski Breaks: Erna Low (independent specialist tour
operator)• Chalet rental: Chaletgroup (consortium of chalet owners)• Skiwear: BornForSports (community marketplace for
sportswear)• Travel Insurance: Mondial Assistance (part of Allianz
Group)• To/from the airport: Holidaytaxis• Airport parking: NCP• Travel guides: Arrivalguide.com in association with
Fastcheck AB
Easyjet’s Affiliate Network (2008)
Formalising the relationship
• Vertical marketing systems – Star Alliance
• administrative – consortia – Best Western
• contractual - franchises, joint ventures - Opodo
• corporate - vertically-integrated companies eg Thomson/TUI
Systems theory (see Laws)
• Based on biological, ecological systems
• each component is affected by and in turn affects the behaviour of the others
• inputs, processes and outputs
• organic growth
optimum size and efficiency
decline and decayIncludes interaction between tourism
and the host society and environment
Weather &Climate change
Destinationenvironment
DestinationEconomy
Fears of crime& terrorism
New technologiesInvestment & changes of ownership
Economies of originating countries
ChangingLifestylesdemographics
Mediainfluences
Changes in regulation
Attractions
Accommodation
Facilities
InternalTransport
InternationalTransport
Tour Operators
TravelAgents
Incoming Tour Operators‘Ground-handling agents’
Customers
National Tourist Office
How are these changing the system?
UK holidays abroad 1999-2005(UK International Passenger Survey)
05,000
10,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,000
yr1999 yr2000 yr2001 yr2002 yr2003 yr2004 yr 2005
Holidays
Inclusive
Independent
Inter-organisational relationshipsWhat each model reveals
• Inter-dependent channel members – efficiency
• Value-adding chains - value, profit
• Complex and conflicting networks– understanding, trust
• Organic and evolving systems– flexibility, responsiveness
top related