Diploma thesis goal is to define the extent of possibilities which are presented to client who is interested in vacation in Crete offered by selected travel agencies. The thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, there are theoretically explained the most important concepts, terms and topics associated with tourism and travel agencies. Following chapter is from tourism development point of view oriented on the destination analysis. Characterictic traits, geography, history, weather conditions, administrative units and the most atractive sites of the island are described. In the third chapter, there are ten travel agencies according to given criterions selected and introduced. Supply of these companies related to Crete is subject of the analysis. The analysis is focused on four basic marketing mix elements, it means product, price, promotion and place. In the last chapter particular criterions are set. On the basis of these criterions the comparison of studied travel agencies is made and total extent of the offer which is presented to the clients is specified. The appraisal of its comprehensiveness comes out from the resultant summarisation of possibilities which are offered to the client. In conclusion there is advised the opportunity which could be used by travel agencies in order to gain broader range of clients.

The aim of the diploma thesis "Promotion of internet travel agency" is to analyze the communication mix of travel agency Invia.cz and to formulate proposals for its improvement. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter defines internet as a medium and the possibilities of online communication. The second chapter describes the specific characteristics of tourism marketing and the expanded marketing mix. The third chapter analyzes survey results about consumer behavior in selecting and purchasing holiday. The fourth chapter introduces the company Invia.cz and focuses on its online and offline promotion. Based on the analysis and on the survey results, proposals for communication mix improvement are submitted.

The diploma thesis is describing Analysis of business strategy of the company Invia and is divided into two parts. First part summarizes principle of market of tourism. It defines subjects and specifics of this market. Special attention is focused on selling tours through the Internet. Second part analyzes business strategy of travel agency Invia, the largest seller of tours online in the Czech Republic. First of all basic information about the company are described, and then parts of business strategy are developed, including SWOT analyze.

The diploma thesis analyses supply of three major and three small regional Czech travel agencies regarding Croatia in terms of its width (number of offered accomodation facilities in particular sea resorts)and its compelexity (offer of packages for more demanding customers, sightseeing tours etc.) The thesis also contains general introduction of Croatia as one of the most popular summer destinations for Czech tourists as well as description and explanation of basic terms connected to tourism theory and functioning of travel agencies in general.

The impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is a significant issue in today's tourism industry. The development of the internet has made information easily accessible to consumers, and has therefore established a direct link between consumers and suppliers. As a result, traditional travel distribution channels are changing rapidly. A major feature of this change is "disintermediation", with principals such as airlines, hotels and rental car chains bypassing intermediaries and sell directly to consumers. Travel agents (TAs) are considered to be particularly vulnerable to this process. ICTs have the potential to replace their core competencies, which include transaction processing (ticketing and settlement) and information provision (raw product information provided by suppliers).This thesis focuses on the impact of ICTs on the TA sector, and specifically on the New Zealand TA case. A theoretical approach based on regulation theory combined with a mixed method approach was used to investigate the main issues in New Zealand. The research included a case study to identify the principal issues and trends in the TA sector, in-depth interviews with TAs and industry specialists to refine the main issues and allow the formulation of some theoretical assumptions, in-depth interviews with consumers regarding the role of TAs in the internet era and the quality of service they provide, and a fully-structured, national on-line survey of TAs to verify the assumptions made in the earlier interviews and test the applicability of the post-Fordism model for the New Zealand TA sector.Based on the findings, it is argued that disintermediation is particularly pronounced in the relationship between airlines and travel agents. To minimise the risk of disintermediation and improve business performance, TAs need to reposition themselves and review their core strategies to compete efficiently in the changing business environment. The thesis reveals that consumers perceive TAs as mainly "transaction facilitators". Nevertheless the thesis show that process of "reintermediation" is a reality for some New Zealand TAs.An application of regulation theory to the New Zealand TA case reveals that in its traditional form, the regulation theory cannot explain the complexities found in the modern TA environment. The thesis reveals several distinct modes in TA perceptions of their business environment and their survival strategies, which indicates a heterogeneous, clustered population. A "formula for success" is developed for TAs in New Zealand. In this respect, TAs that perceive ICT as a strategic tool and are orientated towards consumers appear to have a business advantage.

<p>In recent years the Internet has greatly changed the travel industry and the emergence of social media has driven this change further. In the past travel companies have been natural links between customers and suppliers but today customers can buy travel directly from the supplier, making it difficult for travel companies to attract new customers and retain existing customers. As social media is revolutionizing the way people communicate, the trend suggests that it is becoming increasingly important for firms to take part in this technological development to interact with customers.<strong> </strong></p><p>Although Internet and social media has a major impact on firm-to-customer and customer-to-customer conversations, there is little guidance in academic literature and organizational contexts on how to use social media in an effective way. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to describe and explain how social media has transformed the relationships between selected Swedish travel companies and their customers, and how these firms create and sustain value and relationships through social media. Furthermore, we will give implications for management on how to utilize social media to create and sustain value and relationships.</p><p>The results of our research confirm that social media is transforming the relationships between firms and customers. From our findings we conclude that the customer has become more empowered, that interaction now occurs through a two-way communication and that social media has made industries and relationships more transparent. The results also indicate that firms do not realize the value that can be created through social media for the customer as well as for the firm. The use of social media among the interviewed firms varies with some firms using social media through many tools and some firms not using social media at all.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Our findings implicate that being aware of what value is created and why the firm is involved in a certain social media tool increases the likelihood of success. The firm should further not be afraid to experiment with social media. However, social media also presents challenges. As social media is characterized by rapidly changing trends, it is difficult to predict what will happen not only in a distant future, but even so just a few years ahead.</p>

<p>The travel agencies exist on a market that is distinguished by increasing competition. A majority of the travel agencies offer different services that all satisfie the same customer need. However,</p><p>one major difference in the market aspect is the service quality, this making it an important mean of competition. There are several acknowledged methods of measurement when it comes to service quality and it is important to use an instrument that takes into consideration the fact that charter tours is a complex merger of several services. The purpose of this essay is to establish if the SERVQUAL method is a suitable instrument for measuring service quality in the travel</p><p>industry. This study is a thorough analysis and evaluation of what Apollo’s customers think about the service quality of Apollo as well as how they perceive that Apollo fulfils their travelling</p><p>expectations. Moreover, the essay will examine which factors affect travellers’ experiences of the service quality on charter tours. The study has an objective outlook and the authors have applied a deductive approach. The authors have performed a quantitative study on 70 of Apollo’s customers. The aforementioned study was carried out using a questionnaire that was based on the</p><p>SERVQUAL method and the theories that were used in the theoretical part of that study.</p><p>The result show that the SERVQUAL method only considered the aspects that involve the travel agency and did not consider the other aspects that affect the traveller’s overall experience of the</p><p>service quality. In conclusion this study determines that the SERVQUAL method is not a suitable instrument for measuring service quality on charter tours in the travel industry.</p> / <p>Researrangörer verkar på en marknad som kännetecknas av en ökad konkurrens, där ett flertal researrangörer erbjuder olika tjänster som tillfredställer samma behov. Något som särskiljer researrangörerna åt är kvaliteten, vilket medför att den blir ett viktigt konkurrensmedel. Då det finns flera erkända metoder för att mäta upplevd tjänstekvalitet är det viktigt att använda ett mätinstrument som tar hänsyn till att charterresor är en komplex uppsättning av deltjänster.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att klargöra om SERVQUAL metoden är ett lämpligt mätinstrument inom reseindustrin genom att analysera och utvärdera vad kunderna anser om Apollos</p><p>tjänstekvalitet samt om Apollo uppfyller kundernas förväntningar. Detta med hjälp av att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar resenärers upplevda tjänstekvalitet på charterresor. Uppsatsen utgår från ett objektivistiskt synsätt där författarna har tillämpat en deduktiv ansats. En kvantitativ enkätundersökning har utförts på 70 stycken av Apollos kunder där enkätundersökningen är baserad på SERVQUAL samt de teorier som behandlas i studiens teorikapitel. Resultatet visar att SERVQUAL metoden endast tar upp de aspekter som rör researrangören, och inte alla de aspekter som påverkar kundernas upplevda tjänstekvalitet. Med detta som utgångspunkt anser författarna att SERVQUAL metoden är bristande som mätinstrument när det gäller att mäta resenärers uppfattning av tjänstekvalitet på charterresor.</p>

<p>Denna uppsats behandlar den svenska resemarknaden och om olika reseföretags tillämpning av konkurrensstrategier kan skapa framgång och hjälpa dem att överleva på en mogen resemarknad. Arbetet bygger på en jämförelse mellan tre reseföretag som distribuerar resor, för att undersöka och analysera olika konkurrensstrategiers verkan på den svenska resemarknaden.</p><p>Tre reseföretag med olika inriktningar på marknaden jämförs i uppsatsen, KILROY travels Sweden AB, Ticket Travel Group AB och MyTravel Sweden. Undersökningen bygger på en kvalitativ metod genom personliga intervjuer med respektive företag.</p><p>I analysen görs en jämförelse av reseföretagen som konkurrenter till varandra. Det som har framkommit i intervjuerna jämförs med utvalda teorier i analysen. En kombination av konkurrensstrategier används för att utreda vilka köpare och leverantörer som finns och om det finns hot från potentiella etablerare och substitut. Företagens mål, strategier, föreställningar om branschen och möjligheter för utveckling utreds. Deras positioner på marknaden motiverar också valet av strategi och hur pass aggressiva de bör vara i sina marknadsföringssatsningar. Marknadsföringsmixen visar vad företagen behöver utveckla och förbättra.</p><p>De tre undersökta reseföretagen har varit framgångsrika på så vis att de har funnits länge på den svenska marknaden, är väletablerade och har kända varumärken. Företagen använder huvudsakligen tre distributionskanaler för att vara tillgängliga för kunderna, genom butiker, Internet och telefon.</p><p>Konkurrensstrategier har en verkan på den svenska resemarknaden då konkurrenssituationen skapar ett behov av analys och planering, så att företagen kan bedöma konkurrenterna på ett riktigt sätt. En analys av konkurrensen görs lättast genom att använda de verktyg som redovisats i denna uppsats. De svenska reseföretagen kan skapa framgång och överleva genom en tillämpning av konkurrensstrategierna. Företagen måste då utföra kontinuerliga analyser av resebranschen och konkurrenterna.</p> / <p>This paper discusses the Swedish travel market and if the application of competitive strategies can create success and help companies in the travel industry to survive on a mature travel market. It is based on a comparison between three companies in the travel industry, to survey and analyze the impact of different competitive strategies on the Swedish travel market.</p><p>Three companies with different business profiles are compared. They are KILROY travels Sweden AB, Ticket Travel Group AB and MyTravel Sweden. The survey is based on a qualitative method through personal interviews with each company.</p><p>A comparison is made between the companies as competitors to each other in the analysis section. The results of the interviews are also compared to the chosen theories. A combination of competitive strategies is used to investigate who the buyers and suppliers are, and if there are any threats from potential new establishers and substitutes. The companies’ goals, strategies, conceptions of the industry and development opportunities are also investigated. Their market positions motivate their choice of strategies and how aggressive they should be in their marketing investments. The marketing mix demonstrates what the companies need to develop and improve.</p><p>The three companies have all been successful, as they have existed for a long time on the Swedish market, are well established and have well known trademarks. They mainly employ three distribution channels to be accessible to customers, namely through stores, Internet and phones.</p><p>Competitive strategies do have an impact on the Swedish travel market, as the competitive situation creates a need for analysis and planning, allowing the companies to assess the competitors correctly. An analysis of the competition is easily made with the tools presented in this paper. The companies in the Swedish travel industry can create success and survive through application of these competitive strategies. The companies must implement continuous analysis of the travel industry and their competitors.</p>

<p>Nowadays, when the world feels smaller as a result of the increasing flow of information, the competition of tourism between countries is getting bigger. This has caused that the marketing of the country has become vital. It is important for the country to send out the right signals so that the tourists have the right image of a destination. Once the image has been created, it might be hard to change it.</p><p>Scandinavian Travel Agent AB is a company arranging different trips around Scandinavia. They work as incoming agent for foreign tour operators, which they help with different types of travel arrangements in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Now they want to expand their business to other countries, and at the same time they want to identify how Sweden is seen as a tourist destination. We helped them with this by investigating travel agencies and tour operators in the Netherlands.</p><p>Our purpose with this thesis was to find out what kind of picture the Dutch travel agencies and tour operators have about Sweden. Furthermore, we wanted to know how the Dutch market looks like considering the trips to Sweden. To be able to analyze the phenomena of image we have taken closer look at the decision- making process, which was originally created by Mathieson and Wall (1984). It contains four areas (tourist profile, travel awareness, destination resources & characteristics and trip features) that have effect on the decision making process. Since we thought that image also has a big influence on the tourists’ decision, we chose to investigate that subject as well.</p><p>With the help of our theories we created two different questionnaires, one to Dutch travel agencies/ tour operators having Sweden as a travel destination, and one to Dutch travel agencies/tour operators not currently offering trips to Sweden. After receiving the answers we interpreted them together with our theories and we found out that the respondents have a correct image of the reality. Sweden’s nature with the forests, water and snow were some of the most common parts of their image. Stockholm was also a prominent feature together with beautiful and clean nature. Sweden was also seen as a modern and safe country with high quality. Some respondent also mentioned space, but it was not as common answer as we expected.</p><p>Regarding the image, we found out that an image handles both a person’s affective and cognitive images, which arises from many different sources and influences. After doing this research our believes, about the image as a part of the decision making process, were strengthened. Therefore we saw the need to change the already existing model.</p><p>Our suggestions to the Scandinavian Travel Agent AB, is to first contact the travel agencies/tour operators who are currently offering Sweden, since they seem to be most interested in expanding to Sweden. Among the other travel agencies/tour operators an interest has to be aroused. This can depend on the fact that companies with Sweden can see the demand and the opportunities better than the companies who do not have Sweden.</p>

In recent years the Internet has greatly changed the travel industry and the emergence of social media has driven this change further. In the past travel companies have been natural links between customers and suppliers but today customers can buy travel directly from the supplier, making it difficult for travel companies to attract new customers and retain existing customers. As social media is revolutionizing the way people communicate, the trend suggests that it is becoming increasingly important for firms to take part in this technological development to interact with customers. Although Internet and social media has a major impact on firm-to-customer and customer-to-customer conversations, there is little guidance in academic literature and organizational contexts on how to use social media in an effective way. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to describe and explain how social media has transformed the relationships between selected Swedish travel companies and their customers, and how these firms create and sustain value and relationships through social media. Furthermore, we will give implications for management on how to utilize social media to create and sustain value and relationships. The results of our research confirm that social media is transforming the relationships between firms and customers. From our findings we conclude that the customer has become more empowered, that interaction now occurs through a two-way communication and that social media has made industries and relationships more transparent. The results also indicate that firms do not realize the value that can be created through social media for the customer as well as for the firm. The use of social media among the interviewed firms varies with some firms using social media through many tools and some firms not using social media at all. Our findings implicate that being aware of what value is created and why the firm is involved in a certain social media tool increases the likelihood of success. The firm should further not be afraid to experiment with social media. However, social media also presents challenges. As social media is characterized by rapidly changing trends, it is difficult to predict what will happen not only in a distant future, but even so just a few years ahead.