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TRAVEL AND TOURISM ENTREPRENEUR Assignment

INTRODUCTION

An entrepreneur is an individual who begins a new business with a particular idea. Benefits of entrepreneurship are it increases the chance of developing own ideas and helps in utilizing time for own purpose. Case study of Topdeck is selected for this assignment. It is a UK based organization deals in travelling and tourism sector. It was established in 1973. In beginning only Double Decker buses and vans are available. Now the company has turnover of 1 million. Double Decker is providing tourism services in 65 countries and is offering 339 tours. Case study will help in understanding the skills required for becoming an entrepreneur. The steps required for making entrepreneurship successful is also discussed in this case study. In the last section of the case study, the planning required for travelling and tourism entrepreneurship is also discussed. There should be goals and objectives of the entrepreneur for this purpose.

TASK 1

(A)Discuss the entrepreneurial traits and skills required to be a successful travel and tourism entrepreneur.

Skills and knowledge are very important for becoming successful entrepreneur. (Surugiu and Surugiu, 2015.). These skills and knowledge make the business easy to run and also helps in achieving a suitable outcome. For entrepreneurship in different sectors, there are different skills required. In entrepreneurship in travel and tourism, the skills and knowledge required are – 

  • Opportunity recognition – Opportunity recognition is the way in which entrepreneurs identifies the way of introducing new services or products to customers (Sepúlveda, and Bonilla, 2014.). Opportunity recognition if done properly proves very beneficial for entrepreneurship. In travel and tourism passengers mainly expects safe and comfortable travelling in an economical way. For achieving this organization should increase the vehicles provided and make the price of travelling more economic then other travellers are provided. 
  • Strategy Development – For starting any business sufficient strategy is a very important factor. Entrepreneurs should set a strategy to make their business more effective and leads to develop more with time. In tourism and travelling competition is increasing very rapidly. Thus, it is very important to identify the competition and make a strategy accordingly. Savings should also be done as during staring phase of business money is required for a long period of time. New services should also be introduced so that more passengers can be attracted (Solvoll, et. al., 2015).  
  • Assembly of Resource and Financing – It is very important for an organization to have knowledge of available resources and financial condition. Travelling and tourism is a sector which involves a large number of resources and money. If an entrepreneur has knowledge of available resources and ideas then it becomes easy for the organization to arrange more resources and money if required.
  • Strong People Skills – It is very important to have strong people skills in order to communicate with more people and to motivate employees. This skill is very important because it helps in motivation of employees. Successful entrepreneurs generally have this skill. As motivated employees can work more efficiently thus entrepreneurs should be able to motivate their employees.

These traits and skills are required for entrepreneurship in travelling and tourism. Also, it is very important to implement these skills accordingly. Implementing is also very important because without proper implementation there is not any benefit of any skill and knowledge. These skills are generally with time and experience (Laeis and Lemke, 2016).

B) Using an appropriate format, produce a self-appraisal (self-assessment) of entrepreneurial traits (characteristics) and skills that you may possess and identify the strengths and weaknesses for development benchmark to be a successful.

Self- Assessment of Entrepreneurial Traits

Being an entrepreneur, I have the ability to motivate others. I certainly have the ability to induce others to work for me. My attitude towards work is positive and not judgemental. I perceive the difficult situations in an optimistic way. Although, I am competitive but I am ready to learn and make improvements as per the feedbacks I receive. I am filled with the ability to power and monitor things, hence, I am able to monitor and coordinate acts and organize the resources. I always look for the better opportunities and find ways to work on the difficult projects. I have the perseverance and determination to solve issues related to functions and performance. I am aware of self-value and I have an optimistic approach towards achieving my goals. Moreover, I have the ability to tolerate and overcome ambiguity by handling the stress with my innovative and creative ideas. I have the ability to analyse the situation and foresee the probable outcomes. Lastly, I am action-oriented individual who is not hesitant to take a spontaneous action wherever required.

Skills and Strengths

The strengths which I possess for becoming successful entrepreneur are – 

  • Business Focus – It is very important to have a focus on the business and identifies different needs for business and fulfils them.
  • Confidence – Confidence is the key used for successfully running the business. It is because a confident person can take an effective decision for the company.
  • Creative Thinker – With the help of a creative mind it becomes easy to take different and innovative decisions for the organization. 
  • Determination – This helps in focusing on the particular goal and to achieve it. 
  • Knowledge Gainer – For starting and running the business it is very important to have knowledge. This knowledge can be gained from different sources. Thus, it is very important to have the ability to gain knowledge. 

Weakness that can affect from becoming a successful entrepreneur is – 

  • Bad Time Management – Time management is very important for making effective business. But if time management is not done then the outcome cannot be achieved and time is wasted. 
  • Biased Perspective – Due to regular working on a particular business sometimes it has been observed that the wrong decision takes place. Hence it results in loss of business. 
  • Multiple ideas – Having ideas is important for entrepreneurs. But multiple ideas create confusion sometimes. Hence it is very important to focus on a particular idea.  

Strategies for becoming successful entrepreneurs – 

1.Identifying the Competition – It is very important to identify the competition. By knowing the competition, it becomes easy to work accordingly. The strategy should be made in order to give more impact than other competitors (Pădurean, et. al., 2015). It becomes possible for the organization to work efficiently and to achieve an outcome for an organization by identifying the competition. 

2.Innovations in Services – As entrepreneurs are beginners in the business thus it is very important for the organization to provide better service to their customers (Vanevenhoven, 2013). It makes the customers attract for the particular organization. Hence entrepreneurs should have the ability to give better and innovative service to achieve an outcome. 

3 Listening to Customers Feedback – It is very important to be aware of the reactions of customers with the service and products of the organization. It can be achieved by taking feedbacks from the customers. Then service or product should be modified according to feedbacks and reactions of customers. It makes the positive impact of the organization (Galdon, et. al., 2013)

TASK 2

A) Select a successful travel & tourism entrepreneur and analyse his or her business development strategy

Case study of Scott Keyes is selected for this purpose. Scott Key is founder of Scott’s cheap flights. Main function of Scott Keyes is email newsletter. Online as well as offline subscriptions are provided for this particular purpose. His organization makes the cheap flight deals for the organization. Scott Keyes has pursued journalism in graduation. He began his business with the objective of having cheap flight tickets. For this purpose, he began to watch video tutorials. In 2013 he finally achieved some success when he got best deal. In that deal the rate of New York to Milan was just $130. At that time, he did not achieved success but in 2015 his email services became enough successful that large number of people became its member. For getting profit Scott Keyes prepared a strategy. This strategy was to provide service in low rates then other organization. He set the price of his service $2 in the beginning. This did not give outcome but it he became successful in attracting large number of people. After some time, he increased his rate also like $30 for six months, $60 in nine months. It proved very beneficial for him and is able to attract number of people and also able to achieve outcomes for himself. 

TASK 3

  1. A) Evaluate and discuss the sources of finance and support available to you for the proposed project.

It is very important to have a source of finance for starting any business. It is due to the reason in the starting phase of business availability of money is very less. Hence financers are required for funding (Glavas and Mathews, 2014). These financers differ according to business and its demand. In case of the travel and tourism sector generally, the Financers are – 

  1. Government – Tourism is a department that gives benefit to the government of county on a large scale. When a tourist from other countries came to the country then it proves an economic benefit for the country. Hence, government finance for tourism and travelling sector to achieve a profit for the country. 
  2. Loans – Loans are the major source of getting financial help nowadays. Entrepreneurs are mainly using loans for starting their business. Various reasons are responsible for it. The main factor, due to which its entrepreneurs are preferring loan is its easy availability. Loans are given easily to entrepreneurs for their business. Barclays and HSBC are generally the banks that provide loans to entrepreneurs in UK (Garud and Giuliani, 2013.).
  3. External Financing – Entrepreneurs can get external financing for starting their business. It is the method in which finance from external investors is done. Examples of external financing are venture capital, crowd funding etc. Entrepreneurs can get funding from these external financers. 
  4. Institutions – There are some institutions set by the government which provides loan for travelling and tourism purpose only. In different countries, there are different institutions decided for this particular purpose. These institutions are generally government institutes. Only a few institutes are private that are providing loans for entrepreneurship in Travelling and tourism (Pădurean, et. al., 2015). For example, in UK Microfinance Institution (MFI) is the institution set by the government.  

B) Develop a business plan with a market assessment, business analysis and cash-flow analysis and justify the potential for success of the proposed Travel and Tourism business.

MARKET ASSESMENT– Market assessment is generally evaluation of new product or idea for getting suitable output for the organization. For example, in case of Topdeck organization the company deals with travelling and tourism sector. Hence the demand of people will be that best service is provided to them in cheap prices (Halkias, et. al., 2014). Value added offers should be provided. Also, the value and services should be such that they should be different and more effective than other organizations. Competitors should be identified and organization should work in such way that better performance can be achieved. 

For the success of travel and tourism enterprise, various potential components required are – 

  1. Spending time on business – It is very important to spend time on the business. The time spent should produce an effective result. Spending time helps in creating new business plans and making effective changes if required. It increases the knowledge related to a particular business.
  2. Entrepreneurial Knowledge – Having knowledge of entrepreneurship helps in understanding the business easily. Sufficient entrepreneurial knowledge leads to an increase in the potential of the business and helps in achieving business. 
  3. The ability for Teamwork – Any task could not be achieved individually. Employees and a team are required for this purpose. Having a team makes the functioning of the business easy and achieves a better outcome (Glavas and Mathews, 2014). Teamwork can be achieved with proper coordination among the employees.
  4. Taking Calculated Risk-Taking risk is important but the risk should be calculated. As entrepreneurship is starting phase of the business thus it very important that risk should be taken accordingly. It is done to protect the organization from the negative impact of the business. 
  5. Correct Actions and Decisions – It is very important to take actions and decisions very carefully. It is because of these decisions impact the organization and the business. Decisions should be taken accordingly and also it is important that these decisions impact positively on the organization (Halkias, et. al., 2014).). 
Cash flows statement of Topdeck for the year ended 30 June 2019.
     
Particular Amount ($) Amount ($)
A) Cash flow from operating activity    
Net cash at bank   40
Cash sales 4763  
Cash received 17649  
Cash received 22412 22412
Income tax paid 52  
Cash paid 9635  
Rent paid 520  
Wages 364  
Long services leave paid 25  
Payment of other expenses 371  
GST paid 184  
Cash paid 11151 11151
Cash inflow from operating activity   11301
     
B) Cash flow from Investing activity    
Purchased of assets 4934  
Purchased of investment 250  
Cash paid 5184 5184
Cash received from tourist practices  77  
Dividend received 128  
Interest received 63  
Cash received 268 268
Cash outflow from investing activity   4916
     
C) Cash flow from financing activity    
Loan given to other 84  
Interim dividend paid 12  
Redemption of debentures 200  
Dividend payable 256  
Interest Payable 21  
Cash Paid 573 573
Cash received on loan 45  
Issue of share 600  
Acquired borrowings 500  
Cash received 1145 1145
Cash inflow from financing activity   572
     
Net cash inflow or outflow   6957

C) Present a persuasive business plan for the Travel and Tourism start-up project.

Mission Statement – Following business start-up plan is prepared in order to make successful entrepreneurship in travel and tourism plan. For this purpose, case study of Topdeck is selected which is a UK based organization (Gowreesunkar, et. al., 2015). 

Company Background – Topdeck is a successful travel and tourism organization. Topdeck was established in 1973. This organization started its business with double-decker buses and vans. Spain and Morocco were the first places where service is provided by Topdeck. Now it has become a successful organization and offers travelling in 65 countries. In present organization is stable and successful and offering 339 tours. 

Description of Travelling and Tourism– Topdeck is the organization works on travelling and tourism sector. Travelling and tourism is the sector which can give a large amount of outcome for the organization. The only thing required for this is running the business successfully. It could be done by providing the best service to the people in a cheap amount. Many entrepreneurs are involving them self in travelling and tourism business. It is due to the profit that can be earned from this business (Halkias, et. al., 2014). 

Marketing Plan – Marketing plan is very important for making the business plan effective. Topdeck is the organization which works in order to provide the best service to its customers. For this, they take various steps and follows various procedures. 

  • Best offers are provided to the customers.
  • Service provided to the customers are very effective by Topdeck
  • Focuses on the promotion of the organization.
  • Attracts more customers.
  • Use the latest technologies and provides modern services and technologies to customers.

Competitor Analysis –It is very important to identify the competitors provided in the market. It helps in increasing the functioning and performance of the organization. Topdeck is leading successful organization for travelling and tourism sector. Main competitors of Topdeck are Stoke Travels and Authentic London Walks.

SWOT ANALYSIS – This is a very important component of a business plan as it helps in determining the strengths and weakness of the organization. It helps in determining changes required in functioning. In the case of Topdeck main strength is the service they provide to customers. 

Operations– It determines the operations performed by the organization. The main operation performed in Topdeck is providing travelling service to customers at reasonable rates. 

Financial Planning – This plan contains information related to the financial condition of the organization (Galdon, et. al., 2013). It includes present turn over, determining goals, the money required for future purpose, chances of risk and investment plans. Topdeck is having revenue of around 1 million. The goal of Topdeck is to attract more and more customers. The investment should be done such that chances of risk are minimum, and outcomes can be achieved. 

CONCLUSION

From the above case study, it can be analyzed that there are various steps involved in making the business effective and successful for entrepreneurs. Skills should be present for successful entrepreneurship. It is very important to determine own strengths and weaknesses for the effective functioning of the business. Various factors are responsible for making entrepreneurship successful. These factors should be focused on carefully. Effective business plan should be prepared which contains mission statement, company background, description of product, marketing plan, competitor analysis, SWOT analysis and operations.

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