The main objective of the activity of a tour operator is to create a trip, supported by a suitable service program. This product is the main one for the tour operator, launched on the market and sold through the agency network. This product is very specific and includes:
A specially designed itinerary.
A tour with an approved service program.
Services are provided additionally.
Goods corresponding to the tourist service.
JOINT WORK OF THE TOUR OPERATOR AND THE TRAVEL AGENCY
The current state of tourism supply and demand dictates that said product formed by a tour operator and sold by a travel agency must be quite differentiated. To stay in the future, you need to find your unsatisfied market segment now. The segment can be based on specific national tastes, it can be based on age and the reason for the trip. It is obvious to everyone that there are no universal hotels, much less universal travel.
The sale of the product by tourism operators and agencies is exceptionally peculiar and different from that of other types of companies.
On the one hand, everything seems to be clear: for most agencies, the object of the sale is transport services (sea, air, car, bus, van) combined with hotel accommodation for travelers.
Many agencies in addition to this also sell travel insurance policies for tourists, bags and suitcases, passport photos, visas, etc. However, it must be remembered that when talking about selling seats on an airplane, train, cruise ship, or hotel, the travel agency is only helping the client to acquire the specified seat, cabin, or hotel room for temporary use, that is, to achieve everything specified in the contract.
Together, they bring this product to the consumer. Leisure travel agencies defined the product they sell most clearly: they sell dreams.
CONSTITUTION OF A NETWORK OF AGENCIES
Working with travel agencies is currently one of the main directions of current and strategic activities of any tour operator.
The role of the travel agency in the prosperity and success of the tour operator’s business cannot be overestimated, because no matter how famous the operator was, no matter how interesting and sensitive to the needs of the market segments the tours were. offers, without a wide network of agencies that worked effectively, it would not be able to achieve anything in the tourism market. This is the reason why in the structure of any operator there is a manager or even a department that works with agents, developing new ways and means of stimulating and increasing the effectiveness of agents’ activity.
A travel agency is a legal or natural person that is dedicated to publishing, communicating, and selling tourist packages prepared by a tour operator. The need for agents arises for several reasons:
The need to promote the operator’s travel in the regions (not all tour operators have the opportunity to open their own office or branch in each promising region), while the involvement of regional agents to work together allows the promotion of the operator’s travel. operator outside the place of permanent deployment.
The need to bring travel closer to the customer. It is much more advantageous for the customer to buy a package in his hometown from an authorized agent of a distant tour operator, it is also beneficial for the operator.
The operator does not have the possibility of independently serving all the customers with whom it communicates. Even if an operator takes it upon himself to send information, say 1,000 people a week, there is no guarantee that he will be able to fully serve this number of people on his own (that is, from the time of the request to the moment to send a client the information of a tour), because most of the tourists it sends are clients of travel agencies, and they are the ones that dedicate their time and effort to attend to the people who have made the request. Therefore, the existence of a network of agencies is a prerequisite to minimize the costs of the tour operator. The more people you serve independently, the more expenses you incur (the need to maintain a large staff, in the first place) and vice versa.
