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

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

Description of the concept

A tour operator is an organization whose duties include completing travel based on contracts with suppliers of relevant services. At the same time, the wishes and needs of customers are necessarily taken into account. Different types of tour operators develop and make travel routes, are responsible for their functioning, place advertisements, calculate the cost of tours depending on the direction. Then they sell them directly to the final consumer or through intermediary agencies.

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

In some cases, the tour operator sells certain types of offers. If he has a good reputation, as a result of a large volume of sales, he receives preferential prices from service providers and participates in promotions. Thanks to this, the tour operator can insure vouchers against possible changes in prices and generate “last minute offers”. It is worth noting that the price of hotel rooms for him is 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 he is the manufacturer of a new type of tourism product, since his main activity is the creation of a comprehensive offer. As a rule, he sells services individually as a necessary measure. For example, if you have booked a charter flight and you need to sell the remaining tickets. Or if the hotel rooms were purchased at a reduced price and need to be quickly implemented.

The difference between a tour operator and a travel agent

In practice, in some cases it is quite difficult to clearly distinguish between the two representatives of this type of business, since they are involved in solving similar problems. An organization that provides travel services at the same time may be one or the other.

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

But still, you can determine the main differences between them:

1. According to the income system:

1.1. The tour operator purchases a specific tourism product. His income is formed from the difference between the purchase price and the sale value. Often, he buys all kinds of travel services and generates a complete comprehensive offer with his own pricing algorithm.

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

2. According to the tourism product:

• the tour operator has available a certain stock of it constantly;
• the 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 the great competition contribute to a change in the structure of service providers for travelers.

Functions

The concept and types of activities of the tour operator impose a number of obligations on him. They include 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 tourism services:

• hotels accommodating tourists;
• food service catering;
• transport companies providing tourist transportation services;
• excursion organizations, museums, parks, cultural and historical committees that provide tourists with excursion services;
• enterprises providing household services;
• the administration of sports complexes regarding the possible use by tourists of sports facilities and equipment;
• producers of shows, cinemas, theatrical performances providing entertainment services;
• Directorate of agricultural and hunting lands, gardening and fishing facilities in order to provide opportunities for recreation in such places;
• by the local municipality for the public sale of services oriented to the person and the environment.

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

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

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

7. Operational communication with vacationers during the service process and, if necessary, the solution of emerging problems.

8. Quality control of the services provided.

Classification and types of tour operators

A tour operator is, first of all, an expert in the formation of a certain type of tourist product or in work with specific directions. The profile of his activity can be widespread in the tourism sector or, conversely, little known.

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

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

1. Mass market operators who sell tours using charter flights to visited places. They have a large turnover, provide a flow of tourists to countries with developed industries, such as Turkey, Greece, Egypt.
2. Specialized operators, that is, those that sell vacation packages in accordance with their focus or market segment. They work with one proposal or focus on a specific type of tourism. They have fewer staff and partners and less financial turnover. Specialized activity also involves working in concentrated tourist areas with certain hotels, for example, only luxury or, conversely, countries that are not visited by tourists, but around the world.

Features of narrowly targeted service providers

Among the types of tour operators are specialized firms. They are distinguished by the use of:

1. Of particular interest: active or sports tourism, the organization of an African safari or river rafting, etc.
2. A specific destination, for example, trips to Alaska, to Europe, etc.
3. Specific clientele: families, senior citizens, VIPs.
4. Specific placements: camp sites, motels, holiday homes.
5. Consumption of a particular type of transport: cruise ships, trains, motor ships.

Classification by location

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

1. Traveling tour operators. They are focused on providing foreign tours. Such activities require significant investments of money, constant monitoring of the market. The tour operator should thoroughly study the proposed direction 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 arriving tourists from other countries.
3. Tour operators at the reception. They are located in the destination country and provide services to arriving travelers. Such companies maintain contact with field operators and know in advance how many people should arrive and which hotel they will be checking in to.

Tour Operator Profiles

Also in this market segment it is customary to distinguish the following types of tour operators (examples of their activities will also be considered):

1. Initiative. Such tour operators have arrangements with companies at the reception or directly with hotels. The difference from conventional firms is that the company complements the tourism product with at least three components. Among them are: transportation, accommodation and any other at the discretion of the operator, not associated with the previously mentioned. Qualified companies provide a full range of services in the selected direction, among which all customer traffic routes are thought out in detail.
2. Receptive. Such tour operators work at the reception. They have arrangements with companies providing entertainment services, organizing sightseeing and the like. Such an activity is called pure touring.

Often, in practice, travel companies engage in combined activities.

Single-industry firms

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

• achieving a high level of professionalism in working with a specific type of tour or destination;
• quality service staff;
• the possibility of accreditation in the embassies of the state, in cooperation with which the operator specializes;
• the definition of a company in the service sector as the organizer of a specific type of tours or working in a certain direction.

The disadvantages of mono-profile include:

• dependence of the tour operator on the organizer of travel services;
• the need for regular conversion of the products offered.

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

Multidisciplinary firms

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 versatility include:

• numerous opportunities to cover the tourism market;
• flexibility of the operator’s activity with emphasis on different types of products, the demand for which depends on the consumer market;
• the possibility of combining tours;
• minimal dependence on a specific direction and service provider.

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

The structure of the tour operator company

First of all, the structure of the tour operator identifies separate units, the relationship between them and their integration into a single whole.

The structure of the company lies in the relationship between the strata of management and the activity of areas formed in such a way as to achieve positive results in the work of a travel company.

One of the main areas 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 perform it better than others from an organizational point of view.

Features of activity and work cycle

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

The features 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 staff for the implementation of each round;
• agent network development;
• ensuring and quality control of the services provided.

The tour operator’s work cycle is divided into three stages:

1. Designing a tour.
2. Planning.
3. Promotion of the finished product.

Types of agreements between travel agents and tour operator

At the moment, the following types of contracts are widespread, in accordance with which mutual obligations between a tour operator and a 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 this.
3. Contract for the provision of services, which is carried out on mutually beneficial conditions specified in the relevant document.
4. Contract of sale.
5. The contract of commercial representation, which implies the representation of the interests of the tour operator, travel agent.
6. Mixed contract.

In conclusion, we can determine 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.