Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 9:42 am
Cruises are fun. It’s a way to relax and enjoy the world around you without worrying about transportation issues or extra costs. When you book Mediterranean Cruises with the Thomas Cook agency, you’ll be able to really enjoy a cruise without stressing over any of the little things.
Thomas Cook can set you up with some fantastic cruise lines and subsequent destinations. The Mediterranean Sea offers a vast array of exotic locations and historical regions – some places richer in the latter respect than any other are of the world. If you’ll be booking a Mediterranean Cruise anytime soon, make sure you make port at Greece. Greece offers many beautiful places to visit. The ruins of Athens are especially awe-inspiring, as are the ruins of the Acropolis. You can also visit the Greek amphitheatres, where so many of the ancient Greek tragedies were played out for the citizenry watching from stone benches.
Across the way from Athens is the Greek island of Mykonos. A popular seaside resort, you can find bars, hotels, shops and beautiful stretches of white seashore on the island. In addition to this, all of the Grecian islands – Santorini, Crete, Cyprus, Corfu and more – offer scuba-diving, surfing and snorkelling. You can also tour the island on a boat. It is the perfect way to spend a day apart from the cruise liner.
Another wonderful stop on the Mediterranean Cruise ship route is Amalfi Beach. Famed for its beautiful churches, ricotta villas and traditional city centres, it is the perfect place to hold a wedding. In fact, the city hall is usually kept open into the early hours of the morning for travelling visitors who wish the ministers to perform wedding ceremonies. It is one of the few places in Europe that offers internationally recognized wedding certificates. Indeed, the steps of the local churches are often filled with newlyweds waiting to pose for their pictures on the steps.
If you’re worried about failing to have booked your holiday far enough in advance – never fear! Thomas Cook offers last minute travel packages for cruise trips, too
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 12:00 am
Role of a travel agency is to perform as an intermediary between the producers and consumers of tourism services. Suppliers in tourism industry such as airlines, tourist transport operators, tour operators, hotels etc work with travel agency for distribution of their services. Tourists also avail the services of travel agency for buying the services of the major suppliers. This does not mean that the travel agencies follow the strategies of the principal suppliers for marketing purposes. They have to chalk out their own strategy for promoting themselves.
Travel agencies make effort to add value to the products/services of the major suppliers. They go for their own market research to set the target market. They have to decide on discounts or service charges and finalise their product mix as well as sales and promotional strategies.
Understanding the Market
A travel agency has to take decision which market segment to target. The prospective market needs to be properly segmented. This segmentation could be done on the basis of the motive of travel or their budget. Timing of the travel decisions or services required by the customers could also be the base of segmentation. A customer could require services like tour packages, travel consultancy, ticket booking, handle travel documents (visa, passports etc), airport transfers, hotel bookings etc.
Product Design
Travel agency business is more or less confined to sole proprietorship or partnership firms. Majority of businesses are of small level. A travel agency has to decide on the target market, determine on customer requirements and generate ideas to develop the product. One also has to do the business analysis considering costs, estimate future sales, and profit potential.
A travel agency could have product oriented or market oriented approach in the business. It could emphasise on products and services of tourism supply, disregarding customer needs. However, in a multi-player market, this approach will not work. A market oriented approach would always be better for an agency. It must look at the customer needs and accordingly design its products. Market survey has to be conducted to understand the customer needs and get information about the practices of other agencies. Only when a manager knows about market needs, he can take a decision on the product design of the company. For example, services provided to walk-in customers could be different than those offered to repeat customers.
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 at 12:00 am
I agree with the experts that a shakeout is taking place due to the current economic downturn. If you have not positioned your agency at this time either to be a part of the larger travel organizations or to become a “boutique,” then you might want to start thinking about your strategies for the future. Your key starting point is determining your agency’s net worth.
There are four critical areas that comprise an adequate and accurate agency valuation plan -
- operations/resource management,
- market position/agency image,
- financial management, and
- business history
Future articles will include financial management, market position/agency image, and business history. Today let’s consider -
Operations and Resource Management
Automation – Computers and Telephones
As a general rule, the more automated you are, the higher your productivity per employee and consequently the higher your profitability. Additionally, more time for agents to have face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact with customers means better service. Bear in mind that if you’ve been computerized for at least three full years, you are over the start up pains and the equipment is part of your routine.
What computerization was to a travel agency five years ago, telephone systems will be for the next five years. Your phone system will make or break you. Chances are if you have an old-fashioned key button system, your productivity is low and your ultimate valuation will reflect that. You should at least have PBX and ACD systems.
Personnel
Regardless of whether a buyer will be managing your business himself or hiring you to stay on as a contract manager, your personnel are the absolute key to success under new ownership. I have seen agencies sold and then watched half the staff leave the next day with their “following” because they were offered a better deal by another agency. The result is usually a bonanza for lawyers and the disintegration of your former business. You can generally avoid such a crisis if your turnover is low, staff experience levels are high, and you have a strong incentive program supplemented by a solid portfolio.
Other Resources
The travel agency business requires an incredible amount of detailed data and consistent, logical operating systems. The question is: Have you been able to maintain an organization that cuts smoothly through all these ancillary materials and procedures? For example:
- the latest work flow changes in your agency;
- staff telephone manners and the way you present your agency to the public;
- your quality control processes before documents go out to the public;
- updating the mailing list; and
- your system to follow up on hotel commissions
And what about your space? Naturally, a buyer will want to see his new business grow. If your space restricts that, or if your lease is about to be renewed at double the cost, any future projections will be impacted and your agency is worth less. Therefore, prior to sale you might want to check with your landlord as to a potential new arrangement with the new owner.
Good management
The common thread in the criteria above is organization. If historically and financially you have done well, but if the key to your success has been your absolute and autocratic management – i.e., all of the company’s records are in your head – obviously, a new owner will not succeed. Therefore, good management not only shows in the results but in the ability to turn the reins over to new management.
Obviously a potential buyer is far more impressed by an organized, well-planned operation in which you can show your original business objectives, the current variances or changes in plan and your rationale behind it.
In all of the criteria above let me stress the most important common element – consistency – as crucial.
Do you really present a credible picture to the buyer? Do you have a dashboard that measures your activities and allows you to make mid-course corrections in the event one of your “instruments” indicates a problem?
Your answers to these questions will help determine your agency’s net worth – and its value in the marketplace.