Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Providing excellent customer service;
Activity 2.5
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Training and developing staff;
•
Targeted advertising and promotion;
Carry out some research into the aims and
objectives of two private sector travel and tourism
organisations in your own area. Review the methods
and opportunities that each organisation uses to
gain competitive advantage to meets its aims.
•
Innovative pricing policies;
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Locational advantage;
•
Modern sales techniques;
This activity is designed to provide evidence for P3.
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Integration and consortium membership.
Providing added value
Activity 2.6
'Adding value' to a product or service is all about
increasing revenue from its sale. For example, a travel
agent adds value to the business when he or she
persuades a client to buy a business class seat on a
fl ight rather than travelling in economy. In the same way,
an online tour operator may offer a half-price round of
golf at a hotel when a weekend break is booked. Both
examples increase the revenue to the company and
can be said to be adding value to the business.
Carry out some research into the aims and objectives
of two public sector travel and tourism organisations
in your own area. Include national organisations (e.g.
VisitBritain, Visit Wales, etc.), regional bodies (e.g.
Regional Development Agencies, Regional Tourist
Boards, etc.) and local authorities (e.g. your local
council). Review the methods and opportunities that
each organisation uses to gain competitive advantage
to meets its aims. Choose one of the organisations
you have selected and compare its organisational
and fi nancial characteristics with one of the private
sector organisations you selected for Activity 2.5,
plus the methods and opportunities each has used
to gain competitive advantage. Choose one of the
organisations and evaluate the links between its
characteristics and its success in gaining competitive
advantage and achieving its aims.
Another way of adding value to a business is through
mergers and takeovers, which are commonplace in the
competitive world of travel and tourism - in fact, it is
sometimes diffi cult to keep track of who owns what!
Being a largely commercial sector means that there
are always companies and entrepreneurs willing to
take a risk on acquiring a new business or expanding
an existing business through a merger or takeover.
Mergers tend to be with the agreement of both
companies, whereas takeovers can be by agreement
or are sometimes 'hostile', i.e. one of the parties
concerned does not want the takeover to go ahead.
New acquisitions usually offer companies access to
more customers, but can add signifi cantly to company
costs. This is particularly so if the company starting the
merger or takeover has to borrow money to fi nance the
deal, since it will have to make interest payments on its
loans. Recent examples of acquisitions in the travel and
tourism sector are the merger between British Airways
and Iberia in 2010 and the joining together of Thomas
with MyTravel and TUI/Thomson with First Choice
Holidays completed in 2007.
This activity is designed to provide evidence for P3, M1
and D1.
Gaining competitive advantage
Having considered the aims of a range of travel and
tourism organisations we can now investigate the
following methods and opportunities that they use to
gain competitive advantage:
•
Providing added value;
•
New and innovative products and services;
•
Introducing Total Quality Management (TQM);
