Bianca Andrei
Unit 13
D1
Throughout this assignment I will evaluate the efeecveness of tour operators in responding to
ehallenges faeing the seetor.
A tour operator combines tour and travel components to create a holiday, it designs travel routes for
tourists and ofer perfect arrangements of the airlines and hotels. In a word, a tour operator ofers
package holidays.
Nowadays, the world is confrontng with certain challenges. The tourism industry faces diferent
challenges which afect the Tour Operators. Below, I will present in detail how a selected tour operator,
Thomas Cook, faces the following challenges.
Firstly, one of the most signifcant challenges is responsible tourism. Most of the tourists seek to book
holidays which support the responsible tourism. The World Tourism Organisaton defnes sustainable
tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental
impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communites.. This is
because they want to minimize the negatve social, environmental, economic and politcal impacts over
a destnaton. In order to overcome and deal with this challenge, tour operators as Thomas Cook
decided to create package holidays which consist of airlines that operate on a green scheme, or they
might ofer accommodaton to the locals’ houses, in order to contribute to their standard of living. Other
methods of dealing with this challenge are by maximizing economic benefts for the local communites in
the specifc destnatons. This can be done by investng in the area the organisaton operates (give
profts to your local community, help preserve and protect the area the customers visit,, or contributng
to the preservaton of resources. Moreover, Thomas Cook reduces negatve environmental impacts and
they take responsibility for the damage they cause to the environment when organizing excursions and
trips. For example, Thomas Cook ofers small group tours, ofseeng of carbon emissions, reducton of
waste and supportng conservaton projects. They also focus on their customers and helping them
become more responsible travellers. Moreover, the UK Tour Operator Thomas Cook promotes self-
catering catering accommodaton, and their main aim is to encourage the renovaton of village
propertes that has supported city residents on the island in order to respect their village heritage and
breathe life into once forgoten setlements. Over 160 years ago Thomas Cook created the frst package
holiday out of a sense of social responsibility. In keeping with the values of the Victorian Society of the
day, he believed that by ofering alternatve, more virtuous and learning leisure actvites, the lives of
working people would be greatly improved if they became beter educated through travel. Thomas Cook
stated. Sustainable Tourism is simply about making a positve diference to the people and environment
of destnatons we travel to by: Reespectng local cultures and the natural environment, buying local,
giving fair economic returns to local families, recognizing that water and energy are precious resources
that we need to use carefully, helping to protect endangered wildlife, protectng and enhancing
favourite destnatons for the future enjoyment of visitors and the people who live there, and taking
responsibility for our actons while enjoying ourselves..