Organization of the functioning of logistics in tourism

Companies are forced to develop long-term plans for transporting tourists abroad, booking blocks of places in hotels. In such cases, it is necessary in advance, before the start of the season, to plan an approximate number of tourists, which will have to be serviced by the firm. The financial risk of such decisions can be tangible. For example, by booking a whole airplane for a season, in case of a decrease in the purchasing power of the population, tastes or worsening of the political situation in the country of rest, the travel agency will almost certainly incur huge losses. It is clear that large companies are increasingly turning to methods of risk analysis. Some computer programs specially designed for travel agencies allow the implementation of interconnected improvements in the planning of tourist traffic, block of places in hotels, which helps to minimize the number of places not used now.

The plans need to be revised regularly, and sometimes more often, focusing on the current situation in the market.

Logistics projects are beneficial to very large companies with their own analysts, able to develop, and computer personnel. At the same time, small companies that have a majority in the tourism market lose the opportunity to increase their profits and reduce costs, as managers, misunderstanding the integrity of logistics operations; do not consider it necessary to direct the smarts to conduct an economic analysis of the company's operations.

When developing an enterprise planning strategy, logistics policy should be part of an operational and functional strategy that, along with marketing and organizational, is part of the overall economic strategy of the travel company.

In the logistic system, the transportation strategy and costs must be included in the development of the strategy; the process of providing services; communication (order processing); system of organization, planning and control.

One of the technical methods of developing a strategy is to analyze the usual logistical balance between services and costs. To this, there is also added complexity (number of service providers, sources of receipt of orders, branches and representative offices, seasonality, variety of products). All this increases the complexity and uncertainty of operations; therefore, it is necessary to make the economic project easier and more manageable.

The approach to solving strategic economic problems, such as increasing profits, should be based on the formation of a group of specialists of different profiles in all key areas of the logistics system and be carried out in two stages.

The first stage identifies the strategic goal and direction of the company's economic development in the future and examines the following issues:

• 1)    Changing market needs. The analysis of the markets can show that in the volumes of production passing through different distribution channels, there are shifts in favor of any channel;

• 2)    Increased requirements for logistics. The shift in the distribution channels should reflect on the increase in the requirements for logistics as a system in terms of terms, reliability and comprehensive of service;

• 3)    Breakdown of products according to the Pareto principle (for a limited number of goods, the main flow is necessary). For example, out of two types of tours, summer vacation in Turkey and rest in Lithuania - for rest in Turkey, the bulk of sales;

• 4)    Flexible production system: should respond to changing market needs;

• 5)    Attention to individual activities. It is necessary to pay attention not only to some assortment of mass and specialized tourist products, but also to specific types of activities (for example, the issuance of visas in Minsk);

• 6)    Flexibility. In a rapidly changing market, the logistics system must have the ability to adapt in the short term, so the flexibility of the ultimate strategic direction is important;

• 7)    Increase of logistics indicators of suppliers. This factor is associated with the development of various activities to provide tourist services to customers, which is much easier to implement if there is reverse integration.

At the first stage, the current state of all economic functional areas, problems and bottlenecks of the firm are also revealed; an action plan is developed to increase profits, which takes into account goals, resources, schedules and interdependencies, various economic options for achieving the goals.

At the second stage, a detailed general economic second plan of the firm is developed, which confirms the strategic direction of the first stage. The content of the strategic direction includes:

• 1)    Production capacity. Are determined by the volumes of production, the assortment of the proposed tourist products, the markets - the optimal indicators for increasing profits;

• 2)    Modes of transport. Various carriers are investigated in terms of costs and opportunities to meet the logistics needs of the production system;

• 3)    Control systems. Follow the results of activity;

• 4)    Suppliers. Their financial results are assessed;

• 5)    The general economic plan. Logistic projects for each functional area are closely linked to the overall business plan, which contains a full financial assessment, resource allocation, management of the logistics system, etc.

The resulted logistical scheme of development of an economic strategy is directed on an effective work of manufacture; increase of profit, and on achievement of considerable advantages before competitors.

In the logistics, decisions are involved:

• a)    Suppliers of constituent elements of the tourist product;

• b)    Transport agencies;

• c)    Consumers.

The main strategic and inter-functional solutions that are adopted at the enterprise are divided by their values into decisions regarding:

• 1)    Sales and marketing;

• 2)    Tourist product and its formation.

In a company focused on customer service (travel agent), the strategy dictates sales and marketing. The key decisions concern the type of tours being distributed and their combination; type of customers served and the level of service provided. They are key decisions relating to the approaches to pricing policy, as well as with the establishment of spheres of influence on sales. After the orientation to customer service is set, the necessary production decisions follow. In the companies focused on production (tour operators), first of all, the problems of the propane strategy are determined and solved.