Roles And Responsibilities Of Managers In The Competitive Tourism Market

Roles and Responsibilities of the Branch Manager at Borneo Eco Tours

Dsicuss about the Practice Of Managing People environmental pressure.

The great managers defy the common practices that are necessary to deal with the chain of dynamic events. These events are the primary drivers for the strong and sustainable business environment (Baum 2016). The study is widely concentrating on the tourism sector and the mangers are leading the employees to develop the world class tourism experience. Borneo Eco Tours, Malaysia offers the tourists a commendable experience of wildlife safaris and rainforest tours (Borneoecotours.com 2018). The company has achieved the remarkable position in the tourism market and participating in the competitive ground with the superior excellence and higher rate of the traveler review. The Branch Manager is the in-charge of every tour-planning and the manager takes care of the hospitality training and monitoring of the tourist guides. The key responsibility of the manager is to develop the complete understanding of the tourists’ demands and providing them the commendable experience (Mostaghel et al. 2015). In the further section of the study, the roles and responsibility of the managers in leading people would be discussed. It would also focus on the primary activities undertaken for dealing with the competitive scenario. Based on the analysis, the study would further develop the preferable recommendations for the future betterment of the managers’ roles.

The branch manager of Borneo Eco Tours performs various roles and responsibility. Especially, while dealing with the competitive scenario, the managers take the hands on approach to maintain the strengthened position of the company. The primary roles and responsibilities performed by the manager of Borneo Eco Tours are explained further.

• The branch manager promotes and introduces the new tourism packages for the tourists.
• The managers provide the hospitality training to the associated guides for the better tourism services offered to the tourists (Zailani, Aminudin and Wee 2016).
• The manager is often associated with the destination sourcing process for developing the better tourism experiences for the tourists.
• Most importantly, the manager manages the security aids for the tourists and guides during the wildlife safaris (Borneoecotours.com 2018).

These primary responsibilities of the managers drive the company towards strengthening the sustainable position. However, it has been observed that the tourism industry in Malaysia is quite competitive due to which the mangers require undertaking the unique approach to strengthening the competitive ground (Chen et al. 2017). The branch manager of Borneo Eco Tours is much concerned about such competitive scenario. It is thus essential to understand the needs and preferences of the tourists and improve the performance for the better experience. The manager concentrates on market potentiality and service differentiation that can draw the attention of the tourists (Borneoecotours.com 2018). It is noticed that the demands of the tourists are rapidly changing as they tend to compare the services with the other company (Law et al., 2015). Hence, the manager realizes the need for introducing innovative and unique services, which can help the tourists to differentiate and attract at the same time.    

Managing People in a Competitive Landscape

The manager is often involved with the product or service sourcing for meeting the needs of the travelers and establishing a sustainable tourism. It is also notified that the manager takes part in familiarization visits to a new destination for gathering the relevant information on the amenities of consumer interests (Kamal, Zawawi and Abdullah 2016). It helps in arranging the tourism activities according to the needs and preferences. Moreover, in a competitive scenario, this technique helps in gathering the response and better reviews. In fact, the manager liaises with the other travel partners that include the hotels and airlines, for managing the schedules and bookings. The manager pays attention to the customer enquiries and provides them the solutions. It aims to meet the expectation of the tourists associated with this travel agency.

It is essential for the manager to concentrate on the performance of the travel agents and tourist guides. Therefore, the branch manager monitors the performance and makes improvement as per the necessity. Paying the continuous attention to the sales team and motivating them for the further improvements are the primary roles for a manager (Chang 2015). The travel agency manager usually faces the following problems:

• The potential travelers always receive more options when they seek information about trip arrangements. Every travel agency tries to provide the best offers to these tourists to gather their attention. The manager thus pays attention to the customize service selection process that would provide the tourists better options to select the service as per their expectations. Accordingly, providing the extensive knowledge to the travel agents would also help in leading the team much efficiently (Chow, Lai and Loi 2015).
• Increasing rate of the price transparency is another challenge for the tourism industry. Travelers are sensible enough to find the best deal by shopping around. The competitive scenario in the tourism sector provides the best deal to the customers. Hence, it is necessary for the manager to manage the price of the tourism package to remain more competitive.
• Tourists are more likely exploring the adventurous part of the world with the help of better tourist guides. The branch manager of Borneo Eco Tours ensures that the tourists and guides are receiving proper security during the wild safari (Abou-Shouk, Lim and Megicks 2016). Moreover, the precautions are monitored prior to start off the journey. Therefore, the tourists can become much satisfied with such safety journey during their adventurous journey.

The above challenges are quite common in the tourism industry. However, the effective participation of the manager in this competitive scenario is much commendable. Some of the implications would also be beneficial for the manager for the betterment of the tourism services. In the further section of the study, the future recommendations would be discussed.

It is quite challenging for the managers to stand out amongst the competitors. It is thus essential for the managers to know the challenging competitors at the first place. Noticing the movement of the competitors, the managers need to strategize the business functionalities in a coherent way. The following implications would be much beneficial for the managers to make further improvements in this industry and overcome the competition more significantly.

• The managers need to analyze and make extensive research on this industry. It is essential for the manager to upgrade the trends as per the moving culture and current environment. For example, the online competition is different to the offline competitions. If the travel agency has the poor website and customer services, it would affect in gathering the customer responses. Hence, it is required designing the websites and being spontaneous to the customer queries to match the latest trends.
• The unique value proposition of the services attracts a larger consumer group. The positive experience creates the impressive ‘word of mouth’ that would generate more responses from the other tourists. It is essential to evaluate the services that are to be provided to the potential consumers. The values of the services to the consumers that they can differentiate it with other competitors.
• Development of the online brand image and booking facilities is another most strategic view for the future improvement of the travel agency. If the company can invest more in content marketing and the SEO services, it would help in reaching out a larger number of tourists who are searching for better for the world class tourism experiences. Promoting the company and building the effective corporate culture through social sites is also much helpful to improve the brand image.

Application of the above implications is much beneficial for the travel agency to strengthen the position in a competitive landscape. In addition to this motivating people with adequate training process is also necessary for a manager to create a strong people group for the better services in the tourism sector. Moreover, the continuous monitoring and development of the effective hospitality services would also lead the company towards successive position.

Conclusion

The study explores the competitive landscape in the tourism sectors and the responsibility of the manager in overcoming these challenges by managing people much efficiently. It has been observed that the branch manager of Borneo Eco Tours has been paying attention towards the continuous performance improvement of the associated tourist guides and travel agents. The manager concentrates on market potentiality and service differentiation that can attract more amounts of tourists. The comparative scenario poses the challenges for a long term. It is thus necessary for the manager to keep the track of the performance attributes and make the necessary amendments to develop more competitive practices. It is noticed that the demands of the tourists are rapidly changing as they tend to focus on the available options in various websites. Understanding the needs and preferences and modifying the services would thus help in building a unique perspective and gather more responses from the tourists. On the other hand, updating the services in keeping pace with the current trends would help the company to overcome the challenges and remain competitive for a long run.

References

Abou-Shouk, M.A., Lim, W.M. and Megicks, P., 2016. Using competing models to evaluate the role of environmental pressures in ecommerce adoption by small and medium sized travel agents in a developing country. Tourism Management, 52, pp.327-339.

Baum, T., 2016. tourism: an introduction. Human Resource Issues in International Tourism, p.3.

Borneoecotours.com, 2018. Borneo Eco Tours | Meet the Team. [online] Borneoecotours.com. Available at: <https://www.borneoecotours.com/about-us/team-players.php> [Accessed 25 Mar. 2018].

Borneoecotours.com, 2018. Borneo Eco Tours. [online] Borneoecotours.com. Available at: <https://www.borneoecotours.com/> [Accessed 25 Mar. 2018].

Chang, K.C., 2015. How travel agency reputation creates recommendation behavior. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 115(2), pp.332-352.

Chen, J.S., Kerr, D., Chou, C.Y. and Ang, C., 2017. Business co-creation for service innovation in the hospitality and tourism industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(6), pp.1522-1540.

Chow, C.W., Lai, J.Y. and Loi, R., 2015. Motivation of travel agents’ customer service behavior and organizational citizenship behavior: The role of leader-member exchange and internal marketing orientation. Tourism Management, 48, pp.362-369.

Dedeo?lu, B.B. and Demirer, H., 2015. Differences in service quality perceptions of stakeholders in the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(1), pp.130-146.

Hong, T., Ma, T. and Huan, T.C.T., 2015. Network behavior as driving forces for tourism flows. Journal of Business Research, 68(1), pp.146-156.

Ivanov, S., Stoilova, E. and Illum, S.F., 2015. Conflicts between accommodation establishments and travel agencies. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 15(1), pp.54-70.

Kamal, S.B.M., Zawawi, D. and Abdullah, D., 2016. Entrepreneurial orientation for small and medium travel agencies in Malaysia. Procedia Economics and Finance, 37, pp.115-120.

Law, R., Leung, R., Lo, A., Leung, D. and Fong, L.H.N., 2015. Distribution channel in hospitality and tourism: Revisiting disintermediation from the perspectives of hotels and travel agencies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), pp.431-452.

Molina-Azorín, J.F., Tarí, J.J., Pereira-Moliner, J., López-Gamero, M.D. and Pertusa-Ortega, E.M., 2015. The effects of quality and environmental management on competitive advantage: A mixed methods study in the hotel industry. Tourism Management, 50, pp.41-54.

Mostaghel, R., Oghazi, P., Beheshti, H.M. and Hultman, M., 2015. Strategic use of enterprise systems among service firms: Antecedents and consequences. Journal of Business Research, 68(7), pp.1544-1549.

Zailani, N.F.I., Aminudin, N. and Wee, H., 2016. Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and employees’ retention in travel agencies. Heritage, Culture and Society: Research agenda and best practices in the hospitality and tourism industry, p.137.

Zeng, B. and Gerritsen, R., 2014. What do we know about social media in tourism? A review. Tourism Management Perspectives, 10, pp.27-36.