British Tour Operators Research Articles

Diversification of accommodation offers depending on critical economies of scale for travel business

The world’s oldest travel company Thomas Cook, the British tour operator with 19 million yearly clients, after 178 years of service, has officially announced that it would be liquidating its assets...

SOCIO-CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF SPACE AS A FACTOR TO MAKE A REGION MORE ATTRACTIVE FOR TOURISTS

This study aims at the analysis of the current situation in the tourist industry of Pskov region, its economic efficiency and means of making the area more interesting for holidaymakers. The research problem is the low tourist flow in the area and the low economic efficiency of the industry. The tourist companies which promote Pskov region can be described as conservative and rigid. They offer visiting traditional tourist attractions such as churches, monasteries, and estates of famous historic persons. The key results are the following. Mythological and fictional characters can be successfully used as attractors. Nowadays, British tour operators offer three types of “fictional” tours. Firstly, tours devoted exclusively to locations described in myths and fiction. Secondly, tours that combine traditional and fictional sights. Thirdly, visiting places for which local myths and legends were intentionally coined. The authors suggest that tours of the third type should be actively used to boost the popularity of Pskov region. Thus, modern mythopoeia is regarded not only as a creative activity but also as an economic instrument of constructing a new socio-cultural space. The results of the study are based on the careful examination of statistic data and the analysis of texts on British sights. The list of primary methods include analogy approach, description, hypothetico-deductive and axiomatic methods.

Price strategies by German and British tour operators in Mallorca

Abstract This paper analyses the price strategies used by major German and British tour operators for holiday packages in Mallorca. The analysis differentiates package holidays by price (cheap, mid price and expensive), first trying to identify the existence of different strategies for each price level and, second, whether these price strategies have changed during the recent economic crisis. The main results show that, in the German market, there is a clear market leader, while, in the British market, no price leader can be observed. The two markets have reacted differently to the economic crisis. In the German market, the leader-follower model was maintained. In the British market, the economic crisis has led to a more uniform price distribution, with reductions in the prices of cheaper holidays and price rises in the case of the top end of the market. The results were obtained by estimating a hedonic price model using quantile regressions.

Self-reported stomach upset in travellers on cruise-based and land-based package holidays.

BackgroundInternational travellers are at a risk of infectious diseases not seen in their home country. Stomach upsets are common in travellers, including on cruise ships. This study compares the incidence of stomach upsets on land- and cruise-based holidays.MethodsA major British tour operator has administered a Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) to UK resident travellers aged 16 or more on return flights from their holiday abroad over many years. Data extracted from the CSQ was used to measure self-reported stomach upset in returning travellers.ResultsFrom summer 2000 through winter 2008, 6,863,092 questionnaires were completed; 6.6% were from cruise passengers. A higher percentage of land-based holiday-makers (7.2%) reported stomach upset in comparison to 4.8% of cruise passengers (RR = 1.5, p<0.0005). Reported stomach upset on cruises declined over the study period (7.1% in 2000 to 3.1% in 2008, p<0.0005). Over 25% of travellers on land-based holidays to Egypt and the Dominican Republic reported stomach upset. In comparison, the highest proportion of stomach upset in cruise ship travellers were reported following cruises departing from Egypt (14.8%) and Turkey (8.8%).ConclusionsIn this large study of self-reported illness both demographic and holiday choice factors were shown to play a part in determining the likelihood of developing stomach upset while abroad. There is a lower cumulative incidence and declining rates of stomach upset in cruise passengers which suggest that the cruise industry has adopted operations (e.g. hygiene standards) that have reduced illness over recent years.

Chinese Outbound Tourism to the United Kingdom: Issues for Chinese and British Tour Operators

This study explores the developing relationship between British inbound tour operators and their Chinese counterparts since 2005, when Britain acquired Approved Destination Status. Empirical data were collected from tour operators in both China and Great Britain between 2006 and 2011. The findings suggest that many British tour operators consider that the profit from the Chinese inbound market is not worth the work involved. Differing cultural expectations are identified as the main source of difficulty in respect of accommodation and food; the cost and difficulty in obtaining a visa for the UK is considered the main obstacle to the growth of this important market segment.

The Evolution of British Package Holiday Prices in the Balearic Islands, 2000–2008

This paper analyses the evolution of package holiday prices in the Balearics marketed by a sample of British tour operators during 2000–2008. Three alternative price indexes are presented to measure the evolution of the package holiday prices: a fixed-base hedonic, chained hedonic and chained Laspeyres price index. The results demonstrated that the fixed-base hedonic price index underwent a very slight increase during the period, while the chained hedonic price index and chained Laspeyres price index decreased in value. A comparison of these indexes with two competitiveness indicators (the British Consumer Price Index and the British Package Holidays Price Index) shows that the price of package holidays in the Balearic Islands dropped in value in relation to both the British cost of living index and the general package holiday price index for Britons. An elementary tourism demand function was also estimated, using the constructed indexes, suggesting that British demand was not very sensitive to the price of the Balearic package holiday.

Whiteness, ethnic minorities and advertising in travel brochures

Whiteness theory is used in this paper as an additional way to analyse ethnic minority portrayal in advertising, specifically, the extent to which images of ethnic minorities are dominated by whiteness in travel brochures. A sample of 37 brochures are examined from British tour operators. Culture-based differences in advertising are discussed with a specific focus on how advertising constructs the image of ethnic minorities of peoples of South Asian, Afro-Caribbean and Mixed Race as tourists, workers and local people. We consider the frequency of portrayals of the different racial groups, together with observations about gender, family and social contexts and interaction with whites. The findings show that the portrayal of non-white people is relatively rare and highly constrained.

Price Dispersion: An Empirical Analysis in the Tour Operating Industry

Price dispersion refers to the existence of a nondegenerated distribution of prices by the sellers of a product or service with similar features. Price dispersion is a clear reality in the tour operating market, although very little attention has been given to an analysis of this kind of dispersion and price oscillations in package holidays. In this article, the existence of inter- and intrafirm price dispersion and its persistence over time are analyzed. For the purpose of the analysis, a dataset of package holiday prices for the Balearic Islands is used from a sample of British and German tour operators. The results show the existence of persistent differences in the mean prices of tour operators and price distributions with different dispersions and shapes for tour operators and markets. Nevertheless these distributions are not static, showing a swift response to market demands. Although the article is presented as an empirical investigation, the results can be interpreted in the context of theoretical literature on price dispersion.

Ian Cumming

In the late 1980s I took a six-month career break and spent the winter managing a hotel in a ski resort in France, and acting as the Head Ski Guide for a British tour operator. Being responsible for managing a team of predominantly 18-year-old staff and running a 60-bed hotel taught me a huge range of people skills that have stood me in extraordinarily good stead throughout my career.

Food and waterborne infections associated with package holidays.

The surveillance and prevention of food and waterborne infections in package holiday tourists relies more on common sense and experience rather than evidence based scientific facts. In spite of the major economic value to both sending and receiving countries it is a problem that is largely ignored by health departments at both local and national levels. Package holiday tourism is a growing industry with over 20 million holidays sold every year in the UK. Destinations are in every continent including countries with poorly developed, as well as those with an advanced, public health infrastructure. The incidence of gastrointestinal infection is not reflected in official surveillance programmes as they largely fail to capture information on travel associated infections. Outbreaks of food and waterborne infections in these resorts are largely not investigated. Major British tour operators have responded by developing a crude but effective continuous surveillance system for subjective travellers' diarrhoea. The importance of food and water hygiene is, however, not ignored and proactive preventative programmes are being developed and implemented in some resort as well as by the tourist industry and international agencies. There is a need for further cooperation and partnership between workers in different countries, different disciplines and between the public and private sectors.

Understanding European tour operators’ control on accommodation companies: an empirical evidence

Accommodation companies offer a product of strategic interest to tour operators insofar as it determines to a great extent the cost of a package vacation, while it also significantly influences the degree of satisfaction of the tourists who purchase such packages. That, together with the increasingly competitive rivalry among European tour operators, suggests how important it is for the tour operators to exercise some control over the accommodation companies with which they deal. This study describes the control that German and British tour operators exercise over the accommodation companies with whom they do business and the characteristics of the two types of companies that influence that control.

UK tour operator strategies: causes and consequences

AbstractThis paper is an investigation of the competitive strategies of British tour operators and their impact on the image and quality of tourist destinations. The strategies considered are the vertical integration of tour operators with travel retailers and airlines, pricing and contracting systems in the resort, and developments in market segmentation. The authors also consider the rationale, development and impact of tour operator branding, a strategy that has accelerated the trend towards standardised holiday products. The study concludes by outlining policies to counteract the negative effects of tour operator strategies and work towards a more fruitful partnership between mass market tour operators and tourist destinations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Managing the balance of power: UK tour operators and destinations

The competitive strategies of international tour operators have had a negative effect on the sustainability of some tourist destinations. British tour operator strategies are analysed as an example to show the effects of vertical integration amongst tour operators, travel retailers and airlines and how this influences pricing and contracting methods in resorts. Also considered are developments in market segmentation and tour operator branding which have accelerated the trend towards standardised holiday products. The consolidation of ownership amongst European tour operators in likely to increase the power of companies vis‐à‐vis destinations. The study concludes by outlining policies to counteract the negative effects of tour operator strategies and suggests ways of developing a more balanced partnership between mass market tour operators and tourist destinations.

Majorque (Baléares) face aux réserves de la monoactivité touristique

Mallorca and the hazards of an exclusive tourism trade specialisation. Since 1960 Mallorca experimented the advantage of such a sharp growth of tourism that it was pictured as a symbol of mass tourism. Anyhow the tourist agents had to react and fit to new objectives when they were confronted with some critical phases and poor results of this overcrowding trend. Nowadays 42 % of the coast line are classified off limits, hotel amenities are improved and the tourism growth is paced down by various regulations so that Mallorca was prized by the British tour operators. The local island society is changing too and its various components, rural and urban, indigenous and immigrants, European an outcomers are still balanced though they share a small place.

The marketing of Spain as a holiday destination

The Marketing of Spain as a Holiday Destination by British Tour Operators. As the competition between overseas tour and package holiday operators grows more intense, the nature of their marketing strategies and presentation assumes greater interest. The purpose of this paper is to examine some aspects of the structure and marketing of holidays to Spain by British tour operators. Each September or October brochures are published by tour operators, containing information on holiday destinations for the summer season of the following year, which usually extends from April to September. A total of 15 such brochures including Spain in their programme for the summer of 1986 were examined. These provided the data on the structure and marketing of package holidays to Spain examined in this paper.