The role of a Tour Operator or, indeed, what is a Tour Operator, seems to be rather a grey area right now. Not to us but to others, apparently.
For many years we had followed a practice which seemed logical to us when we began working in travel, whereby we would be contacted by those wishing to travel to a destination and those contacting us would expect us to have sufficient knowledge to answer any questions to satisfy themselves that they indeed would book the holiday we had been discussing with them.
Of course this is not possible without the valued help and advice by what are today known as Destination Management Companies (DMC) It is imperative for the sake of achieving a booking and a great holiday, that the Tour Operator has faith in their DMCs ability and skills to achieve that good outcome. However we as the Tour Operator are in a different position and need local knowledge, the advice of others who might have special knowledge of the destinations. Much as our clients expect us to have a knowledge of the destination, and we do by visiting countries as often as possible, they are not usually interested in the body of knowledge available to the DMC, or, even a special advisor, it is our knowledge they rely upon when talking to us about their plans for a holiday, which perhaps is to be expected. 30 years + of working this way without a single real problem indicates that our way of working is successful.
However things were rather different when we began our Inbound to Wales tour company www.walesbeckons.co.uk. Here there seemed to be some questions over what is a tour operator. There did not seem to be any which worked in the same way as we had been doing in our Outbound company and some were not offering ‘package tours’ or even ‘tailormade’ tours as we understood them. Companies which offered day or short trips or other activity based interests, were considered as tour operators. After long discussions with Visit Wales www.visitwales.com the tourism arm of the Welsh Government, we were glad to be acknowledged as Tour Operators and included on their website and their trade website. This recognition is appreciated and we at Wales Beckons are happy to be working hard to promote Wales as a destination in its own right.
