Tour operators rush to offer summer packs

Provide discounts, cash-back offers to net the 30% expected rise in tourists to foreign locales.

The tourism industry is expecting over 30 per cent more tourists this summer. In an unprecedented move, tour operators are announcing cheaper and attractive packages nearly six to nine months before the season.

All major operators such as Thomas Cook, Cox & Kings and SOTC have begun selling their summer packages, instead of introducing them in March-April.

Cox & Kings is already out with an 11-day tour that covers the UK, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany and will cost Rs 99,000 with a cash-back offer of Rs 50,000. This means that after the trip the customer gets Rs 50,000 back.

Another fortnight offer covering Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and France, Belgium and the Netherlands comes to Rs 1,19,999 with a cash-back of Rs 36,000.

SOTC on its part has begun offering a 19-day tour to Europe for Rs 1,44,950. The company had actually announced its 15-day summer trip to the US for 2008 during August last year. The trip would cost around Rs 1,58,950.

Operators say that by booking hotels and tickets in advance, they are able to get better discounts. What has helped is that volumes have gone up along with the discounts.

"For customers, it would mean a discount because on advance bulk bookings of tickets and hotel rooms, we get discounts of 20-30 per cent, which can be passed on to the customer," said a Thomas Cook executive.

And there seems to be no dearth of takers. Almost all major tour operators have been able to meet and in some cases exceed 30 per cent of their target by January itself, a target normally set for March-April.

"Our sales have almost doubled and this has had a positive impact on our bottom line," said a Thomas Cook executive.

SOTC's US trip, which was announced in August and is valid till this summer, has already sold 40 per cent of the total packages on offer, while only 30 per cent sales were targeted till January.

These early offers have actually led to an increase in the number of customers for these tour operators. "The number of customers to Europe and the USA saw almost an 84 per cent increase during 2007," said an SOTC executive.

Most of these operators feel that these early offers go in their favour in terms of better planning of their inventories.

"As tour operators, we have already blocked inventory with hotels and airlines and it is within a time limit that we have to release that inventory. This is where early bookings are helping us," said a major tour operator.

"Also, these early offers give customers a chance to make preparations early, especially in terms of visas. Last year, most customers who had applied for a visa during the summers were called for their interviews two and a half months later," said Sunil Gupta, COO of SOTC.