TYPES OF TOUR PACKAGES:
Package holidays, popularly known as a tour package or simply the word ‘tour’ in the travel and tourism industry refers either to a package tour escorted or not escorted by the tourist guide.
When we say tour package, it means a pre-arrangement, prepaid trip that combines two or more travel components like airfare, airport transfer, accommodation, and other services. Practically, to define the tour package concept is complex one rather understand.
Holloway defines a tour package as “a total tourism product consisting of transportation from the market area to the destination, accommodation at the destination and recreational activities promoted by the tourists.”
According to Gregorg “a tour package is advertised journey including specific features, arranged and promoted with tour literature by a tour operator and paid for in full by the tourists before starting the tour.”
Technically, a package tour/tour package is a total tourism product as it generally includes transport from the origin place to the destination, accommodation at an en route place or at the destination and other recreational or travel services. These components are purchased by an individual, firm or company called the ‘tour operator‘. He combines all the travel components in a package and sells them at all-inclusive prices to the clients.
HISTORY OF TOUR PACKAGE
The term ‘tour’ was in vogue as early as 1670. The Britishers traveled to widen their knowledge of the continent, especially to study the culture and social life. This practice was gradually adopted by other lovers of cultural centers.
The result of the process was that many European historic and cultural centers were opened to the British tourist. By the early 1730’s the small fishing resorts around the British coast begin to attract tourists seeking to their diseases by drinking the sea-water or by immersing themselves in it.
The introduction of a rail link between the major centers in 1830, had a profound impact on the pleasure travelers for the first time. Many entrepreneurs began to inspire rail travel by organizing excursions for the public at discounted offers.
However, to ‘the origin of package tour’ the credit goes to Mr. Thomas Cook in 1855, Cook, extended his business operation to different countries by introducing the first ‘inclusive tour‘ to Paris.
Mr. Cook put together all the components of tourism products and sold them as ‘inclusive tour’ to the tourists. His pre-packaged tour inspired other tour organizations in the travel industry to organize similar tours to all parts of the globe.
Most of Cook’s tours were a linear tour i.e., the person went from place to place on a single destination. Basically, Mr. Cook developed the concept of ‘grand tour and escorted tour’, the concept which is still used.
Incidentally, World War II has tremendously developed the package tour concept because of the following reasons:
- Social and Economic Conditions
- Lower Cost
- Increase in Aircrafts
- Marketing Conditions
- Legal Requirements
- Integration took place.
Today, package tours are a vital segment of the world’s travel and tourism industry. According to WTTC, the package tour sales generate $25 billion annually in the United States, $18 billion in Europe, $19 billion in Britain, and $21 billion in Asia. Today tour sales represented 50 percent of all leisure travel sales and 35 percent of all travel agency revenues.
INDEPENDENT TOUR
Independent tours are prepared/formulated for those tourists who want to travel independently. The components of such tours are air travel, air transfer, accommodation, travel documents, sightseeing, boat riding, entertainment, and other travel services.
However, in some cases, the tourists are free to purchase every single component separately. Thus, this type of tour provides the tourists considerable freedom to plan the activities according to their own choice.
An independent tour may or may not be an all-inclusive tour. Therefore, tour price varies depending on the type of air travel, air transfer, accommodation and is inclusive of other tour components. The foreign independent travel (FITs) and domestic independent travel (DITs) are examples of an independent tour.
ESCORTED TOUR
When a travel agency includes the services of a well educated and trained tour manager in its package, the tour is called an escorted tour. Basically, escorted tours are meant for those travelers who are planning to visit a foreign country first time.
The escort’s responsibilities and duties are to provide comprehensive information and assistance to the group or individual traveler, at the origin, en route and the destination place. The excursion tours are the example of escorted tours.
HOSTED TOURS
A hosted tour means when an agency utilizes the services of another agency at a particular destination. Suppose a group of French tourists is coming to India. When the group arrives in India, they are greeted at the airports by TCI, which assists them in clearing their baggage and transfer them to the hotel.
Their tour-host (TCI) is available to offer device and information about the local attractions and entertainment. Further, when the group arrives at another designation in India, a different travel agency greets them at each tourist spot. Thus, a hosted tour provides the tourists maximum level of pre-arranged and personalized services.
INCENTIVES TRAVEL/TOUR
It is a motivational programme or a fully paid holiday which is given to the employees by the enterprises as a reward. Mostly in medium and large-scale companies and usually too distant destinations to spur them in maintaining their track record, to increase output, improve the image and moreover to earn the long period loyalty of the employees.
There are a number of the other packages offered by a tour company such as a custom tour an excursion tour, an adventure, and special interest package tours.
FREEDOM TOURS
Freedom tours are becoming very popular these days among the working class. These tours are designed as per the choice of tourists. The tourist is free to choose and plan how they want to travel and enjoy their holidays. These types of tours are meant for that kind of people who like to decide how, when, and where to travel.
This tourist may an individual, family, group holidays for families and group travel for business. These tours are promoted and developed by the ORBIT.
COMPONENTS OF PACKAGE TOUR
Generally, the elements or components of a tour package are based on the tourist’s likings or vary from company to company, market to market and destination to destination. Generally, a tour package may include a wide variety of components, and vary according to a key element or theme such components may categories as:
Travel
This may include transportation origin point to destination point and vice versa In fact, Transportation to or within the destination area (flights, vehicle or bicycle rental; van, boat or bus transport).
Ground Services
Accommodations en route or at the destination (hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, cottage, campground).
Meals at or en route to the destination (bed and breakfast plan, all meals included, meal vouchers at a variety of restaurants).
Activities or entertainment, which may be the main reason for the package or be secondary to the tour (adventure, recreational or educational activities; workshops or conventions; visits to museums or galleries; evening slide presentations; sightseeing).
Mementoes or souvenirs (T-shirts, photos of the client participating in an activity, gifts of local arts or crafts).
Related services (interpreters, translators, guides, instructors, equipment rental or sale, equipment service, welcome reception, baggage handling).
Extra and/or creative elements (photo service and film delivery, self-help coffee, discount coupons from local gift stores).