Essay On Management Techniques' Implication On Tourism Productivity: Thomas Cook Case Study.

a) Produce a detailed analysis of the policies to achieve stated corporate objectives of one or more companies, and an examination of the problem of resource acquisition and deployment relevant to those policies.

b) Provide a relevant literature review on the problems investigated and relate current management theory to practical recommendations.

Demonstrate a lucid and logical discourse containing objectives of the project, methodology, relevant literature review, recommendations for action, appropriate references and bibliography.

Clearly defined objectives/research questions relevant to aim. Clear focus on aims / objectives maintained throughout. If appropriate, hypotheses defined and explained.

Thorough review of appropriate secondary sources; relationship between the literature and the project explored (i.e. justification is linked to literature)  

Explanation and justification of an appropriate methodology – approach and data collection techniques appropriate to aims and research questions.  

Explanation and justification of an appropriate methodology – approach and data collection techniques appropriate to aims and research questions.  

Appropriate analysis of data in the light of the research objectives and questions. Clear and analytical presentation of findings.

1.Analyse one or more strategic problems in a modern business organisation and produce a comprehensive report detailing the objectives, methodologies, findings, analysis, and conclusions of the research carried out above.

2.Analyse the extent to which you have developed your knowledge, throughout the course and how the course and this project has helped your employability.  This should be summarised as a personal statement of no more than 500 words and placed in an appendix to the main document.

Define objectives/research questions relevant to aim. Maintain focus on aims/objectives throughout. Define and explain hypotheses.

Conduct thorough review of appropriate secondary sources.  Critically explore relationship between the literature and the project.

Explain and justify an appropriate methodology – approach and data collection techniques appropriate to aims and research questions.

Analysis of data in the light of the research objectives and questions. Analytical presentation of findings.

Discuss results highlighting significant findings and comparing theory & practice

Formulate conclusions and recommendations based on interpretation of both the research conducted and the existing literature.

Critically evaluate work. Identify and discuss areas for further research.

Present work to an acceptable standard that is logical and adds value to the document.

The efficient approach and high level of productivity of the organisation in the tourism sector are important for the long term sustainable approach of the business. The measurement of productivity is related to the use of resource in the sector and the organisations. One of the important resources is the invested capital, human capital and use of technology. Low levels of productivity are sometime linked with profitability and competitiveness of the industry. The level of profitability and the competitiveness of the tourism industry are good.  But there is a perception of low productivity and efficiency of the tourism industry (Blake et al., 2006). It seems that a better approach to increase the productivity and efficiency which is visible would increase the profitability of the sector much higher.

The increment of the productivity and efficiency would be dependent on the tourism sector management technique of the resources. There are some model of tourism sector competitiveness which would be used to evaluate as the increase in competiveness is a result of productivity and efficiency increment. The current research would study the above factor based on the experience of an organisation. In this study the organisation Thomas cook is taken for the evaluation.

In this study the organisation Thomas cook is taken because of their efficient management technique in the tourism sector which lead to greater productivity and efficiency in the organisation. By evaluating the factors through the analysis of the Thomas cook would give the research valuable insights in the understanding of the productivity and efficiency of the tourism sector organisation. The organisation Thomas cooks started their journey in the year 1841 (Thomascookgroup, 2017). The organisation from the very beginning took the approach of innovation in the tourism management. The organisation mainly follows the values like the personalised services, trust factor of the better service delivery and innovative approach to the business. Till date the organisation is able to serve more than 19m people through their business. One of the main aims of the organisation is to become the trusted global travel pioneer through delivering the inspirational personal journey. According to the annual report of the organisation the sales revenue of the organisation touched £7.8bn in the year 2015 (Thomascookgroup, 2017). The organisation works in 15 markets with total 21813 employee strength. As per the figure of the revenue the organisation stands at the very top of the chart.

Tourism is one of the important sectors for the UK economy. The country is looking for £257bn revenue in this sector by the year 2025 (VisitBritain, 2017). The contribution of the sector to the economy of UK currently is under the market of 10%. The employment strength of the sector is around 3.8m which contributes around 11% to the total employment of the country (VisitBritain, 2017). In that context the sector and its growth is important for the UK. The productivity and the level of efficiency of the sector would ensure the profitability and the competiveness. These two factors would be useful for the sustainability of the sector in the future. The current image is that the industry is low on productivity and efficiency level. Still the profitability and competitive factor do not show such sentiment on the ground (Blake et al., 2006). That means there is a scope of substantial improvement in the productivity and the efficiency and that may lead to greater growth of the sector. The current research in that context would try to understand and indentify the management technique’s implementation for the greater productivity and efficiency level of the organisations of the industry. The organisation Thomas cook has long history of efficient service delivery with top ranked productivity in the sector. So an investigation of the subject through the organisational perspective of Thomas cook would provide lot of insight for the sector as well as for the Thomas cook.

Research Rational

The main aim of the research is to understand the implication of the different management technique in the tourism sector for the increment of the efficiency and productivity of the sector specific organisation that is Thomas cook. The following objective of the research would be useful for the development of the understanding in this regard.

• To understand the different challenges for the organisation in the tourism sector in the increment of efficiency and productivity
• To investigate the different techniques of tourism management and its implication in the increment of efficiency and productivity of the organisation.
• To understand the different models of tourism competiveness and its implication in the increment of efficiency and productivity of the organisation.
• To provide recommendations related to productivity and efficiency increment of the Thomas cook.

• What are the challenges for the organisation in the tourism sector in the increment of efficiency and productivity?
• What are the techniques of tourism management and its implication in the increment of efficiency and productivity of the organisation?
• What are the different models of tourism competiveness and its implication in the increment of efficiency and productivity of the organisation?
• What are the major recommendations related to productivity and efficiency increment for Thomas cook?

In this chapter, the researcher is going to understand and explain the diverse aspects of the research topic. The researcher is going to provide a detailed description of the available literature on the research topic which they have gathered from diverse sources. This will enable the readers to understand the role played by tourism management techniques to improve the business productivity of an organisation.

Productivity of an organisation is considered to be the cornerstone for determining its performance and success in the market. According to a report published by the London School of Economics, there is a huge gap in productivity between the UK and the other developed economies of the globe. The working output per hour in UK is 13% lower as compared to Germany and 18% lower as compared to the US. In the tourism and hospitality sector, this productivity gap is more predominant (Capone & Boix, 2008). According to the study conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute in 1998, the productivity of the labour productivity in the UK hotel sector is 53% of the US and 60% of France. There are various reasons which have been attributed to the decline in business productivity and these include the following:

1) The average age of UK’s hotel is one important factor which determines their business productivity. More than 75% of the hotels in the UK are more than 40 years old and they do not have the necessary high level of infrastructure and facilities which can effectively cater to the needs and demands of the modern day customers in the market.

2) Majority of the reputed hotels in UK have a low chain penetration in the market and this is largely due to the fact that there are a higher percentage of hotels which are independently owned and run (Gomezelj & Mihali?, 2008).

3) The average size of the hotels in UK is usually small as compared to those in the US and France.

4) Failure to incorporate the best management practices within their hotels is another important reason for the declined business productivity among the hotels.

Aims and Objectives

Dickens, (1999) has conducted an analysis of the UK Hotel Labour Cost Trends from the years 1980 to 1997 and he has found that the labour cost percentage has decreased from 35% to 27% in that time span. This is mainly due to the fact that the wages in the tourism and hospitality industry remained stagnant while the prices of products and services arose in the market. The availability of cheap labour in the tourism industry has been one of the main factors responsible for holding down the wages of the workers in this industry (Botti et al., 2009).

Inspite of all this data and statistics which are available to us, there is still a lot of ambiguity and confusion regarding the productivity in the tourism industry. According to Buhalis & Law, (2008) there are various challenges which are faced by the researchers and which is preventing them to arrive at a conclusive findings regarding the diverse aspects of productivity in the UK tourism markets. There are various aspects regarding which accurate information and data is not available before the researchers. These include questions like how the cost of labour can vary over time and how this is influenced? What are the different approaches to productivity which could bear tangible benefits for the tourism organisations?  What implications these approaches are going to have on the overall business performance? Researchers are certain about one thing that holding down the wages of the staffs in not a long term and feasible solution to address the productivity issues. Tourism organisations must identify alternative sources of generating productivity gains (Chaido, 2009).

Presently, organisations have been able to make major progress in addressing their productivity problems. The modern day business establishments have been able to streamline their work processes and this has resulted in better coordination and teamwork among their employees and this has enabled the employees to improve their daily performance at the workplace. By redesigning their business functionalities and work process, business establishments have been able to enhance their organisational productivity and this has enabled them to develop a competitive advantage in the market (Claver-Cortés et al., 2007).

There are different techniques of tourism management which can be utilised by the travel and tourism management for enhancing their organisational productivity. The travel and tourism operators must identify the main places or locations which are witnessing a high inflow of tourists. They need to demarcate those areas as a protected which are witnessing a constant surge of tourists throughout the year (Hjalager, 2010). This will enable them to control the number of tourists that are visiting those areas. These protected areas should be provided with a maximum tourist limit so that there is less pressure of tourists on these areas. Moreover, they must limit the period of stay for the tourists at these locations so that everybody has an equal chance of coming to the location and enjoying the experience.  The tourists must be encouraged to use to use other areas apart from the protected areas. If still the tourists are refusing to budge, then the tourism authorities can impose a one-time flat visitor fee which will enable them to generate revenues from the tourist location that could be better utilised in undertaking maintenance work at the protected areas.

Research Question

The tourists should be informed about the problem areas and they should be advised against visiting these areas. Alternate areas need to be identified and access to the problem areas should be made harder for the tourists (Varra et al., 2014). The local authorities need to reduce the facilities for tourists in the problem areas and provide better facilities for the tourists in alternative areas. This would play a vital role in discouraging the people from going to problem/restricted areas.

Modifying the timing and use of tourist attractions is another effective way of managing the flow of tourist in an area. The tourists should be encouraged to visit the locations outside of the peak seasons when there is less pressure of tourists. The tourism authorities should impose a one-time fee for visiting those tourist locations which attract a high footfall from tourists throughout the year (Gomezelj & Mihali?, 2008).  

There are various drivers of productivity in tourism and they include the physical capital, human capital, Innovation and technological progress and business competition in the market. Organisations need to allocate their physical and financial resources in an effective manner in order to capitalise on the tourism demand among the customers.

The physical capital plays a very important role in helping the travel and tourism establishments to improve their physical infrastructure so that they can provide better quality of service to their clients. This will enable the tourism organisations to provide customised services to their end users which will effective satisfy their needs and preferences (Balan et al., 2009). Spending the physical capital in an intelligent manner would result in improved customer satisfaction and this will enable the travel and tourism establishments to sustain their business operations by attracting more customers from the market.

Human capital is another important aspect which the travel and tourism providers need to focus on. The travel and tourism providers must impart a high quality of training to their employees so that they will be able to enhance and improve their skills by developing the necessary competencies which are essential as a part of their job. This will make their employees more proficient in understanding the needs and preferences of their customers (Barros & Matias, 2006). They will enable them to foster customer satisfaction among their clients by providing them with an improved and better quality of service.

Innovation and technological progress is another factor which needs to be provided with more emphasis. The travel and tourism establishments must incorporate all the latest technologies in their business which will enable them to streamline their business processes resulting in improved business functioning and productivity. This will enable the business establishment to tackle the market completion with their business rivals in an effective manner.

Challenges Faced by Organisations in the Tourism Sector

The amount of business competition in the market is another factor which will determine the business performance and productivity of the travel and tourism establishments (Botti et al., 2009). Greater the competition in the market, more challenging will be task for travel and tourism establishments to maintain the same levels of business productivity.

Understanding the different model of tourism competiveness and its implication in the increment of efficiency and productivity of the organisation

The definition of tourism competitiveness mainly involves increasing the tourism expenditure and attracting more tourists to a particular area or location. This can be ensured by providing the tourists with a memorable experience during their period of stay so that it will create a lasting impression on their minds and compel them to come back again to relive the same pleasant experience which they had previously. There are different models of tourism competitiveness which could be utilised by the travel and tourism establishments for enhancing their productivity and these include the POON approach and the WES model (Buhalis & Law, 2008).

POON Approach – This approach focuses on incorporating major changes in the business processes and functioning which will enable the travel and tourism establishments to create competitive advantage by utilising more innovative and improved business strategies. In this approach focus and emphasis is given on innovation and creativity which results in the creation of new products and services. The creation of new products and services can offer the travel and tourism companies with a major head start in their industry sector which is far greater than those achieved by the cost leadership, differentiation or focused strategy. The travel and tourism companies need to focus on the needs and expectations of their customers in the market (Victoria Reyes, 2010). They must put consumers first and provide utmost importance to their quality of service that is being provided to their end users. The travel operators should be honest with their customers and provide the same facilities and services which have been promised. They must ensure customer satisfaction by providing the services which are desired by their clients. Business enterprises must try to incorporate radical innovation within their day-to-day business functionalities and this will go a long way in enabling them to provide new and unique products and services to their clients (Claver-Cortés et al., 2007). This will enable them to position their brand in an effective manner and enable them to increase the customer demand for their product and service offerings.  

Methodology

WES Approach – This approach considers that the competitive position of a tourist destination depends on a host of factors such as Macro economic factors, Supply factors, Transport factors, demand factors and tourism policy of that destination.

The macro economic factors include the currency exchange rate, the fiscal policies implemented by the government and the cost of capital. This will invariably determine the customer demand for the tourism destinations in the market (Barros et al., 2009).

The supply factors include the availability of cheap labour, the local tourism infrastructure in the region and the tangible tourism products which are being offered to the tourists. All these factors play a major role in ensuring customer satisfaction for the tourists. 

The transport factors include the overall connectivity to a place. It includes the local transport and the on demand chartered services which can be accessed by the tourists while coming to visit a place. The transportation facilities available in a place play a very important role in influencing the buying decisions of the customers while they are identifying a suitable tourism destination to visit (Cracolici et al., 2007).

The demand factors include the interdependence in the markets, the amount of penetration achieved by the distribution channels in the market, the marketing and advertising efforts undertaken by the travel operators. The demand factors invariably determine the amount of competitors in the market and how much profits and revenues they are generating form their business (Mason, 2015).

The tourism policies include the planning capacity, budgetary support and tourism policy formulations which enables a country to attract more tourist (both domestic as well as international) inflows resulting in the generation of the much needed foreign exchange.

The current research is based on the tourism sector. The focus area of the research is the implication of the tourism management techniques in the efficiency and productivity increment of the organisation Thomas cook. The productivity and the level of efficiency in any sector influence the profitability and the competitiveness of the sector. The general perception of the sector is of less productive and efficient sector. But the figure shows that the profitability and the competiveness of the sector are good. So there is some scope of improvement in the two factors which would lead to greater profitability and competiveness. Understanding this situation the research is designed. The methodology of the research would in detail describe the techniques that are used for the successful completion of the research (Blessing and Chakrabarti, 2009). The form of data collection, technique of sampling, approach taken to analysis the data and the ethical concerns of the research are described to show the credibility of the research findings and the recommendation.

Data Collection and Analysis

The approach of the research deals with the knowledge and skill required for the proper addressing of the research objectives and the aim. The research made the selection of the approach between the two approach of research that is deductive and inductive. The deductive approach is the top down approach (Blessing and Chakrabarti, 2009). Here the general theory or the model would be used at the beginning of the research in the review of the literature. In this research the data would be fresh and that would be analysed to reach a specific observation. The comparison of the observations would be made with the theories and models to develop the recommendation (Kuhn, 2008). This slow deduction of the large data and observation to specific findings would be useful for the deductive approach selection. On the other hand the inductive approach would primarily make large observation to identify the pattern. After that the generalisation process is used to arrive at the hypothesis and the theory. This approach is not suitable for the current research.

The research questions are designed specifically to develop the understanding related to productivity and efficiency improvement of the tourism organisation through the use of the proper management technique. In that case the proper strategy of the research would help in addressing the aims and objective of the research in proper manner. The first strategy that is used in the research is the case of Thomas cook to investigate the management techniques that are fruitful in the productivity and efficiency improvement in the organisation (Gomm, 2008). The survey and the interview method would be used in the collection of the primary data. For the secondary data the literature review method would be used. This would also help in the development of the background information. To increase the credibility of the research the proper ethical approach would be followed strictly.

The main focus of the research is to understand and identify the technique of management of the tourism sector that helps in the improvement of the productivity and the efficiency of the organisation. There is different philosophy that would help the research to reach to its correct conclusion. One of such philosophy is the positivism. This philosophy takes the approach of scientific technique where the factual information gets the priority (Kuhn, 2008). The data are the facts that are analysed through objective approach. This is useful for low level of biasness in the research. The statistical methods are used here on the quantifiable information.

Findings and Discussion

The realism philosophy considers the ontological independence of the reality in relation to the perception, conception or the belief system. The scientific approach is useful in this philosophy for the investigation. The interpretivism philosophy on the other hand takes multiple relative approach based interpretation in the investigation (Gomm, 2008). In the current research the deterministic and mechanistic approach of the positivism is useful for the explanation and the prediction.

The design of the research is useful to conduct it efficiently. A better design is useful for the right sample size selection, proper level of data collection to arrive at the right conclusion. The designed case of Thomas cook is useful for the development of the understanding related to the use of management technique for the increment of productivity and efficiency. The research is trying to understand the factors of productivity and efficiency improvement. In that case the proper recommendation from the findings of the research would be useful for the other organisation in the sector (Brink et al., 2006). The design of the research is targeted towards the solution and recommendation development rather than the theory testing. The survey process would be used in the research. The personal interview and the questionnaire both would be used for the survey data collection.

In the research would follow both the primary and the secondary for of data collection. In the research for the background information generation related to the management technique, productivity and the efficiency of the tourism sector would be developed through the secondary source of data collection. That is through the use of books, relevant articles, newspaper or the Government information. On the other hand there is requirement of the fresh information to understand the implication of the effective management techniques on the productivity and efficacy of the sector (Taylor et al., 2015). There the research would use the survey process for the primary data collection process. In the fresh data collection the interview process would be used for the qualitative data collection. Here some structured and semi structured questionnaire would be formed for the interview process. On the other hand the questionnaire that would be used for the survey process of the customers would generate some quantitative information. The qualitative information would be useful for the general understanding development. On the other hand the quantitative information would help the research to test those understanding and develop further specific findings and conclusion. In the research one of the objectives is to understand the challenges regarding the productivity and the efficiency. Understanding of the challenges would have the use of secondary data and the information generated from the interview. Whereas the different technique‘s implication would be understood from the quantitative data. Understand of the different models of competitiveness would have the holistic approach of all the form of information (Brink et al., 2006). All these approaches would be combined to develop the particular recommendation to the organisation Thomas cook.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The data analysis method would be important for the primary form of collected data. The qualitative data would be analysed to identify the pattern and the inter relation of the pattern. Then the pattern would be used for developing general understanding about the research objective. On the other hand the quantitative analysis of data would use the statistical method of analysis (Taylor et al., 2015). The quantitative data are raw in nature and one needs some critical and rational approach to convert them in meaningful information. In that context the statistical tools are useful for the conversation of raw data into meaningful one.

In the current research the main focused would be on the implication analysis of the better management technique in the tourism for the improvement of the productivity and efficiency. There the research would have the qualitative and quantitative data. Now these two type of data collection would have different type of sampling process. In the qualitative data collection the interview would be conducted among the managers of the Thomas cook. In this type of data collection the non-probabilistic approach of data collection would be used. In this process the research would select the managers specifically (Mackenzie and Knipe, 2006). But any type of sampling requires proportional participation to make the data justified. The managers of the Thomas cook are very busy. That is why the convenience sampling would be used where the selection of the managers would be based on the maneger’s convenience. On the other hand the quantitative data would use the survey through the questionnaire. Here the selection of the customer for the survey process would be done through the probabilistic method of sampling. Here the selection is done through the random procedure but the total size of the sample must have the proportional participation basis.  

Size of sample would be important for the current research to develop an appropriate conclusion (Mackenzie and Knipe, 2006). In the current research the target was to interview 4 different managers of the organization Thomas cook. But unfortunately because of the busy schedule of the managers the research is only able to manage to interview 2 managers. On the other hand the sample size of the customers was decided to be around 60. But later because of the availability of time the research survey only 50 customers.  But in both the cases the research tried to follow the proportional participation process.

Personal Statement

The current research would be conducted by following the ethics of it strictly. The interview of the managers was done as per the convenience of the managers and a prior permission from the organization was taken for that. Then at the time of interview the research again took individual consent from the managers (Israel and Hay, 2006). In the case of the customer the research took individual consent and also clearly mentioned the information gathering, storing and use policy of the research. The collected information is personnel in nature. To make the participant comfortable in sharing the information the policy of anonymity was clearly mentioned where the research makes it certain that in no manner the research would disclose any participants’ identity in the research report or to any external authority. The confidentiality of the information was also of top priority (Israel and Hay, 2006). Without prior permission the research would not share any information to the third party. The stored information would be kept secure and in safe place.

Reliability and the validity is one of the important factors that the research is maintaining. The rigour process would maintain highly to make the research trustworthy to the reader. The data collection method and the analysis would be totally transparent. The research would look for any biasness in the interpretation and will eliminate as soon as possible. The scientific statistical process application would make the researcher independent from the research and limit the biasness (Roberts et al., 2006). The interpretation of the qualitative data would be strictly monitored by other research that would not part of the qualitative data interpretation. This approach would be very useful for the biasness reduction.

The main limitation of the research is the time factor of the research. Time Constrains, limited the number of participant in the survey process. The time availability of the managers also was major limitation and that reduces the number of interview. The research is able to generate the recommendations for the better management technique but was unable to predict the industry trend in this regard (Atieno, 2009). The research is done by focusing the case of Thomas cook and then generalised the findings. So the accuracy of results would have the limited perspective. In future a broader research needs to be conducted.

Criteria	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6
Introduction
Objective and aims development time.
Time give to secondary data collection
Reviewing the literature
Research specific methodology development.
Data collection time for the primary data
Developing the finding for through the primary data
Conclusion and the recommendation making time

Research analysis is one of the vital parts of the research and it helps us to get an overall understanding of the research topic. Research analysis is also required to assist researcher in order to reach to a conclusion. There are different approaches available to analyse research data and these are the qualitative method and the quantitative method. In the present research the researcher has resorted to both these research methods. To accomplish the quantitative and qualitative analysis the researcher has collected both the primary data as well as secondary data. The researcher has taken the help of the questionnaire method to do the quantitative analysis and the interview method in case of qualitative analysis. In the questionnaire method few questions have been set by the researcher to get the opinion of few people who have little knowledge regarding the tourism industry. In case of the quantitative analysis a sample of 50 people has been chosen to take their responses with the assistance of questionnaire method. These people have been chosen randomly during the market survey. On the other hand in the qualitative method the interviews of managers of the Thomas Cook have been taken and these data have been analysed below:

1. You belong to which age group?

Less than 20	Between 20 to 39	between 40 to 60	60 above
3	20	22	5

From the above question the researcher wants to identify the age group who which mostly avail the service of the tourism company, Thomas Cook. In the questionnaire the age group was divided in to four age groups. From the responses of different people within the sample it is evident that the people of the middle age group are highest in the chosen sample. The middle age also has been divided in to the age group 20-39 and 40- 60. Maximum numbers of respondents belong to the age group 40-60. This signifies the fact that the chances of getting correct information from the respondents is high since most of the people of the middle age group avail services provided by the travel and tourism agent. The correct information will help the travel agent to reach. Since the most of the respondents are form the middle age group, it can be expected that the result of the research would be reliable.

2. What is your gender group?

Male	Female
30	20

The gender is also important from the point of view of the researcher. The responses of the male respondents differ from the female respondents, since the requirement of service of a male customer is different from a female customer. The choice and preferences are also not same for a male and a female customer. This is the main reason behind including the question in the questionnaire. It is clear from the responses of respondents that the numbers of male respondents are 30 and the numbers of female candidates are 20. This will help the researcher to analyse the result accordingly.   

3. How many times you have selected Thomas Cook as your travel agent?

Less than 5 times	between 5 to 10	more than 10 times
10	25	15

To get accurate result from the research it is important to have a proper idea related to the number of times a customer availed the service from the tourism company. The experience of a customer increases with the increase in the number of times the customer availed the service of the company. the number of services availed by customers have been divided in to three groups and these are less than 5 times, between 5 to 10 times and more than 10 times. The maximum numbers of respondents belong to the group 5-10. This is a significant number. If a customer avail the service of a travel and tourism agent more than 5 times, he or she must have gathered enough knowledge regarding different services provided by the company. People who have availed the services provided by the company more numbers of times will be able to give proper responses regarding the services of the tourism company, Thomas Cook.   

4. What was your experience?   

Poor	Average	Good	best
2	10	23	15

People who have selected Thomas Cook as a travel agent must have some experiences during the whole tour. This is very important for the researcher to get to proceed in the research. The experience varies from one person to another. If the experience of a tourism company is good, there must be some factors behind this. These may be the customer service of the company, the food and hotel services at the different places or the efficiency of service providers. These have to be analysed in subsequent questions. In the present question the experiences of customers have been divided in to four groups and these are poor, average, good and best. The experience of customers helps the organisation to get proper idea regarding the performance of the company and at the same time its ability to satisfy customers with their services. This will also help customers in future to take correct decision regarding selection of Tourism Company.   

5. Which mode of ticket booking do you avail and why?

Online	counter booking	travel agent	others
35	8	5	2

Another question asked to the travel agent is regarding the mode of ticket booking. If more numbers of people are availing the online booking mode to take the service of this particular travel and Tourism Company, it will reflect the interest of the company in enhancing the technology attached to the booking. If more customers are availing online mode of ticket booking, it will indicate the incorporation of more secured technology in the system. People must have large faith over the system. Since the popularity of the online mode of ticket booking is rapidly increasing due to the attached facilities with the system, inclusion of the system by the company will act as a marketing strategy for the company. Since the online system facilitates the ticket booking and other gathering other information regarding the company, it will help the customers to compare the services of the company with other companies. In the above question three options were presented to customers. Most of the people are availing the online mode of servicing. This implies that people have more faith over this mode of system. The company has given more importance on making the system secured and this also acts a mode of marketing strategy to attract more numbers of customers and at the same time to increase the market base.       

6. Did you get satisfaction from the customer service provided by Thomas Cook?

Yes	No	Neutral
40	8	2

In this question the researcher wants to make it clear that whether the provision of service by Thomas Cook has been able to make customers satisfied or not. Since the company has incorporated different management techniques within the system to increase the competitiveness in the market, this should make the system more attractive for new customers. The incorporation of these facilities and management techniques would make the business successful only if it would be able to provide satisfaction to customers. The main focus of the research is to identify the role of the new tourism management techniques in improving the productivity and efficiency of the company. The improvement of the productivity and the efficiency will be reflected in the increasing numbers of customers. From the responses of customers it is evident that 40 people out of 50 are satisfied with the customer service provided by the company and this is an indication of the success of the company in including different management techniques in the system.

7. Which techniques do you think the organisation should incorporate within the system?

training and development	high technology	rigorous market survey	CRM
20	12	12	6

There are different management techniques which can increase the efficiency and productivity of the company. The researcher has set the question to get proper response from customers regarding the suitable technology that the organisation should adopt in the future. The response of customers matters a lot to the organisation. If customers feel the need to enhance the productivity and efficiency of an organisation, incorporation of those techniques will provide success to the company in the long run. Maximum numbers of customers believe that the organisation has to provide more importance on the training and development of their employees. The increase in the efficiency of employees will help in improving the productivity and also in enhancing the efficiency of the company. According to customers technologies also have to be improved by the company to provide more facilities to customers. This will make the whole process smooth to the customer as well as customers. The customer relationship management has also to be emphasised by the company to improve the customer satisfaction.

In case of the qualitative analysis the company has taken the help of the interview method. Questions were asked to managers of the tourism company to identify their point of view regarding the performance of the company and future planning. This will facilitate the researcher to conduct the research in successfully. In the present research questions were asked to two managers who were available to respond. These have been discussed below:

1. Do you think that the Tourism management techniques have any significant on the productivity of Thomas Cook?

According to both the managers of the Thomas Cook the importance of the management techniques are huge for the future growth of the company and also increasing it efficiency. Though the company has already incorporated large numbers of management techniques, it has to be strengthened and also more numbers of techniques have to be added. According to the company managers the company has already provided importance on the identification of proper locations which will help in increasing the customer base of the company. This requires more rigorous market survey. This has also been emphasised by customers. It is important to identify the needs and requirements of customers. The company has also emphasised on the selection of the protected places and making people aware of these places. This will also improve the safety and security of customers. Beside this the company has to provide training and development to their employees since this will help the company to enhance the productivity in the future. Beside this another important technique is focusing more on the customer relation management. This will increase in the customer loyalty and faith over the company.

2. Does Thomas Cook provide importance on the sustainable tourism management?

Sustainability has become a very popular topic in most of the fields. In case of the tourism management the importance of the sustainability is also not less in any way. The sustainable development is emphasised by most of the company for the long term growth of the company. In case of the Thomas Cook, it also provides large emphasis on the sustainability issue. Thomas Cook has taken an initiative to protect different tourist places from the gathering of large number of visitors at a time. Overcrowding in most of the cases leads to the damage of properties of different tourist places. Therefore the company has identified those protected places which have to be managed in a systematic manner. Schedule has to be in such a manner that most of the customers get the opportunity to visit the place and at the same time to reduce the overcrowding. The company has also made different strategies to attract more customers at the lean period. This can be achieved with the help of the attractive discount and pricing strategies.

Conclusion

From the above study it can be concluded that the importance of the tourism management techniques is large in the improvement of the productivity and efficiency. In the present study the main aim was to identify the role of the tourism management techniques in the productivity enhancement. The competition in the market is increasing rapidly. Most of the companies are adopting different techniques to enhance the market share. Thomas Cook also has adopted different techniques to sustain in the competition. The company has shown large interest in the improvement of technologies to make the whole system more organised. This will facilitate customers to avail the service without making large effort. If any company in the market provides more facilities to customer, it is a general instinct of customers to shift to that company (Blake et al., 2006). In order to conduct the research fruitfully few objectives have been set. Fulfilling these objectives will define the success of the research.

1. To understand different challenges for the organisation in the tourism sector in the increment of efficiency and productivity

In the above study the researcher has been able to identify different challenges faces by organisations to improve the efficiency and productivity. One of the most important challenges is the cost of the tourism industry. Due to different factors the cost of the tourism companies are escalating and this is affecting the profit structure of the company. Different economic factors have led to the increase in the price of products and services related to the tourism industry. This is affecting the competitiveness of those companies which are unable to incorporate new technologies to reduce the overall cost of service. Since the labour wage in UK is stagnant since long time, this is acting as a demotivating factor for them. As a result the productivity of workers is decreasing and it is affecting the productivity of the company significantly (Botti et al., 2009). The hotel establishments in UK are very old and it is unable to fulfil the needs of customers. As a result the growth of the tourism industry has become stagnant in nature. Therefore, it can be concluded that the incorporation of new techniques is essential to revive this industry.  

2. To investigate the different techniques of tourism management and its implication in the increment of efficiency and productivity of the organisation

It is evident from the above mentioned objective that the researcher wants to identify the need of the new tourism management techniques to enhance the productivity and overcome those challenges mentioned in the above objectives. The main techniques incorporated by the company are the importance on the innovation of new technologies and methods to attract more customers, improving physical capitals, emphasising on the identification of new strategies in order to sustain in the market (Roberts et al., 2006). Beside these the company has also emphasised on the identification of different locations which will supply maximum numbers of customers. Thomas Cook has also determined to improve the demand of tourism industry with the help of different marketing strategies. Therefore this objective has also been fulfilled.

3. To understand the different models of tourism competiveness and its implication in the increment of efficiency and productivity of the organisation.

In the present research the Poon approach and the WES approach have been taken into account to identify different factors which will help in increasing the productivity and efficiency of the company. The Poon approach mainly emphasis on different factors like the customer needs, their tastes and preferences. In this approach the customer is given top most priority among other factors. The management techniques have to be improved and at the same time the company policies should be transparent to customers. There should not be any violation of any terms and condition at made at the time of registration. On the other hand the WES method has provided importance on the market demand, supply, the macroeconomic factors and the transportation system. Company policies also play an important role in the improvement of the productivity and efficiency of the tourism organisation.

From the above research different factors have been identified those are inhibiting the growth of the travel and tourism company. The main responsibility of the company is to make different policies and strategies to overcome these challenges to improve the competitiveness of the company in the market (Taylor et al., 2015). Few recommendations have been provided to the company for their future growth and these are as follows:

• Since the efficiency of employees of an organisation is a crucial factor, it is important to enhance their productivity. Improving the productivity of employees will help in enhancing the growth of the company. Hence it is important from the point of view of the company to provide necessary training to employees. Adequate training and motivation will surely help in raising the productivity of employees.
• The competition in the market is rapidly increasing and to sustain in the market it is important to incorporate high level of technologies. These technologies will make the whole system smooth and easy. Providing more facilities to customers will help in attracting more customers.
• Rigorous market survey is essential to get proper knowledge of customers’ need and preferences. The requirements of customers are increasing day by day. Therefore it is important to identify those factors and fulfil their needs.

In this research the main target was to identify the importance of different marketing techniques in the travel and tourism organisation in order to improve the overall efficiency of the organisation. From the above research different challenges have been identified for the smooth operation of the organisation (Balan et al., 2009). Though after the completion of the research it has been possible to achieve all those objectives, further research in this field is necessary. In this research the lack of time and sufficient research material played an important role in undermining the accuracy and quality aspect of the research. In future the help of more research material have to be taken into account to improve the accuracy of the research result. The sample size has to be increased to enhance the quality aspect of the research.

This research has played a very important role in enhancing my understanding about the topic of research. I have been able to understand the different factors which can contribute towards greater footfalls of tourists. There are various tourism management techniques which are available for the business establishments to use according to their business needs and requirements. This research has provided me with an effective platform to enhance my knowledge about the different tourism management techniques which could be utilised by Thomas Cook to improve their business productivity in the market. While conducting my research I became aware of the main challenges which were faced by the tourism establishments in UK and how it was contributing towards lower business productivity among them. I understood how the tourism management techniques can play a major role in helping to foster customer satisfaction among the tourists and how it is providing the tourists with a memorable experience that creates a lasting impression on their minds. The tourism management techniques are enabling the business establishment such as Thomas Cook to retain their customers in the market. They are able to get positive reviews and feedbacks from their customers and this helps them to create a steady customer base in the market by increasing the market demand for their products and services.

During the course of my research, I also became aware of the different drivers of business productivity in the travel and tourism industry and how they are playing a vital role in determining the growth and success of the tourism industry in UK. This research also enabled me to develop an understanding regarding the different models of tourism competitiveness which could be utilised by the travel and tourism operators in order to increase the brand loyalty among the customers. I was previously unaware of the models of models associated with tourism competitiveness and their implications for the travel and tourism operators. This research has enabled me to understand the different tourism competitiveness models like POON approach and WES approach and how they are contributing towards greater customer satisfaction for the tourists.    

While I stated this research I was really quite sceptic regarding how much of a progress I will be able to  make in my research and there have been many doubts in my mind regarding whether I will be able to conduct this research in an successful manner by producing reliable and accurate outcomes from my research. Initially, I did not have any idea regarding how to conduct a research and I did not have any idea that there are different types of research which could be carried out on a given research topic. I became aware of the different methodologies which could be utilised for conducting a research and their utility and effectiveness in helping the researchers to bring forth accurate and reliable research outcomes. In this research, I have utilised both primary and secondary data for the purpose of my research.

I found out the purpose of research philosophy and research approach in a research and how they play a vital role in determining the research outcomes. I found out the different types of research philosophies and research approaches which could be applied in a research and selected the most appropriate techniques which is suitable in case of my research. I was able to understand how the survey methodology could be utilised as an effective tool to gather the primary data for the research. The research also enabled me to develop an understanding regarding the different sampling strategies (both probabilistic and non-probabilistic) which could be utilised for the purpose of collecting primary data pertaining to the research. I understood how the probabilistic sampling can play a vital role in helping us to gather unbiased and accurate data pertaining to the research. I have utilised a combination of both probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling strategies in order to gather the necessary data in this research. Lastly, the research also throws light on the different ethical aspects which must be incorporated within a research. I was also able to understand the importance of ethical aspects in research and how they play a very important role in ensuring an accurate and reliable research from our end.

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