About ACA Travel Agency

Discuss about the Australian Securities And Investments Commission.

ACA Travel Agency provides premium and economic quality services to people in the locality. The company was established in Australia in the year 1999. The company was first set up in Chatswood in the New South Wales. The company was started by Robert with a starting capital of about AUD$50,000. Robert’s friends, Samuel and Adam were the investors of the company. The company even rented a loan of 6% from ANZ to stabilise the financial condition of the company. In this regard, the officeholders of the company can be identified that have contributed greatly for the cause of the company.

The major officeholders that have helped in setting up the company consist of Robert and his two friends Adam and Samuel. The initial funding for the company was provided by Robert who had developed the company in New South Wales keeping in mind the success of travel agency in the country. The ownership of the company was based upon the signing of a legal contract set up between the owner and the investors. The company was registered under the guidelines mentioned in the ASIC and relevant fees were paid based on the legal laws governing the company. 

ACA Travel Agency is registered under the Registration of the Company Act. There are mainly two ways of registering a company. One method is by establishing contact with a private service provider and the other is by lodging a paper form with the assistance from the ASIC (Asic.gov.au 2018). ACA Travel Agency selected Registered Company business to gain certain advantages that include minimising tax liability and avoiding conflict with founders.

ACA Travel Agency provides opportunities to the customers by giving them various deals from which they can register their travelling experience in the city. The products of the company include Premium Business Package, Economic Business Package, Premium Sightseeing Package and Economic Sightseeing Package. The Premium Business Package helps the company to earn revenue of AUD$550,000. The annual maintenance of the company is estimated at 3% capital equipment with the annual tax rate of 30%. Analysis have shown that the cost of goods sold per year AUD$220,000.

The mission of ACA Travel Agency is to provide the customers with an authentic and enjoyable tourism experience while maintaining the sustainability of the environment. The sustainability factor plays an important part in the development of a successful business entity. The company tries to provide experience to the customers that they will cherish for life and retain their loyalty to the customers.

The vision of ACA Travel Agency includes:

• Being a leading travelling agency in the country
• Provide excellent customer service
• Lead holidays towards the eco-friendly environments within the country
• Maintain sustainability and environmental tourism
• Establish a strong and recognisable brand within the domestic market
• Built more competence and recognition in the international market
• Develop youth tourism
• Support the local people and workers by collaborating with them
• Set up partnership with the youth food movement

            In 20 years, ACA Travel Agency aim to attain certain goals that have been set up by the company. The goals include:

• Building a brand awareness and reputation along with a good image in the tourism industry
• Improve the relationship with the customers so that the company can maintain its success in the market
• Develop a website as in the modern world, people tend to follow the details provided in the website for the betterment of the organisation
• Provide quality services so that the loyalty of the customers can be developed

Chatswood is located in New South Wales and is a major business and residential area in the Lower North Shore of Sydney. The place is located 10 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local Government of Willoughby (Airbnb.co.in 2018). The business district of Chatswood reflects the high-rise building and crowded shopping centre. Thus, setting up a travel agency in this location can help in developing the area as well as help in gaining reputation of the tourism sector

Products of ACA Travel Agency

Chatswood attract tourists from all around the world and from the neighbourhood cities. Some of the exciting places that people can visit in Chatswood include Chatswood Golf Club, a sports centre set up mainly for the playing golf, Willoughby Museum that helps in with holding the natural history of the country and city, Lane Clove Tennis club that provides opportunities to be witness to some tennis matches. These places enlighten the importance of the place and try to develop a rich cultural heritage.

The distance of the above-mentioned places from the ACA Travel Agency ranges from walking time to travelling by bus or car. The local attractions, shopping centres and the museum have different ways following which the agency can be reached. Guests coming to the city from Sydney can board flights and reach the city by making contact with the travel agency. At 2.9 per square kilometre, ACA Travel can complete the entire tour of city within a day.

ACA Travel had been set up in 1999 and the company have evolved since that time. The renovation of the company was done a couple of years ago to remain aligned with the new technologies in the business. The fact that the company uses bus and local trains to help the customers travel from one place to another provides an opportunity for attracting tourists looking to travel in a pocket-friendly price.

The advantages provided by the location are the fact that Chatswood is one of the places that offers great scenic beauty. The existence of the museum provides opportunities for children and other tourists to learn about the history of the city. The infrastructure of the city is beautiful and it provides easy connection of roads to other cities in the country. However, certain disadvantages exist such as the renovation costs of the roads and railways. The fact that the city is located at a fair distance from the major cities makes it expensive to hire workers from the outside. The low population rate and the less opportunities for growth in career make most of the citizens’ travel to other parts of the world

In this section of this report a swot analysis of ACA Travel agency is performed. It is a matter of fact that when online ticket booking and hotel reservations were introduced, various business heads predicted that the travel business and the travel agents’ business is going do get deeply affected by this. The introduction of online ticketing and room booking has been under public access for more than 20 years now and the travel business have not been affected that much.  A swot analysis is being done for ACA travel agency whose management is looking forward to establish a new branch in Chestwood in New South Wales.

To mention the strengths of ACA travel agency capitalizing on which the management will establish a new branch in Australia are mentioned in this section (2014). It can be said that the employees of the organization have a detailed knowledge of the products they are selling to their clients and thus they can help their customers to make a correct decision.  The travel agents of the organization can help the client by allowing them to get different packages or services from the packages that they can book online. Apart from that, the websites and online promotions of the business organization made it globally recognized company. These pillars of strength of the organization are helping the management to establish a new branch in a foreign market.

Mission and Vision of ACA Travel Agency

There are numerous weaknesses of the organization ACA Travel agency which needs to be taken care of by the management before establishing a new branch in a foreign market. on of the major weaknesses of the organization is that there are there are many agents of the organization who proudly promise the clients of the company regarding providing exciting packages and services to get a contract or just to finalize a deal (Jin 2017). When the organization cannot fulfill those things that directly affect the reputation of the business and in tourism industry, the reputation of the organization helps to increase and maintain the customer base immensely.   The management’s inability to adapt to the market changes has become another major weak point of the company that needs to be solved to secure profitability in a foreign market.

There are various opportunities for the management of the organization to improve salability and to secure the profitability of the organization. If the management of ACA travel agency agrees to embrace the latest technologies that would significantly improve the situation and they would be able to attract more customers (Corones 2014). The management of the organization also can educate the clients regarding the exciting new packages they offer and how can the clients get benefits from the new packages and services provided by the organization. As they are going to expand their business in a new market, they will get the chance to motivate the young generation to seek help from them regarding travels as they can ensure the security that they would naturally seek.

In today’s world, the greatest threats that a travel agency can anticipate are the natral disasters and terrorism. In today’s world, terrorist activities are reducing the profitability of the travel agencies significantly, as these activities potentially decrease the needs of the travelers to travel the world. The global economic recession is also responsible for the individual’s reduced wish to travel as nowadays travelling can be seen as extra expenditure to many persons. The management’s inability to attract young generation to choose their organization as travel agency is another increasing threat for the organization; as until and unless they adapt to the latest technologies the situation would not improve.

ACA Travel Agency would target and segment its market based on three grounds, namely, type of customers, income of customers and destination wise. The first ground of segmenting the target market of ACA Travel Agency would be based on types of customers. The travelling company would serve both domestic and corporate customers. The company would aim to acquire domestic customers who visit places for excursions and relaxation purposes. The corporate customers would consist of business organisations, which send their employees out of stations for meeting and for excursions (Smith and Font 2014). The travel company would target customer based on their incomes. It would arrange premium travel packages for the upper class customers like stay in five star hotels. The travel packages targeting middle customers would consist of low cost tours and accommodation facilities.  The company would aim customers travelling to local destinations around Sydney and far off destinations. The tourists would also be able to avail car rental services when they go for sightseeing. Targeting both upper and middle class customers would allow ACA to earn huge revenue (Sozinova and Fokina 2015).

Chatswood – A Major Business and Residential Area in Lower North Shore of Sydney

The following are the licenses, insurance and legal requirements which ACA Travel Agency would require complying with in order to operate as a tour operator in Australia:

ACA would require acquiring licenses to operate successfully in Australia. The travel agency would need obtaining registration of operating in the capacities of travel agents, accommodation providers and tour operators (business.gov.au 2018).

ACA Travel Agency would require insuring its assets and employees to operate in Australia.  According to the Australian law, the company should acquire workers’ compensation, public liability insurance and third party personal injury insurance. The company must insure its machinery against breakdown and other eventualities, which can hamper the smooth operations of the business (safeworkaustralia.gov.au. 2018).

ACA would require complying with legislations like Competition and Consumer Act 2010, Australian Consumer Law, Trade Legislations and State Tourism Licensing. The travel agency would be dealing with a large number of stakeholders like consumers, insurance companies, hotels and governments. This means that the travel company should follow laws like Anti-Money laundering and Counter terrorism financing Act 2006. ACA would be required to comply with liquor laws, food standard laws and Quality Accreditation Laws to operate in the country (safeworkaustralia.gov.au 2018).

ACA Travel Agency would require complying with the Workplace Health & Safety Laws particularly the laws in power in Sydney to function in the country and employ human resources.  The WHS laws include Safe Work Act 2008, national marine safety laws and standard of safe driving practices (safework.nsw.gov.au 2018).

ACA should in addition to these registrations and licenses specified above should comply with financial laws like GST. The business firm should also comply with the laws functional within NSW.

Work health and safety or occupational health and safety include the migration and assessment of risks that can affect the health welfare and safety of the workforce and other stakeholders of a business organization in the workplace. There are some legal requirements that the business leaders should abide by to comply to the standards set by the federal government of the country where the organization operates.

1. It would boost the morale of the employees
2. It would help to increase the productivity
3. It would help to reduce company costs as having proper wh&s in organization would effectively reduce injury costs and employee compensation costs.
4. It would provide a positive environment in the workplace

In the market of Australia, it is seen that state and national laws cover equal anti-discrimination and employment opportunity (Shafiee, Rahimzadeh and Haghighizade 2016). The managements of the business organizations need to abide by these laws, because as a business leader, the owners should know the responsibilities and the rights under human rights and anti-discrimination laws (Jin 2017). Implementing these owners can surely expect to experience improved productivity and profitability as well.

Taking on the individuals who face troubles regarding employment is frequently looked at by the managements of the business organizations and can become an effective way to diversify the skills of them in the workplace (Corones 2014). The business leaders should require these laws to create a positive work environment within the workplace. The management should understand the funding and schemes of incentives should be available in the organization for the individuals who have any sort of disability. The human right commission of Australia also provides guidelines for staffing purpose for the business leaders.

Local Attractions in Chatswood

Merits of diversity in workforce

• Young generation at work
• Employees with matured age
• Individuals with disability
• Indigenous people getting employed
• Overseas recruitment

Australian Consumer Law (ACl) is the national law set by the federal government of Australia for protection of the consumers and for fair trading practices. The management of ACA Travel agency should abide by these laws to ensure the best interests of the company and to increase the reputation of the company (Shafiee, Rahimzadeh and Haghighizade 2016). The management of the organization should abide by the set standards and those are;

1. The company should use appropriate technical knowledge while providing the services
2. The management should ensure that the services they ae providing suits the requirements of the consumers
3. The management of the organization should be able to supply the services within the set time frame

When the management of ACS Travel agency receive a booking from a consumer, they would get into a contract where there will be terms and conditions of the deal. The contracts can be made by signing a document, clicking I agree button in the website or agreeing over phone.

The management of ACS Travel agency should provide an authorized bill to the customers in order to provide a proof of the financial transaction. The management of the organization should provide a proof where the name of the business, ABN or ACN of the management, date of contract and the products and services that are going to be delivered should be mentioned. The receipt can be delivered to the clients of the company either digitally or by providing a hhard copy of the bill (Corones 2014). In some occasions the customers can ask for an itemized bill that may include the prices for the services, the number of labour hours and the list of ingredients or materials used for delivering services; in short a break up of all the costs of the company. In such occasions, the management of the organization should provide such bills to the clients in order to avoid any types of legal consequences (Shafiee, Rahimzadeh and Haghighizade 2016).

There can be situations where the customers may want to cancel the order, and to avoid incurring loss, the management should include a cancelation policy in the contract to avoid incurring loss.

The communication plan of ACA would embrace all the stakeholders both external and internal. The internal stakeholders would include the management body of the travelling company and their employees. The extrenal stakleholders would incude the government, the investors, the contractors, suppliers, employee unions and society in general (dos Santos, Méxas and Meiriño 2017). The communication channel of the company would conists of two way communication which would consider thre requirements of both internal and external stakeholders. The communication channel would include:

1. Emails
2. Conferences
3. Cloud computing
4. Digital platforms like the official website of the company.

The following are the main stakeholders, which the company should communicate with to operate smoothly:

The management body of ACA is one of the most significant internal stakeholders. The employees of ACA should communicate all the siginificant market information to the management because they form strategies based on the information. The management strategies formed by the management provide direction to all the departments to operate. The members of the management use conferencing and email to communicate important data among them. The management use emails, meetings and teleconferencing to communicate information like instructions and directions to the middle level managers (Magli, Nobolo and Ogliari 2017).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Setting Up a Travel Agency in Chatswood

The communication channels, which managers use, consist of emails, teleconferencing and meetings. The managers would emails and meetings to gain instructuions and directions from the upper level management. They would provide feedback to the upper level management using various channels like teleconferencing and emails on the market information and employee suggestions. They would on the other hand use methods like meetings to communicate the directions from the senior management to their subordinates (Gasparyan et al. 2015).

The communication channel the travel company would use to communicate with the customers would depend on their types. The company would advertise its packages and offers on the official website to communicate them to both business and individual customers. ACA would also give special offers for its regular business customers and inform them about the same by letters. The individual customers who would express interests on the packages of the travel firm would be able speak to the agents on the helpline numbers available on the website of the company (Font, Garay and Jones 2016). The company would communicate customer specific information like dates of travel, special rates allowed to premium customers and discounts to loyal customers through emails to maintain their confidentiality.

The key stakeholders would consist of government bodies, financial institutes funding its operations, employee unions and local government bodies through letters and emails. The company would also incorporate new laws and policies it adopts in response to the feedback from these bodies on its official website (Cardwell, Williams and Pyle 2017).

ACA Travel Agency communicates sensitive business information to suppliers and contractors using communication channels like emails. When the company has to communicate with several suppliers simultaneously, it uses channels like telecommunication to communicate with them.

ACA communicates with its investors using emails and conference channels. This enables the firm to attract investment from these investors, which attribute the firm with its finacial strength.

ACA communicates with the society in general using channels like advertising to promote its corporate social responsibilities. This communication enables the travel company project it’s socially responsible image in the society, which boosts its goodwill (Font, Garay and Jones 2016).

The following are the factors, which ACA would consider while communicating with the different categories of stakeholders mentioned above:

ACA while deciding an appropriate communication channel to communicate with the stakeholders should consider the type of stakeholders. For example, while communicating directives of the apex management to the employees, the most appropriate method would be meeting. Official letters would be the most appropriate channel to communicate information to the local bodies and important business customers like MNCs (Cardwell, Williams and Pyle 2017).

ACA would require considering the data thefts and cyber security issues to form strategies to counteract them. The company should mandate all the users of its system and databases to use passwords to access data. The customers, both business and individual should be given login ids and passwords to access their accounts. This would ensure that hackers do not get access to the databases of the company (Gasparyan et al. 2015).

SWOT Analysis of ACA Travel Agency

ACA while choosing appropriate communication channels should consider cost to company as an important criterion. For example, the managers can communicate directives of the upper management using meetings. The travel company can opt for emails to communicate with individual customers. Thus, the communication strategy of the company should be aligned to the cost effectiveness strategy.

The production plan of ACA Travel Agency would be designed to meet the business requirements, steps of production and contingency plans.

The follwing are the key production issues ACA could face while operating in Chatswood:

1. Threats from the international travel companies like Thomas Cook, with bigger ranges of products to suit the needs of the different types of traveller. These bigger international companies enjoy stronger goodwill compared to ACA. Moreover, they provide wider ranges of products like travel packages, foreign exchange services and travel insurances, thus taking all round care of the customer. These establsihed international travel companies pose serious threats to ACA and its business production.
2. The next production issue, which ACA may face in the future, consists of competition from the other local travel companies, which provide similar offers to customers at almost similar rates.
3. The next issue consists of increase in rates of hotels and car rentals, which in turn raise the cost of production of the firm. This would compel the firm tio raise its prices which may repel middle class customers (Gasparyan et al. 2015).

The following are the steps of production planning which ACA should adopt the counteract the above issues:

1. The company must first conduct a study of the travel market to gain information about the present competitors both international and local.
2. The company must then study their strengths and weaknesses against its own strengths and weaknesses.
3. The company should form strategies to counteract these issues (Cardwell, Williams and Pyle 2017).

ACA must form contingency plan to deal with any unforseen situation. The following is a layout of a contingency plan, which the firm can adopt:

1. ACA must set aside a reserve fund to deal with unforseen situations, which are capable of having serious impact on its business. For example, if a car suffers breakdown, the company must be able to replace it with a new car to continue smooth tourist service.
2. The company must maintain an additional stock to ensure smooth travel services to customers. For example, if a certain accommodation gets booked, the firm must make arrangement in hotel of similar status (Gasparyan et al. 2015).
3. ACA must maintain supporting crew of important staff positions like travel guides to ensure that it is able to provide uninterrupted services to tourists in the event of injury of a guide due to accident.
4. The firm must maintain multiple sources of finances to provide it with business loans to ensure interrupted business production. For example, if a certain bank rejects a business loan application, the company should have the option of approaching a second bank for the loan sanction (business.gov.au. 2018)
5. Purchasing Plan

Purchasing Plan is one of the most important considerations of a company. A proper purchasing plan is utmost necessary to properly start and run the business accordingly (Beirman 2018). The management of ACA Travel agency will have to work with added responsibility to make sure that their new branch in Chatswood does not face any problems and the travelers can enjoy the ultimate experience while availing their services. The main objective of the purchasing department of the organization will be to reduce costs but also provide the best services within the most competitive pricing policy. The most effective policy of ACA travel agency will be to mark out and select the most appropriate suppliers and products to meet the demands of the customers. The selection of the right persons is important to manage the purchase methods of the organization. The purchasing department of the organization has a number of tasks under its belt which includes;

1. Identification of the need for purchase
2. Selection of the things to purchase
3. The selection of the proper set of suppliers after considering the quality, price and the time within which the suppliers can supply the materials
4. The ordering of the goods
5. Check the condition of the materials after receiving them
6. Inspection of all the necessary documents on receiving the purchased items
7. Recording the items purchased after every such agreement

ACA Travel Agency must purchase the necessary items with responsibility without disturbing the local community, the environment and the customers. The company must appoint a purchasing team led by some experienced individuals to avoid any unnecessary disturbance that may hamper the cause of the travel agency. Proper maintenance of all the necessities will help the organization to provide a wonderful experience to the service users as well as ensure their sustainability in Chatswood.

Some of the main principles that must be considered by the organization while purchasing are;

1. The most important consideration is the need of the travel agency for making the purchase
2. The agency must keep into consideration to purchase products from those suppliers who promote healthy purchasing procedures and ensure least or partially no damage to the environment
3. The agency must keep in mind to purchase most of the necessary items from the local vendors and suppliers by ensuring quality and guarantee of the products. This helps them to ensure the delivery guarantee.
4. The management of ACA Travel agency must also ensure to buy energy efficient and technologically sound products to gain a competitive advantage over the other rivals in the market.
5. The travel agency must make necessary arrangements or sign agreements with the Government or other agencies to operate their business in a much smoother way

The terms and conditions must be addressed clearly so that the management does not face any problems while communicating with the suppliers, as well as the service users of the organization.

1. Supplier Responsibilities- The supplier to ACA travel agency must ensure tto provide the best services or products whenever necessary and within time to maintain a steady and healthy relationship and increase the scope for further business.
2. Problem in Supply- Any problems in supply must be addressed in the appropriate manner to make sure that no problems arise in delivering proper services to the tourists. The motto of the organization must be to provide the best service to the tourists.
3. Compliance of the rules and Regulations- All the rules and regulations must be followed and inked by both the management of ACA Travel agency and the suppliers according to the present laws. The legal terms and conditions must be clearly mentioned within the written documents and must be clear to both the parties to avoid any misunderstandings in the future. It is utmost important for the organizations to carry their operations under the laws to avoid any complications.

The purchasing procedure of a travel agency must follow a number of steps to ensure the success of the organization. The process in which ACA travel agency will purchase the goods will help the organization to gain success in their maiden business operation in Chatswood. Some of the main process includes;

1. Initiate the process of purchase
2. Identification of the suppliers
3. Obtaining the necessary information about the suppliers
4. Selection of the supplier
5. Provide the purchase order to the selected supplier
6. Making necessary agreements with the supplier specially with railways, restaurants and many other as such
7. Checking the quality and terms of the service
8. Making the necessary payment

`Contingency Planning is an alternative planning to a certain event in case of unforeseen circumstances that cannot be predicted earlier. Every company irrespective of the sector to which they belong always has a ready contingency planning to avoid any slip ups (Lee et al. 2015). The mentioned Travel Agency must prepare a contingency plan before they start their commercial operations. Before the preparation of the plan they must consider some key elements like;

1. Inform the tourists of the latest developments
2. Keep adequate substitutes to cope up with the crisis
3. Must make sure to obtain the signature of the tourists before the start of the tour in case of any emergency situation
4. Must have efficient and experienced people in the ranks to avoid or face such challenging situations

In general there are lots of suppliers to a travel agency on which the company is dependent for getting right kind of supplies. The suppliers of a travel agency may include;

1. Airlines
2. Hotels
3. Cruises
4. Railways
5. Restaurants

However the report here specifically discusses about Chatswood which is a business district near Sydney. Therefore the main suppliers of ACA travel agency will be;

1. Railways- Railways will serve an important backbone of the organization as because the area is well connected by a number of railway lines. The Northern and Western lines of the Sydney Train network connects the area.
2. Metro- Sydney Metro which is under construction passes through Chatswood can be one of the attractions of the city.
3. Buses- Apart from the Sydney buses the company has also plans to place order for a number of super luxury buses to meet the demand of the tourists. The buses will surely be an easy source of transportation to a number of different tourist attractions of the mentioned area.

Apart from this there are a number of other suppliers without whom the company will be unable to operate. This includes the suppliers of necessary equipments, office furniture, legal advisors, secondary dealers and many as such.

Total Quality Management refers to a particular system of management which considers a particular policy that each and every member of the organization irrespective of his post must be dedicated to maintain a high standard of work in each and every aspect of the different operations of the organization (O’brien 2015). Tourism activities in Chastwood have a huge prospect and the fact that it has been unexplored until now is the main reason for ACA travel Agency to open their branch in this modern business district of Sydney. The involvement of a large number of local and international participants, tour operators, travel guides will help the area to be one of the best tourist attractor (Ayazlar 2014). Thus it is the primary importance for the management off ACA to focus on the quality management to ensure their success as well as sustainability in the new area. Service delivery, Quality, demand of the customers and proper communication are thus very much necessary elements to ensure a proper quality management for the organization.

The company thus has to use the principles of quality management to achieve accreditation of the International Standards of the Organization (ISO) and also the global recognition of the quality of tourism services (O’brien 2015). The International standard recognition will help the company ensure that all the activities of the management of the following business will be determining the objective, quality, policies and responsibilities to represent them in the quality specific system that includes the quality, planning, quality control and many more as such. The implementation of the Total Quality Management system for ACA Travel Agency will help the management of the business to effectively work in coordination with all the departments and lead the company towards performance and success. However the main aim of the quality management is to ensure the ultimate satisfaction of the customers and provide them with high quality services so that they are satisfied enough to avail the services again in the future (Cerny 2015).

There are risks in the travelling business, which needs to be responded at a faster rate regarding the happening of the events. The risks need to be monitored on a continuous manner so that it can be mitigated and the business can be done in an efficient manner. The company needs to have a better understanding regarding the procedures and policies by providing training to the staffs and monitoring their movements on a continuous manner.

It is important for the company to use the tools that are present in communication in an effective manner. This will help the company in communicating with the necessary departments at the time when they are in danger and the process of mitigation can be done effectively. The company needs to take help of an online software platform known as Travelport Locomote, which will help the company in tracking their employees in an efficient manner. It will also help in giving alerts to the designated personnel when the cars along with the clients are going towards the destinations that are highly risky. Additionally, the managers of the company need to be proactive so that they can mitigate the risks when they proceed to the destinations that have risks in it.

The company will try to educate the staffs regarding the systems of management and the processes that are present in their procedure so that they have a prior knowledge of the policies that are being followed within the organization. The programs related to educating the employees regarding risks will help the company in providing them a knowledge regarding the correct procedures that needs to be taken up at the time of an emergency situation. This strategy will help the ACA Travel Agency in mitigating the risks that are associated with their company.

The tour packages that are in the mountainous terrain has to have a guide or an employee who has a training till level one in mountain guiding. This will help the company in providing guidance to the clients who do not have any knowledge regarding the mountaineering activities. The senior management panel of the organization needs to have a supervisor who has completed a course in Mountain Guiding 3 so that they can provide all forms of assistance to the staffs.

The package that includes sightseeing in wilderness areas will be accompanied with a staff that has better knowledge regarding the reading and using of GPS instruments. It will help the staff in guiding the clients towards better experience in the forest adventures by reading the maps and using the compass in a better manner. This will ensure that the customers can be guided in a safe manner and necessary personnel can be contacted when there is an emergency situation. The staffs will also be trained in a course known as Wilderness First Responder (WFR), which will help in providing guidance to the staffs regarding the illness or accidents that may take place among the customers. The staffs will manage the crossing of rivers within the forested area in an efficient manner and proper safety measures will be taken up so that it does not cause any loss of life such as with the help of rope.

According to Parmenter (2015), Key Performance Indicator (KPI) refers to certain measures that compare the performance of a particular organisation or the product it serves. In the case of ACA Travel Agency, the staff and employee KPI is measured by the percentage of wage cost and the total labour hours. The training KPI is measured by analysing the cost required for the training of the employees so that they can be effective for the organisation. At the same time, the quality of services provided make up the purchase KPIs for the company.

The Finance Authorisation Policy in which every transaction is recorded calculates the finances of the company. This policy needs to be read keeping in mind the benefits it provides from other financial plans. The bank account policy also needs to be followed keeping in mind the rules and regulations of ANZ bank.

To ensure that the business continuous in a legal manner, ACA Travel Authority requires a comprehensive HR policy that needs to be formed based on the legal obligations of the law. Policies such as Equal Employment Opportunity, Security of personal details, Occupational health and safety needs to be maintained by the company. 

For the purchasing purpose, it is necessary to review the purchasing method of a company. The purchasing method need to be loan free so that a company does not have any problems during its financial crisis (Monczka et al. 2015). A monthly review of the debtors can help in analysing the financial condition of the company and the required amount that is due for the company. In the case of ACA Travel Agency, the purchasing of products required for continuing the business includes high-tech machinery for ensuring smooth travel of the customers.

Recordkeeping includes the financial maintenance of business records. According to Cox (2015), this includes the transaction of the finances in which copies are maintained that highlights any financial transaction made by the company. Business record keeping includes analysing the contracts and legal papers that are essential for maintaining a legal business in the country.

This includes the training of staffs and the services provided by the company (Dale 2015). The quality of service of ACA Travel defines the satisfaction of the customers. Apart from this, the training needs to be provided based on the fire and emergency escape as well as meeting the needs of the customers. Thus, this helps in ensuring the management of quality for the company.

Record keeping should a very important component of all the business operations of ACA Travel Agency. The following are the different areas where record keeping would find important applications:

The travel company is required to maintain the records on work health and safety risks as per safety laws in power in Australia. The Model OHS laws mandate companies to maintain records and reports all the accidents that happen to workers on duty. The act requires all the companies adopt ways to ensure employee safety to minimise work place accidents and employee injury. The Model OHS Act also mandates companeis to train their employees on risk avasion (safework.nsw.gov.au 2018). These legal mandates require firms like ACA maintain records on risk management, take appropriate action and report the same to the local government. Some of the documents, which business organisations maintain to record injuries, are risk register and injury register.

The firms like ACA require maintaining complete records of their employees like information like educational qualifications, their work expirience and future professional goals. This record keeping enables the managers to allocate tasks among their subordinates and review their perfromances. This analysis shows that recording keeping enables ACA deal with critical processes like WHS and HRM (Cardwell, Williams and Pyle 2017).

The company staffing comprises of the staffs and managers that are concerned with the welfare of the company. The budgetary controls and the manner in which the travels need to be arranged are done with the help of planning that concerns the requirements of the organisation.

The finance plan for the company will be based on various assumptions, which are as follows:

• The economy growth in the regions is slow and the possibility of a recession is not present within the area
• The popularity of the travel agency will not change within the area, which may cause a drop in the revenue sales
• The tax rate in the area is calculated at 30 percent
• The cost of goods sold of the company will be 40 percent on the total sales
• The investment and finance access for the company is enough, which will help in meeting all the criteria that are present in the finance plan that are displayed in the table

The break-even sales for the company will happen in the fourth year and specifically after 3 years and 2 months.

Marketing plan is the business document, which outlines the marketing strategies and tactics (Kim et al. 2014). The purpose of marketing plan for ACA Travelling Agency is to set the marketing strategies and tactics to be used for opening a new branch in Chatswood, Blackdown in Sydney. It will help the organization to give a clear picture of the services to be offered to the new customers in the new location. The purpose of this marketing plan is also to set the specific target market for customizing the services of the organization to the customers. Apart from that, the marketing plan will also give an overview of marketing budget to be incorporated in the new business plan of the organization.

Product defines the items, which actually meet the needs and demands of the customers. The unique offerings of the product items facilitate an organization in gaining competitive edge over the rivals (Smith and Font 2015). In case or ACA Travelling Agency, the organization will offer unique service offering to be new customers Chatswood, Blackdown in Sydney. Moreover, the organization will offer both business travel package and individual travel package. In case of business travel package, the organization will offer different types of tripping plan for the business purpose of the business persons. On the other hand, in individual travelling package, the organization will offer local sightseeing, honeymoon package, holiday package and lot more.

Price is the amount, which the customers want to spend in acquiring the products from a specific organization. It is extremely important for an organization to set effective pricing to enter in a new market (Luxton, Reid and Mavondo 2015). Moreover, price sets the perception of the customers towards the products, which also set the sales potential of the products. In case of ACA travelling agency, the organization will use price penetration strategy for entering in the new market of Chatswood, Blackdown in Sydney. In this pricing strategy, the organization will keep the price of the travelling package low initially for gaining competitive advantage over the rivals. However, the organization may increase the price over the time depending of the customer acceptance of the service.

Place refers to the location from where the customers access the products and services of an organization. The success of an organization is highly dependent on the convenience of the place to the customers (Kitchen and Burgmann 2015). Moreover, the place should be accessible enough to the customers in terms of getting access to the products. In case of ACA Travelling Agency, the organization will use both offline and online medium to make the service available to the customers. In case of offline medium, the organization will be able to book their package by going into the physical stores of the organization within Chatswood, Blackdown in Sydney. Apart from that, the organization will also have online options, where the customers will be able to book their travelling package through the website of the organization.

Promotion is extremely important for an organization to enter in new market. Effective promotional strategy helps an organization to convey their product and service offerings to the customers effectively (Kumar 2015). In case of ACA Travelling Agency, the organization will use print media and mass media for promoting their services to the new customers of Chatswood, Blackdown in Sydney. Moreover, the organization will use television commercial, radio advertising, newspaper, magazines and many more. On the other hand, the organization will also use social media and digital media advertisement by using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and many more for promoting the service offerings to the customers.

• To expand in new market for gaining new set of customers
• To improve product awareness in new market
• To increase the overall market share by 20% within next 3 years
• To increase the sales volume by 25% within next 2 years

Affordable pricing is an effective marketing tactic, which can be used by the organizations for creating a positive image on the mind of customers regarding the products and services (Porcu, Del Barrio-García and Kitchen 2017). Hence, ACA Travelling agency will use affordable pricing for enhancing the sales volume of its services.

Behavior driven marketing message meets the unique needs of the customers as per their unique purchasing behavior (Valos et al. 2016). Hence, ACA Travelling Agency will use behavior driven marketing message as per customized purchasing behavior of the customers. In this way, such messages will attract the customers differently as per their different purchasing behavior.

The organization will personalize their website as per the unique behavioral aspects of the customers. The website of the organization will be easy to operate by the customers. It will help the customers in getting all information about the service offerings of the organization. It will encourage the customers to initiate a purchasing action of the services.

Finely tuned target audience helps an organization to customize the products and service offerings for gaining high level of competitive advantage (Hänninen and Karjaluoto 2017). In this way, ACA Travelling Agency will also set highly targeted market segment for better serving the market in a customized approach.

Table: Target Market of ACA Travelling Agency in Chatswood, Blackdown in Sydney

(Source: Created by Author)

ACA Travelling Agency will target the customers from the urban areas, as the people mostly from town area are willing to travel the most. The age of the customers will be between 25-60 years. The price of the service packages will be medium. Hence, the organization will target the people having medium to high income source. Apart from that, the business people having need for business conferences will be targeted in this organization. Furthermore, the honeymoon couples, who are willing to spend time together in a memorable place, will be the target of this organization. Moreover, the organization will target the customers having positive personality towards their life, which will encourage them to travel.

Newspaper and Magazine advertisements are extremely important for reaching to mass customers in a cost effective manner (Bruhn and Schnebelen 2017). Hence, ACA Travelling Agency will use newspaper and magazine advertisements towards communicating with the mass customer sections in Chatswood, Blackdown in Sydney. Newspapers and magazines are used by the people daily. Hence, these advertisements will be visible to mass customer section within the specific location.

Mass media advertisements are used by the organizations to reach to mass customer section. ACA Travelling Agency will use this mass media advertisement to reach the vast majority general public. The organization will use the mass media platforms like TV commercial, Radio and many more. Such advertisement media will help the organization to reach at mass customer segments within least possible time.

Social media advertisement is the most effective way of reaching mass customers through social networking services (Bacile, Ye and Swilley 2014). ACA Travelling Agency will use social media advertisements for reaching most of the young generation customers, social networking sites are the parts of everyday life of such customers. Hence, the organization will better reach such customers through social media advertisements. Moreover, the organization will also be able to reach huge customer segment within least possible time.

Pricing strategy is extremely important for shaping the perception of the customers about the products and services. Effective pricing strategy shapes the positive perception of the customers towards the products. ACA Travelling agency will use affordable pricing strategy for making the travelling packages affordable to the customers. Moreover, the organization will initially use price penetration strategy, where the organization will use low cost for the travelling packages to gaining competitive edge over the rivals. The price of Premium business package will be $100000 and the price for economic business package will be $150000. For premium sightseeing, the organization will charge $120000 price for the customers.

Figure: Marketing Plan per Year

(Source: Created by Author)

Figure: Marking Budget

(Source: Created by Author)

Airbnb.co.in 2018. Chatswood, Sydney Guide – Airbnb Neighborhoods. [online] Available at: https://www.airbnb.co.in/locations/sydney/chatswood [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].

Asic.gov.au. 2018. Steps to register a company | ASIC – Australian Securities and Investments Commission. [online] Available at: https://asic.gov.au/for-business/registering-a-company/steps-to-register-a-company/ [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].

Ayazlar, R.A., 2014. Dynamic packaging applications in travel agencies. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 131, pp.326-331.

Bacile, T.J., Ye, C. and Swilley, E., 2014. From firm-controlled to consumer-contributed: Consumer co-production of personal media marketing communication. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 28(2), pp.117-133.

Beirman, D., 2018. Collaborative approaches to government travel advisories in Australia between Australia’s travel industry leadership and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2003–2017. Journal of Vacation Marketing, p.1356766718757271.

Bruhn, M. and Schnebelen, S., 2017. Integrated marketing communication–from an instrumental to a customer-centric perspective. European Journal of Marketing, 51(3), pp.464-489.

Cardwell, L.A., Williams, S. and Pyle, A., 2017. Corporate public relations dynamics: Internal vs. external stakeholders and the role of the practitioner. Public Relations Review, 43(1), pp.152-162.

Cerny, R., 2015. Method and system of planning and/or managing a travel plan. U.S. Patent 9,009,167.

Chance, D.M. and Brooks, R., 2015. Introduction to derivatives and risk management. Cengage Learning.

Coenen, P., Gilson, N., Healy, G.N., Dunstan, D.W. and Straker, L.M., 2017. A qualitative review of existing national and international occupational safety and health policies relating to occupational sedentary behaviour. Applied ergonomics, 60, pp.320-333.

Corones, S.G., 2014. Competition law in Australia. Thomson Reuters Australia, Limited.

Cox, R., 2015. Record keeping for best practice. Travel and tourism, 11(4), pp.211-215.

Dale, B., 2015. Total quality management. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

dos Santos, R.A., Méxas, M.P. and Meiriño, M.J., 2017. Sustainability and hotel business: criteria for holistic, integrated and participative development. Journal of cleaner production, 142, pp.217-224.

Font, X., Garay, L. and Jones, S., 2016. Sustainability motivations and practices in small tourism enterprises in European protected areas. Journal of Cleaner production, 137, pp.1439-1448.

Gasparyan, A.Y., Yessirkepov, M., Diyanova, S.N. and Kitas, G.D., 2015. Publishing ethics and predatory practices: a dilemma for all stakeholders of science communication. Journal of Korean medical science, 30(8), pp.1010-1016.

Glendon, A.I., Clarke, S. and McKenna, E., 2016. Human safety and risk management. Crc Press.

Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

gov.au. 2018. Tourism industry fact sheet. [online] Available at: https://www.business.gov.au/info/plan-and-start/develop-your-business-plans/industry-research/tourism-industry-fact-sheet#keylegislation [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].

Guinart García-Talavera, R., 2016. Modelling travel time in Brisbane’s públic transport network.

Hänninen, N. and Karjaluoto, H., 2017. The effect of marketing communication on business relationship loyalty. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 35(4), pp.458-472.

Holma, A.M., Bask, A. and Kauppi, K., 2015. Ensuring corporate travel compliance–Control vs. commitment strategies. Tourism Management, 51, pp.60-74.

Howells, G. and Weatherill, S., 2017. Consumer protection law. Routledge.

Jin, L., 2017. Marketing Plan Development for Online Travel Agency ToursForFun.

Kim, K., Hayes, J.L., Avant, J.A. and Reid, L.N., 2014. Trends in advertising research: A longitudinal analysis of leading advertising, marketing, and communication journals, 1980 to 2010. Journal of advertising, 43(3), pp.296-316.

Kitchen, P.J. and Burgmann, I., 2015. Integrated marketing communication: Making it work at a strategic level. Journal of Business Strategy, 36(4), pp.34-39.

Kumar, V., 2015. Evolution of marketing as a discipline: What has happened and what to look out for. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), pp.1-9.

Lai, I.K.W., 2014. The role of service quality, perceived value, and relationship quality in enhancing customer loyalty in the travel agency sector. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 31(3), pp.417-442.

Lee, W.S., Moon, J., Lee, S. and Kerstetter, D., 2015. Determinants of systematic risk in the online travel agency industry. Tourism Economics, 21(2), pp.341-355.

Luxton, S., Reid, M. and Mavondo, F., 2015. Integrated marketing communication capability and brand performance. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), pp.37-46.

Magli, F., Nobolo, A. and Ogliari, M., 2017. Alternative Performance Measures and ESMA Guidelines: Improving Stakeholders’ Communication. International Journal of Business and Management, 12(12), p.15.

McMurrian, R.C. and Matulich, E., 2016. Building customer value and profitability with business ethics. Journal of Business & Economics Research (Online), 14(3), p.83.

McNeil, A.J., Frey, R. and Embrechts, P., 2015. Quantitative risk management: Concepts, techniques and tools. Princeton university press.

Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015. Purchasing and supply chain management. Cengage Learning.

O’brien, J., 2015. Category management in purchasing: a strategic approach to maximize business profitability. Kogan Page Publishers.

Owen, M.S., Bailey, T.S. and Dollard, M.F., 2016. Psychosocial Safety Climate as a Multilevel Extension of ERI Theory: Evidence from Australia. In Work Stress and Health in a Globalized Economy (pp. 189-217). Springer, Cham.

Parmenter, D., 2015. Key performance indicators: developing, implementing, and using winning KPIs. John Wiley & Sons.

Porcu, L., Del Barrio-García, S. and Kitchen, P.J., 2017. Measuring integrated marketing communication by taking a broad organisational approach: The firm-wide IMC scale. European Journal of Marketing, 51(3), pp.692-718.

Safe Work Australia. 2018. Model WHS Laws. [online] Available at: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/law-and-regulation/model-whs-laws [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].

SafeWork NSW. 2018. Work health and safety legislation. [online] Available at: https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/law-and-policy/legislation-and-codes/work-health-and-safety-legislation [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].

Shafiee, M.M., Rahimzadeh, S. and Haghighizade, R., 2016, April. The effect of implementing SEO techniques and websites design methods on e-tourism development: A study of travel agencies e-tourism websites. In e-Commerce in Developing Countries: with focus on e-Tourism (ECDC), 2016 10th International Conference on (pp. 1-8). IEEE.

Smith, V.L. and Font, X., 2014. Volunteer tourism, greenwashing and understanding responsible marketing using market signalling theory. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 22(6), pp.942-963.

Smith, V.L. and Font, X., 2015. Marketing and communication of responsibility in volunteer tourism. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 7(2), pp.159-180.

Sozinova, A.A. and Fokina, O.V., 2015. Special aspects of studying the internet as a marketing communication channel of the service industry. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(4), p.139.

Valos, M.J., Haji Habibi, F., Casidy, R., Driesener, C.B. and Maplestone, V.L., 2016. Exploring the integration of social media within integrated marketing communication frameworks: Perspectives of services marketers. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 34(1), pp.19-40.

Winter, B. and Moffitt, M., 2017. Corporate law: Absence of adequate risk assessments result in $1 million fine. Governance Directions, 69(3), p.174.

Yuan, Z.E.N.G., Zong-bao, L.A.N., Li-hua, S.I., Yu, G.U.O. and Chang-lian, W.E.I., 2014. SWOT analysis on E-commerce system evolvement for Chinese rural tourism in the big data age. Journal of Southern Agriculture, 45(8).

Bibliography