Travel agents in Europe

Introduction

Tourism is a globally acclaimed leisurely carried out activity across the world by people. Tourism has been deemed critical for many countries. Professors Hunziker and Krapf of Berne University have attempted to define tourism as the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, insofar as they do not lead to permanent residence and are not connected with any earning activity. (Cruz, Z. 2006) It involves people moving from one country or place to another for a short duration to explore the new place, its culture and ethnicity. People gather firsthand knowledge about a new place, country or region only through travelling physically and experiencing the variance. Tourism plays an important role for any country as it directly contributes to the economy and upbringing of that country. Today, the tourism industry has become very competitive and aggressive due to the fact that they do have an impact on the economy. Davidson (1998) is of the opinion that tourism being a multi dimensional and dynamic industry, the aim of this research is to critically evaluate the current competitive scenario of the tourism industry in Europe, analyse the various aspects of tourism and study the strategies implemented by multinational tour operators to give the competitive edge a boost. There shall be in-depth analysis of the integral factors that help in running the business and how do they contribute towards the betterment of the industry. This project shall be based on quantitative and qualitative research on the industry and how it is striving to achieve its only goal: customer satisfaction. Based on Enright and Newton (2004), the study also dwells into the existing business models, the customer retaining policies, and the competitive edge they need to survive. The study shall primarily focus on the multinational tour operators based out of Europe, their modus operandi, their strategies to handle competition and their success stories of survival and emerging as global leaders in their field.

Keywords Multinational tourism, competitive strategies, global presence, customer satisfaction

Objective of the research

Through this research, we shall try to analyse and gather the various marketing strategies incorporated by the global tour operators across Europe and how those details are helping them to improvise their business and increase their customer base while catering to the existing clientele. We shall evaluate the marketing strategies and their implications based on the following critical questionnaire: 1. What kind of Strategic positioning and propositions are the tour operators using?
2. Discuss the value propositions implemented by the operators and how do they

influence the growth and market shares. 3. Elaborate the core competencies that each company endorses and supports.
4. Analyse how the multinational operators have been using competitive methods of

products and services to attain high customer satisfaction. We shall use the above mentioned four criterions to base our study and research to establish a clear understanding of the existing competitive strategies, identify the gaps and use the research to fill the voids. This is an attempt to help the international tour operators based in Europe to assess their current marketing and business strategies and enable them to improvise them if required.
1. The tour operators in Europe face a real challenge in their packages and pricing

strategies as almost all competitors incorporate the same strategies. Goodson (2004) feels that the innovative packages and offers marketed by the various operators create a huge impact on their profits and business models. The packages, prices and the overall marketing involve a lot of financials and it is critical for their existence.
2. Value proposition of any business is a very critical aspect as it a promise of expertise

to be delivered with the belief that the customer will find the proposition invaluable (Kotler, P. Keller, KL. 2006) The tour operators need to develop a value proposition that will be based on the costs, benefits and the value that they can deliver to their existing customers, prospective customers and to the community on the whole. The

business will be effective and successfully functional if they strategise their products based on the value system of the home country.
3. The research study will implement Porters theory of competitive advantage (Porter,

M.E.1998) to understand the existing business strategies and how should they be improvised so that there is clear and verifiable evidence on how competitive strategies can influence customers and their decisions.
4. The end result of this research is basically to assess and analyse how the operators

have been able implement their competitive strategies as per Sheldon (1991) to execute the huge task of balancing out the various factors of running a successful business in terms of profits and market shares as well as meeting customer requirements and satisfaction. So far it is assumed that such equilibrium can be achieved only virtually, however, the study shall prove that it can be achieved in reality. Literature overview Various means, methods and technology has been used to derive the content and the literature for this research. Use of primary and secondary sources of data has been made to the fullest. Extensive use of online libraries, books, journals, videos and multimedia, focussed group discussions, face-to-face interactions with customers have contributed towards the literature for this project. The study uses the Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC) (Butler, R. 2006) model on tourism to explore and assess how a particular destination becomes a tourist destination after several phases. The study also aims at linking this with the synergy that the tour operators generate by synchronising their competitive advantage during the life cycle in the model. Tourism remains an important and dynamic industry and its continual development contributes to the increased foreign exchange and in turn the development of the country. It has been a very lucrative industry so far and shall continue developing through proper channelizing and marketing. (Riley, Ladkin, Szivas, 2002). The tourism industrys value creation can be associated to the revenue generation it has through the tour operators and thus can be measured by conducting this study on the tour operators. The report tries to bring in a systematic and detailed study of how the geographical factors influence tourism, drawing inferences from various pragmatic studies and standard methods of analysis. (Pearce, D. G. 1995) Richards, G.(2001) has laid importance to the fact that today there is sudden dominance and shift to cultural tourism and how that has caused a change in the outlook of tourists. Cultural attractions play a very important role in the development of tourism today at all levels and

they are making an impact at the global level. There have been some culturally important places that have been marked as World Heritage sites. Laws, E. (1995) has used the method of case studies taken up from various countries like Italy, UK and Greece where in the critical aspects of developing and tourism and managing the tour operators is studied. The focus remains on factors like customer care, tourist satisfaction, policies, marketing strategies and impact of tourism on the country; the factors that make the tourism industry succeed or fail. Fletcher, J. E. (1989) had proposed some model to study the economic impact of the tourism industry. He used the input-output model based on the tourism industry to analyse and understand the financial contribution and the growth of the economy that takes place due to the tourism industry. There has always been a necessity to use the best marketing strategies to ensure tourism is well promoted. With the increase in international tourism, there have been researches done in marketing and distribution strategies that have been found relevant by the tour operators. These researches were useful in collecting data using the in-depth face to face interview technique with 41 experienced tour operators across UK and Germany. The data was useful in linking the fact that international travel and tourism require marketing strategies to make them successful. (Riege, A. M., Perry, C. 2000). The overall success of a tour operator, its functionality, and its contribution to the tourism industry of the home country is totally based on one simple aspect: customer satisfaction. The two very commonly used methods to measure customer satisfaction are the gap analysis of expectations and the graphical representation of overall satisfaction ratings. With the advancement of technology, there has been a new method that is incorporated now. Danaher, P.J. (1997) had conceived this model, based on 9 hypothetical scenarios and the customer response against each is plotted against a graph and the direction of the graph gives the management a direction on where the customer service is headed. This also helps in basing the future marketing strategies to improvise and ensure the best customer satisfaction levels are achieved. The tour operators and the tourism industry on the whole depend on a very important factor: the tourism demand and the forecasting. The Autoregressive Moving- Average model (ARIMAs) conceived by Box and Jenkins (1970) has been incorporated for over four decades to study the market and use the data to forecast the changes in the tourism industry. (Song, H., & Li, G. (2008) Research Design The objective of this project is to study and analyse the current marketing strategies, value proposition, market shares and competitive pricing of the multinational tour operators based in Europe and propose new competitive strategies, ways to generate sustainable profits and enhance customer satisfaction. The research design is very important for this project as it lays the foundation for the project and gives the reader a clear and concise picture of the key

methodologies used, the systematic approach to the project problem and the various research elements used like the hypothesis and the research paradigms. The design will help in incorporating a very systematic approach to the whole project. (Burns, A. C., & Bush, R. F. 2000)

Fig.1: Standard research design pattern

The various aspects involved in this research are discussed as follows: 1. Primary data collection: is usually based on facts like the current sales reports,

competitive pricing for the tour operators, first hand opinions or reviews from existing clientele. According to Carter and Beaulieu (1992), the Primary data is collected solely for survey purposes. The existing customers of a particular tour operator would be the ideal source for primary data collection. Ritchie and Ritchie (2002) have stated that various methods like the questionnaire form, interview methods to observe the individuals behaviour, online surveys, focused group discussions, email inquiry and experience sharing, telephonic conversations with customers; all these contribute towards primary data collection. However, primary data collection incurs high costs and involves lot of time for data collation.
a. Observation: This method is very effective in primary data collection as the

behavioural observation optimizes natural human behaviour and the responses are very spontaneous. The responses secured can be usually eluded under other methods of data collection. This method reduces the possibility of data being misplaced or not recorded officially.

During the visit to various data gathering places, I would be conducting interviews and also taking note of observations in the interim. Observation in respect to the customers, tour operators and their ambiance also is a vital input to this study.
b. Interviewing:

This has been acknowledged as the best mode of data collection as you can assess the interviewees attitude and judge for yourself. According to Woodside and Dubelaar (2002) the data collection can be done either on a face-to-face basis, over the telephone or on-line using technology. This method is usually very effective for data collection to avoid being physically present across the globe. In this case, this method can be used by the tour operators based out of Europe to collect tourist feedback in Greece. A total of 60 questionnaires would be rolled out and interviews. Our operators and tourists would be the audience to this. The survey would be conducted by either posting the survey questionnaire through post or email, personally visiting tour operators in London. Telephonic interviews would be conducted with customers where the questions based on the package would be asked to them. What sort of data is being taken from the questionnaire? How long would it take to complete the interviews? What kind of data collation method would be used? Data representation methods.
c. Questionnaire method:

The scope of marketing current products and services is always under scrutiny as evolvement of new products and services is a must to continue being a market leader. The leading tour operators in the European countries are Thomas Cook, Cox & King, Kuoni, Tui Travel and GTI Travel to name a few. They have global expertise and presence and that makes it all the more important that the marketing strategies incorporated by them are at par with the industry and the competition is made challenging. Jennings (2001).The questionnaire method of data collection is practised by all these companies as it the best way to quantify and collate data for research. What kinds of questions are being asked: Are they probing or verbatim? Are the questions objective or subjective? What type of information is being drawn from the questionnaire: 1. Popularity statistics along with Top Of Mind

2. What is that attracts customers most to the package 3. When do they prefer to take the package 4. Usually they get discounts or do they get special treatment 5. Would they get a discount if they recommended any friends 6. Would they like to post their experience in social media 7. How often are they contacted by the agents and operators to update on the offers 8. Is it value for money 9. Would they use the services again? Yes / No... why?

Fig.2. Diagrammatic representation of data collection

2. Secondary data collection According to Dann and Nash (1988), secondary data is referred to the data collated and saved by various sources except the user. The user can access the secondary data for his research and knowledge gaining purposes. It saves time and efforts of the user as huge amounts of data are kept ready for use and at times they are validated and marked reliable to be re-used for purposeful work and research. Secondary data comprises of journals, books, published statistical data, archives, internet data and newspapers. Secondary data collection has been known to be faster, cost effective and helps in improvising the understanding of the related problem. We shall take into consideration all the data that are available with respect to the tour operators and use them in our analysis of market research and building competitive strategies.

Fig.3. Secondary Data sources

3. Quantitative and Qualitative data analysis

In every research, the quantitative and qualitative data play an important part. Both are equally relevant for data collection, analysis and drawing conclusions. Firestone (1987) suggests that qualitative data is non-numerical data based out of peoples attitudes, experiences and interactions as is represented in Fig.4. Qualitative data collation and analysis is very critical for the tour operators as it in turn leads to the study of customer satisfaction and service. This data can form the foundation for improvising the existing strategies and incorporating new ones to handle competition.

Fig.4. Example of Qualitative data

On the other hand, Davies (2003) acknowledges that quantitative data is information that be represented numerically like the census figures of tourists travelling to Scotland in the year 2012 as is presented in the chart below:

Fig.5. UK tourism stats is quantitative data Quantitative data is important for the tour operators as it gives them accurate information of the a. Simple Random Sampling technique http://prr.hec.gov.pk/Chapters/7S-3%20.pdf

b. Stratified Random Sampling c. Case studies http://www.bized.co.uk/educators/1619/tourism/operations/activity/environment.htm d. Delphi method

4.

References :
1. Fig.5.: http://www.euromonitor.com/uk-travel-and-tourism-outlook-2012/report 2. Fig.6.: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/04/30170641/4 3. Fig4. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?

articleid=1793690&show=html 4. Burns, A. C., & Bush, R. F. (2000). Marketing research. Globalization, 1, 7. 5. Butler, R. 2006. The Tourism Area Life Cycle: Applications and Modifications. Aspects of Tourism Series. Book. Channel View Publications 6. Carter, K. A., & Beaulieu, L. J. (1992). Conducting a community needs assessment: Primary data collection techniques. Retrieved April, 26, 2005. 7. Cochran, W. G. (2007). Sampling techniques. John Wiley & Sons. 8. Cruz, Z. 2006. Principles of Tourism Part I'. Book. Rex Bookstore, Inc. 9. Danaher, P. J. (1997). Using conjoint analysis to determine the relative importance of service attributes measured in customer satisfaction surveys.Journal of Retailing, 73(2), 235-260. 10. Dann, G., Nash, D., & Pearce, P. (1988). Methodology in tourism research.Annals of Tourism Research, 15(1), 1-28. 11. Davidson, R. (1998). Travel and tourism in Europe (No. Ed. 2). Addison Wesley Longman Ltd. 12. Davies, B. (2003). The role of quantitative and qualitative research in industrial studies of tourism. International Journal of Tourism Research, 5(2), 97-111. 13. Enright, M. J., & Newton, J. (2004). Tourism destination competitiveness: a quantitative approach. Tourism Management, 25(6), 777-788. 14. Fig.2. : http://writepass.co.uk/journal/2012/11/study-of-brand-and-brandvaluation-methods/ 15. Fig.3. : http://mayankbhatiaahm.blogspot.in/2010_08_12_archive.html 16. Fig1. http://www.waier.org.au/forums/2002/siragusa.html 17. Firestone, W. A. (1987). Meaning in method: The rhetoric of quantitative and qualitative research. Educational researcher, 16(7), 16-21. 18. Fletcher, J. E. (1989). Input-output analysis and tourism impact studies. Annals of tourism research, 16(4), 514-529. 19. Goodson, L. (2004). Qualitative research in tourism: Ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies (Vol. 14). Routledge. 20. Jennings, G. (2001). Tourism research. John Wiley and sons Australia, Ltd

21. Kotler, P. Keller. KL (2006). Marketing management, 12, 181-183. 22. Latham, J., & Edwards, C. (2003). The statistical measurement of tourism.Progress in tourism, recreation and hospitality management, 1, 55-76. 23. Laws, E. (1995). Tourist destination management: issues, analysis and policies. Routledge. 24. Pearce, D. G. (1995). Tourism today: a geographical analysis (No. Ed. 2). Longman scientific & technical. 25. Porter, M.E.1998. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. The Michael E. Porter Trilogy. Book. Free Press 26. Richards, G. (Ed.). (2001). Cultural attractions and European tourism. CABI 27. Riege, A. M., & Perry, C. (2000). National marketing strategies in international travel and tourism. European Journal of Marketing, 34(11/12), 1290-1305. 28. Riley, M., Ladkin, A., & Szivas, E. (2002). Tourism employment: Analysis and planning (Vol. 6). Channel View Books. 29. Ritchie, R. J., & Ritchie, J. R. (2002). A framework for an industry supported destination marketing information system. Tourism Management, 23(5), 439-454. 30. Sheldon, P. J. (1991). An authorship analysis of tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research, 18(3), 473-484. 31. Song, H., & Li, G. (2008). Tourism demand modelling and forecastingA review of recent research. Tourism Management, 29(2), 203-220. 32. Woodside, A. G., & Dubelaar, C. (2002). A general theory of tourism consumption systems: A conceptual framework and an empirical exploration.Journal of Travel Research, 41(2), 120-132