A tour operator is a company that typically combines and organizes the components of accommodation, meals, sightseeing and transportation to create a tour package. They advertise and produce brochures to promote their products, holidays and services. Tour operators manage the tour from the beginning to the end of the trip. They are responsible for taking care of the finer details of a vacation or tour, such as hotel, accommodation, meals, transportation, etc.
Tour operators provide travel guides, accompaniment services and organize all needs and desires related to the trip. The tour operations manager will oversee all the tour and office operations of a small and growing walking tour agency. The position will be the main sales and customer service representative. Job tasks include experience creating and developing systems to help increase the overall success of the company.
The tour operator is responsible for creating and maintaining tour packages for customers. Package tour management includes the preparation of activities that attract specific travelers embarking on the trip. The tour operator's business plan should cover when and how to modify a tour package to better meet the group's priorities. Understanding supply chain management (SCM) is essential to understanding how tour operators work with other sectors of the travel industry.
Tour operators are also known as management agencies that handle the package tour and take care of all the problems and failures that arise during a package tour. They make tour packages and promote them in various tourist markets nationally and internationally. The main purpose or function of a tour operator is to organize the services provided to the customer, such as transportation and accommodation. Tour operators who promote trips to foreign destinations, perhaps business trips or leisure trips, are called outbound tour operators.
Poyther (19) defines: “The tour operator is the one who has the responsibility of gathering the ingredients of the tour, marketing them, making reservations and managing the actual operation. Tour operators purchase individual travel components separately and combine them into a tour package, which is sold directly to the public at their own price. The most accurate tour operators are primarily responsible for delivering and performing the services specified in a given tour package. Booking a tour is an easy way for a traveler to experience a foreign land and make sure they get to the best places.
Tour operators plan a tour and make an itinerary that contains the identification of the origin, destination and all stopping points on a traveler's tours. The tour operator is the brain behind the beauty of holidays and leverages their expertise and resources (supplier databases or technology such as tour operator software). A tour operator must provide up-to-date, accurate and timely information on destinations, modes of travel, accommodation, sightseeing, immigration, health and safety regulations on the various permits needed to travel in a particular area, etc. A tour operator is like a service provider, a convenient option for tourists to stay, visit and leave the city.
These are commonly known as driving agencies and their primary function is to organize trips for tourists arriving on behalf of foreign operators. When a tour operator promotes beach holidays, wildlife vacations, adventure trips, heritage tours in different places, difficulty arises.