The Travel And Tourism Sector Tourism Essay
As with everything else, the travel and tourism business is changing constantly with more people booking trips on the Internet, increasing numbers of adventure travellers and fewer people having disposable income since the financial crash of 2009. To get people to bring their tourist dollars to your destination, your plan must accurately identify whose vacation needs you can best serve and get the word out specifically to them.
PREMIER INN RESORTS:
TASK 1
Know Your Customers
Know who is visiting your tourist destination. Texas, for example, did a marketing survey that showed the state brought in nearly $470 million in 2008 with European visitors, most from the United Kingdom. Washington State noted that it made about two-thirds the amount of income from people staying with friends and families as it did from those staying in hotels, so that was a significant market. Make sure local institutions keeping as close track as possible on where people travel from and their demographics so you know where your marketing is working and can more aggressively target areas where the response could be stronger.
Set Specific Goals
Decide what your specific goals are, such as wanting to double your tourism revenues in the next two years; draw more families to visit your tourism site; increase traffic from a neighboring state to a specified amount; or triple the number of visitors to a specific sightseeing attraction.
Identify Travel Trends
Stay abreast of travel trends, such as increasing interest in adventure travel, growing numbers of girlfriend getaways, changing demographics that mean more seniors traveling and increased use of Internet for bookings. Use this information to shape how your tourist destination will brand itself, what attractions it will invest in and emphasize and what marketing vehicles it will use.
Get Your Message Out
Figure out what vehicles will be most effective for promoting your message to the markets you have chosen, including travel review forums, social marketing avenues, Internet broadcasts, and magazine and news articles in general interest and special-interest publications or television ads. Enlist local businesses in advertising and offering specials and discounts for slow periods. Keep in mind, travellers sharing their positive experience at your destination is going to be your strongest marketing tool.
TASK 2
. Do a Situational Analysis
Target Markets
Even if you are experienced at managing holiday rentals, it pays to do an on paper assessment of your target renters. If you’re brand new to renting, you may have to do a little bit of research into your area to determine which groups you should target.
Demographic
Try to determine which demographic groups the majority of your guests belong to, such as: gender, familial status, household income, and education level? It’s likely that other belonging who call into the same category as your past guests will also enjoy your home.
Geographic
What geographic area are your guests from? Do they travel from overseas? Do they fly or drive to your destination? If they drive, how far is a typical journey?
Psychographic
What do your guests do in their leisure time? What do they want out of their holiday?
Market Needs & Trends
Look at your local holiday rental market as a whole. Are there any traveller groups that don’t seem to be well catered for? Has your local area undergone any major changes in the past year? 5 years? 10 years? Look for trends in the number of visitors, demographics of visitors, new construction in the area, sharp increases or decreases in the value of property, significant increases in property taxes, or new or proposed regulations regarding short-term rentals.
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis
Completing a SWOT analysis will help you determine where the strengths of your holiday rentals business, where you can improve, and what opportunities exist in the market, and what threats loom on the horizon.
Strengths:
What does your holiday home offer that other homes in your area do not?
What makes your home special?
Are your rates competitive?
What do you do as an owner that is better than other owners in your market?
Examine your online adverts. What does your ad do well?
Weaknesses:
What do other holiday homes in your area offer that you do not?
Are there any areas where your home could be improved (facilities, decor, furnishings, etc.)?
Examine your portal website listings. What could be improved about your ads (better photos, better written descriptions, etc.)?
Opportunities:
Are there any improvements being made or attractions being added in your market (have the beaches been given a special award, or is there a new activity centre opening)?
Does your property cater to any of the following growing market segments: retirees, business travellers, families with grown children?
Is the area opening up to travellers from a new geographic region?
Threats:
Are there any new property developments coming to your area (i.e. increased competition)?
Has there been a significant increase in property taxes for second homes?
Are there any new regulations being imposed on holiday rentals in your area?
Competition
In positioning your holiday home, you should consider who you are competing with for business, what they offer, and how their pricing compares to yours. After you’ve compiled a list of your biggest competition, take note of where they currently advertise, which marketing tactics they’ve chosen to implement. Then launch your counter attack, by applying strategies that will more effectively or persuasively reach the target customers you have in common.
Other Holiday Accommodations in Your Holiday Market
This could include other holiday rentals in your area, as well as hotels, bed and breakfasts, all-inclusive resorts, hostels, caravan parks or camp sites.
Other Holiday Destinations
Often you’re not just competing against other accommodations in your area. You may also be competing against holiday homes and hotels in surrounding areas, or even other markets altogether.
Holiday Rental Benefits
What does your home have to offer travellers?
Amenities
An amenity is anything included in your home that may be of interest to potential guests. The next time you’re at your vacation home, go room-to-room and make a list of the items in each room. Download the Equipment and Facilities Checklist to see if you’re missing anything.
Suitability
Who is your home perfectly situated for? Families with small children? People with disabilities? The elderly? Travellers with pets?
2. Determine Your Marketing Strategy
Marketing Objectives
What are your most important goals for marketing your holiday home? To receive enquiries? To book a certain number of weeks? To generate a specific amount of revenue?
Positioning
When setting your marketing strategy, it’s important to determine how you plan to market your retnal. That is, who your home is suitable for, and how you plan to ? Many holiday home owners make the mistake of trying to target uncomplimentary groups of travellers. For example, if you have a large property in the Algarve, Portugal, creating a home that is too family friendly (for example turning ample sized bedrooms into children’s bedrooms) could alienate groups of adult friends on golfing breaks or girls getaways. However, become too broad in your appeal, and you could seem bland or irrelevant to travellers.
Marketing Mix
Most marketing activities conducted by holiday rental homeowners fall into the categories of online advertising, offline advertising, and word-of-mouth marketing.
Online Advertising
Portal websites like HomeAway.co.uk or OwnersDirect.co.uk
Specialised websites like your local tourist board
Personal websites (your holiday rentals business website)
Offline Advertising
Print media like newspapers and magazines
Radio or TV
Collateral material like business cards, fliers or vouchers
Word-of-Mouth
Customer relationship marketing efforts to past guests, or friends and family discounts
Referrals
Charitable donations
Marketing Research – Get to Know Your Target Customer
Take the time to do some research about your target renter. The best way to do this is by talking to past guests, friends, and family members about what they enjoy about your home, what could be improved, and whether or not it fulfils the requirements they are looking for in a holiday home.
You can also download our Guest Feedback Survey to send to your previous guests
Become an Expert on Your Local Area
Travellers will often look to you for advice about your area. Put on your travel agent hat and learn about the area attractions and restaurants that may interest your target renters.
Stay Current with Events in Your Market
It’s important to stay abreast of events in your area. Consider subscribing to the local newspaper in your vacation home market or set up Google News Alerts to come to your email.
Follow Industry Trends
Staying educated on the holiday rental industry will give you a leg up in marketing your home. Keep an eye on our Industry News section, for the latest reports.
3. Get Your Financials in Order (Budgets and Forecasts)
Break-Even Analysiskeys to success
Even if you do not rely heavily on rentals to cover the expenses for your home, it’s important to determine how much money you have coming in and how much you have going out each month.
Revenue
How much rental income do you hope to generate from your holiday home this year?
Formula for projected revenue for primarily weekly rental markets: (Number of Peak Weeks x Peak Rate) + (Number of Off-Peak Weeks x Off-Peak Rate) + (Number of Weekends x Weekend Rate)
Formula for projected revenue for primarily nightly rental markets: (Number of Peak Nights x Peak Nightly Rate) + (Number of Off-Peak Nights x Off-Peak Nightly Rate)
Expenses
What do you expect to spend this year to keep your holiday rental running?
Note: This formula does not include capital improvements.
Cash Flow
Calculating your projected cash flow should help keep you aware of where you stand in relation to your rental goals. In addition, consider setting milestones or benchmarks for where you should be when. If you hit a milestone and determine that you’re not on course, then it’s time to implement a contingency plan.
Sales Forecast
During which months do you get the majority of your income? Be sure to factor in payment schedules, but to simplify the cash flow process, do not include any refundable deposits (otherwise you’ll have to also include the refund in your expenses).
Expense Forecast
Determine when you will have money coming out of pocket. Which expenses occur monthly (e.g. mortgage, utilities, etc.)? Quarterly? Annually? Don’t forget about seasonal fixed expenses like such as home or grounds maintenance.
Contingency Planning
What potential difficulties do you foresee in renting your holiday home? Brainstorm all of the potential problems you could face in your rentals process, and create a plan and a backup plan to deal with each one if it occurs. By preparing contingency plans, you won’t be caught off-guard when a less-than-ideal situation arises.
4. Determine Your Personal Keys to Success in Renting Your Home
After creating a marketing plan for your holiday rental home, you should be able to answer the following questions:
Who is your target market and how is your home best suited for them?
What is your home’s theme or position in the market?
Which marketing vehicles should you use to reach your target renters?
How many peak weeks, off-peak weeks, and weekends do you need to rent to break-even on your fixed expenses?
What are the potential risks in renting your holiday home and what can you proactively do to prepare for them?
What you define as success may be different to what other owners in your area would. The key to personal success in renting is to set goals for yourself and your holiday rental. By setting goals before you begin, you always have a number of booked weeks (or nights) to work toward and will more likely stay motivated and fulfilled
(INSKIPP, Carol, 2008)
COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
As a tour guide, communication will be your main tool in informing and guiding guests around sights and keeping their interest. Below, we have some suggested reasons why communication is so important in a tour guiding context. After reading through them, why don’t you tackle the activities which follow, which are based on some of the main reasons for communicating in tour guiding.
To inform, remind and advise
You will use communication to present your country to tourists. As a tour guide you will have to answer many questions, handle queries and present information to tourists. Among these types of information will be:
aˆ? giving directions and commentaries;
aˆ? explaining procedures and itineraries;
aˆ? providing advice on safety and security; and
aˆ? describing tourist attractions.
This information to guests can be: helpful suggestions to prepare themselves for a tour, advice about personal belongings to take, medical advice on preventative medicines, and information about available services at tourist destinations.
To clarify, and to avoid confusion and misunderstandings
Communication helps to clarify facts so that there is no confusion or misunderstandings. Also, sometimes there are unexpected events during a tour which can force the tour guide to change plans, and these changed plans have to be communicated to the tour group as soon as possible, to get consensus on alternative itineraries.
To promote and persuade
Communication is also the tool you’ll use to promote the tourism products and services of your country, such as the destinations and events they will visit and enquire about. Remember, tourists visit your country in order to see what attractions the country has to offer and to perceive and experience the country from your perspective. As a tour guide, therefore, it will be your responsibility to motivate and reinforce the tourist’s interest in your country. Your commentaries are the « eye » through which tourists will see the country and you are the representative of the people of your country.
To build relationships
How well you communicate with your tour group will determine the success of the tour and how successful you are in your career as a tour guide. Conversations help to develop rapport which will build interpersonal relationships. This is important for sustaining the tourism activities.
To evaluate your services
Communication will enable you to collect relevant feedback from the tourists with a view to gauging the interests and expectations of the tourists. This feedback obtained can be communicated to all concerned. From this you will be able to explore ways of improving subsequent tour activities.
TASK 1
To: XXXX
From Anamika Sinha
CC
Subject Cox& kings share Holdings
Dear XXXXXX
I have recently visited Cox & kings share Holdings and attach my report.
The prospects for devolving HR activities to the line are examined in this article. Evidence drawn from a wider study of HRM in practice suggests that, while line manager involvement is possible, their practices tend to be inconsistent in implementation and uneven in quality. A number of constraints on line management practice were identified. First, there is limited reinforcement of practice through institutional forces. Secondly, the short-term nature of managerial activity means that a greater priority is placed on the achievement of the numbers rather than the achievement of numbers through people. Finally, downsizing and delivering place tremendous pressures on the time which line managers could allow for people matters generally. These findings challenge much of the rhetoric associated with the idea of giving HRM back to the line by arguing that the quality of line management practice may distort the overall impact of HR policies.
TASK 2
Phone Communication
Phone communication remains an important means of business communication because it can link partners, employees and business professionals nationally and globally. Costs of phone communication can be significant, particularly if a business requires a lot of international calls.
Verbal Communication
Verbal communication in groups and between individuals is still a critical and popular method of business communication. Mastering the art of verbal communication can help you articulate ideas and solve problems in ways that everyone will understand.
The Internet and social media Web-based portals, such as Face book and Twitter, have taken the business world by storm. Email and social media represent ways for businesses to communicate important information in a matter of seconds.
Fax
Faxing is a fast way to communicate information and data as well. Faxing can be especially beneficial when information needs to be communicated in hard copy.
Written Communication
Believe it or not, companies still write memos and other reports that communicate information internally throughout a company. Written communication is an important method of communication because it helps establish a paper trail.
TASK 4
· Speed and Costs of Communication
The most significant impact of technology on communication is the spread of the internet and the possibility of sending emails and chatting. In the pre-information technology days, a document often required re-typing on the typewriter before the final version. Sending the letter across to someone else required a visit to the post office and a postage stamp. Faster methods such as telegrams had severe limitations in text, and remained costly.
Computers and the internet have made easy the process of creating and editing documents and applying features such as spell check and grammar check automatically. Email allows sending the document to any part of the globe within seconds, making telegrams, and even ordinary letters mostly obsolete. The internet has thus increased the speed of communications manifold, and reduced the costs drastically.
· Quality of Communication
The huge amount of knowledge accessible by a click of the mouse has helped improve the quality of communication. Translating a text from an unfamiliar language to a familiar language, seeking out the meaning of an unknown word, and getting follow up information on an unfamiliar concept are all possible thanks to the internet.
Technology allows easy storage and retrieval of communication when needed, especially verbal communication, the storage of which was very difficult before. It now becomes easier to rewind and clear misconceptions rather than make assumptions, or contacting the person again to clear doubt.
· Change in Communication Style
The invention of new gadgets such as mobile phones makes communication easier by allowing people to communicate from anywhere. An underestimated impact of mobile gadgets is their impact on the nature of communications. The nature of such impact includes the following:
The possibility of high quality communication from anywhere in the world to anywhere else at low costs has led to a marked decline in face-to-face communications and to an increased reliance on verbal and written communication over electronic mediums.
The small keyboards in mobile phone and other hand held devices that make typing difficult has resulted in a radical shortening of words and increasing use of symbol and shortcuts, with little or no adherence to traditional grammatical rules. Such change now finds increasing acceptance in the business community.
Communication has become concise and short, and the adage “brevity is the soul of wit” finds widespread implementation, though unintentionally.
· Accessibility to Communication
The answer to the question how has technology changed communication is incomplete without a mention of the role of technology in the democratization of communication systems. Technology has brought down the costs of communication significantly and improved people’s access to communication.
The proliferation of online forums, live coverage of news, and other such media related initiatives have resulted in world wide access and participation in news and information for almost everyone.
In the realm of business, access to communication or privileged information was hitherto a major source of competitive advantage. Technology helps remove such barriers and ensure a level playing field in this aspect for the most part.
· Nature of Communication
The ease of communication and the spread of interactive communication methods such as instant messengers and video conferencing has increased the volume of communications, but reduced the average length of communications. People now communicate whatever comes up instantly, and tend to break up different topics into different communications.
Finally, technologies such as the internet help spread the net of communication by tracking down old friends, shedding light on new business opportunities, and the like
(JOHN SWARBROOKE, Susan Horner, 2001)
PEOPLE IN THE ORGANISATION:
TASK 1
All these organisations are connected to either the National
Government, which is departments or ministries, or to local
Government. This chart shows the range of commercial and non commercial organisations involved in Travel and Tourism.
The government organisation, the DCMS (The Department for Culture
Media and Sport. This is one of the many civil service departments
which serve the elected government of the day, whatever their
political views. These departments do not have any political bias. Examples:
Treasury – doles out all the money the taxpayer’s money to other
departments, e.g. education, defence, DEFRA (Department for the
Farming and Rural Affairs), which is the department for the
environment.
· The DCMS is responsible for and to oversee:
Government policy on the arts,
Sport
The National Lottery,
Tourism,
Libraries,
Museums and galleries,
Broadcasting,
Film,
The music Industry,
Press freedom and regulation licensing,
Gambling
Historic environment.
· The present secretary of the DCMS is Tessa Jowell.
Funding of the DCMS
===================
· Funding comes from the taxpayer (income tax)
· In addition, the Treasury decides what share each government
department will get.
Stakeholders
————
Stakeholders are anyone who has an interest in an organisation. The
people who are hold an interest in the DCMS range from:
Government of the day. This is because DCMS carries out the
policies. This relates to Tomorrows Tourism Today, which outlines
plans for action and responsibilities for delivery for the DCMS and
its key partners in five areas. These are the four joint priorities
agreed by the DCMS and the tourism industry; marketing and e-tourism,
quality, skills and data, plus a fifth priority for the DCMS –
advocacy for tourism across Whitehall and the EU.
Tomorrow’s Tourism Today, which had the working title of the Tourism
Prospectus, is the result of consultation by the DCMS with its key
partnership organisations; Visit Britain, the England Marketing
Advisory Board (EMAB), the Tourism Alliance, the Local Government
Association and the Regional Development Agencies. It also reflects
comments from over 30 organisations and individuals who responded to a final round of general consultation.
The idea for Tomorrow’s Tourism Today came from the series of Hartwell
Conferences between the DCMS and the tourism industry. They were part
of the process of tackling the downturn in tourism that followed the
Foot and Mouth outbreak and the September 11th attacks in 2001.
The public as the taxpayers, as the DCMS is spending our money.
Customers of tourism in the UK.
Businesses, which benefit from the work of the DCMS.
Employees of the DCMS civil servants.
NGO`s (Non Governmental Organisations), which are not elected and
have no political bias.
Organization Chart
Non-Governmental Organisations
——————————
· These are non-elected organisations, which advise the main
government departments or ministries and through them advise the
elected Minister of the day.
· NGO`s:
Advise the department on policy.
Co-ordinate activities.
Produce strategic plans such as Tomorrows Tourism Today.
Allocate government funds to all organisational and activities
connected with tourism.
· Examples of NGO`s are:
Visit Britain
English Heritage
Countryside Agency
Sport England
TASK 2
REPORT SECTION A:
Communicating effectively can be the difference between the success and failure of any business endeavour. Effective business communication involves time-honoured practices and customs you can easily learn. These business communications best practices remain as relevant now as they were in the past. These best practices also apply to any form of business communication you choose to employ; whether it is a print brochure or an online website.
Be Clear and Concise
The most important business communication practice is to be clear with your message. Too often, business communicators load their messages with jargon and technical terms the intended audience cannot understand. Don’t be vague. Use concrete terms and be specific. You should use clear, easily understood words. Avoid industry-specific terms and acronyms unless they are common knowledge to your audience. Err on the side of caution, however; don’t assume you know what your audience will understand.
Focus on Audience
Effective business communication practices target a specific audience. Communicators should always ask “Who is my audience?” What is their level of knowledge about what you are presenting? What are their needs and values? Knowing the answers to these questions can help focus your message. Business communication author Ken O’Quinn, writing for the International Association of Business Communicators, says you should frame your appeal in a way that makes it relevant to your audience. Your ideas need to be in their realm of experience, he writes.
Don’t Sell Features. Sell Benefits.
Whether you are writing an internal memo or a sales brochure, your business communications should focus on value. A best practice is to sell benefits–how your idea or product will improve the lives of your internal and external customers. Selling benefits will grab attention and sustain interest far more than simply selling the features or physical attributes of a product or service. In an International Association of Business Communicators article, writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant says selling features is dull. Selling benefits generates excitement, she says, and leads to business communication with high impact.
Use Multiple Channels
Peter Lowy of the Business Communications Strategies group, Brookline, Mass., writes that you cannot afford to deliver your message using only one medium. The proliferation of media offers people numerous choices for consuming information. People have their preferences, and they process information at different times, Lowy says. In addition, for your communications practices to be effective, you should optimize your message for each medium. For example, a message delivered through a website will typically be shorter and more to-the-point than the same message in a print newsletter article.
REPORT SECTION B:
There are numerous advantages of teamwork in business. Some of the genuine advantages of teamwork have been discussed below. The following advantages of teamwork are not only applicable for businesses but they can also be noticed in departments that function with the help of united efforts.
United Effort
Teamwork in any business ensures that the task at hand is executed with the help of a united effort. The significance of the united effort is that the business organization that is concerned, functions like a single person, thereby enhancing the quality of the operations. There are, also, some other related factors, such as ensuring equality in profit-sharing and division of work. It also helps the members/owners of the organization to maintain a very good system, that designates appropriate authority and responsibility. A united effort, also, reflects good team building and team spirit.
Division of Work
Teamwork ensures that there is an equal and fair distribution of work within the organization. A fair work distribution ensures that every person or every working unit, executes any task at hand, with the best possible efficiency. The division of work, also, ensure that the work is done on time and deadlines are not extended.
Reduction of Risk
When the task at hand is executed with the maximum possible efficiency, there is a reduction in risk. The best advantage of teamwork in business is that the burden of failure is borne by all the members of the team and it does not fall on the shoulders of just one person.
Specialization in Work
Another very good advantage of teamwork in business is that a person is able to specialize in one specific field. That is, he can optimize the quality of the work that he does, and can also work with the maximum possible efficiency. This ensures a high quality output from all individuals and the whole team.
Subordination of Personal Interest to Organizational Interest
One of the biggest advantages of teamwork is that personal interest is subordinate to organizational interest. This ensures that all the team members put in the maximum possible efforts into their work, thereby ensuring a high quality and timely output.
You must have noticed that the list of advantages points out to two basic facts that work when distributed reduces one person’s workload and a reduced amount of
