Form of travel agency products

According to the products and contents of travel agencies, the forms of travel agency products can be divided into package tours, package tours and individual services.

1. package tour. Package tour is a combination of individual elements (accommodation, transportation, catering, scenic spots, etc.). ), plus services and added value (consulting services, tour guide services, logistics support, formalities, insurance purchase, etc.). ) provided by the travel agency itself, and given its brand, forming the overall travel agency products. Package tour means that tourists pay all or part of the travel expenses to the travel agency in advance and sign a travel contract before the start of tourism activities. Travel agencies arrange activities such as eating, living, traveling, shopping and entertainment according to the planned itinerary. Package tour can be subdivided into group package tour, half package tour, small package tour and zero package tour.

(1) Group package tour is also called all-inclusive tour. Including two meanings: first, groups, that is, tourists who participate in tourism generally form a tour group with more than 10 people; The second is the package price, that is, the tourists who participate in the tour group take the form of one-time prepaid travel expenses and entrust all the related travel services to a travel agency. The service items of group package tour usually include hotel room, three meals and drinks a day, fixed city tour bus, translation and tour guide service, reception service in transportation distribution center, 20 kg luggage service per person, tickets for scenic spots and entertainment activities, and full escort service.

For travel agencies, the booking period of group package tour is long and easy to operate. Batch operation can improve work efficiency and reduce costs, and at the same time, batch purchase can get higher discounts. For tourists, participating in group package tours can get more favorable prices, predict travel expenses, and get all travel arrangements and full escort services at one time, which is simple and safe. These are the advantages of group tours. However, due to the identity of the package tour arrangement, that is, taking the same flight, the same tourist bus, staying in the same hotel, * * going to the same restaurant, visiting the same scenic spot and watching the same program, the accuracy of the time means that tourists have to give up their individuality and adapt to the * * * nature of the group.

(2) Half-package tour. Semi-package tour is a product relative to all-package tour. It refers to a package tour that deducts lunch and dinner expenses on the basis of a package tour. Its purpose is to reduce the intuitive price of travel agency products, improve the competitiveness of products, and better meet the different requirements of tourists in dining.

(3) package tour. Small package tours, also known as optional tours, are generally below 10 people. It consists of non-selective part and selective part. The non-optional part includes transportation, accommodation and breakfast, and the travel expenses are paid in advance by tourists; Optional parts include tour guide, sightseeing, program viewing and flavor meals. Visitors can choose freely according to their own interests, economic situation and time schedule, and the fees are paid. Small package tour has the advantages of economy, clearly marked price, simple procedures, flexibility, peace of mind and reliability.

(4) package tour. Package tour is more common in developed countries. Visitors who take part in this kind of tour must go to and leave the tourist destination with the group, but the activities in the tourist destination are completely free, just like individual travelers. Therefore, package tour is also called "group entry and exit, scattered tour". Tourists who take part in the zero package tour can get the preferential price of group air tickets and the convenience of travel agencies to apply for tourist visas in a unified way.

2. Combined tourism forms. Combination tour is a flexible travel agency product. Also known as "decentralized visits, group tours." It came into being in 1980s, and it is popular in areas where hotels, transportation and tourist service facilities are relatively developed and tourist attractions are relatively concentrated. Its main form is tourist routes. The operator of this product is the destination travel agency. According to the investigation and analysis of the demand of the tourist market, they designed some fixed tourist routes. Through the promotion, publicity and sales of tourist source travel agencies, tourists can arrive at their destinations on time, and then the destination travel agencies will gather them into groups to realize tourism activities. The characteristics of combined tourism are as follows: first, the number of combined tourists is unlimited, which changes the past practice that less than 10 people do not form a group; Second, the group time is short, and tourists can go as long as the traffic permits; Third, there is no need to accompany and follow, saving costs; Fourth, joining tour groups is selective and flexible. After the end of the tourism activities, the tourism groups are dissolved locally, and tourists can freely arrange or return to their places of residence.

The reason why combined tourism is flexible is that destination travel agencies gather tourists scattered around the world to form tour groups, which avoids the disadvantages that some travel agencies in tourist source areas cannot organize groups alone because of the small number of tourists. In addition, the short tour time with the group is beneficial for travel agencies to attract a large number of tourists in a short time.

For destination travel agencies, the larger the number of tour groups, the lower the marginal cost and the greater the profit. Therefore, travel agencies should try their best to expand the publicity network and establish extensive external sales to ensure enough customers. Moreover, travel agencies must also do a good job in service procurement, establish an efficient and low-cost procurement network, and ensure the full supply of tourism service products.

3. Single service form. Personalized tourism products are various paid services with personalized colors provided by travel agencies according to the specific needs of tourists. The diversity of tourists' needs determines the possibility and universality of personalized service of travel agencies. Traditional individual services mainly include tour guide service, pick-up service in transportation distribution center, hotel reservation and transportation ticketing service, visa agency, travel insurance purchase and so on.

The personalized services provided by travel agencies are very extensive. In addition to the general scattered tourists, some business guests are also using this service in large quantities. Of course, the special requirements of individual tourists in package tours should also be regarded as individual services. Individual service is also called agency service in the tourism industry, and tourists can entrust it to travel agencies in different ways, such as local entrustment, joint entrustment and international entrustment.

Among the traditional single service projects, the single service content of modern travel agencies is more abundant. For example, the popular form of homestay in Japan and some western European countries is that students go to other countries to eat, live and study together during holidays and experience a kind of life. Parents usually entrust travel agencies to make arrangements. There may be only one family or several families participating in this activity. In addition, the popular study tour now only needs the travel agency to arrange some projects, and the rest are carried out by tourists themselves. More personalized, humanized and international individual travel service has become a highlight of travel agency management and has been paid attention to. To this end, many travel agencies have also set up personal departments or comprehensive business departments to handle personal services.