The Current External Industry Environment for Travel Agency Business in New Zealand

THE CURRENT EXTERNAL INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT FOR TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS IN NEW ZEALAND Executive summary This report provides an analysis of the current external industry environment for travel agency businesses in New Zealand. The research outlines the important factors for the business environment in terms of P.E.S.T and Porter’s 5 Forces. Under these two types of analyses, P.E.S.T analysis points out that Profitability and Marketing are the two key findings in Economic Factors while Information Communication is more considerable for investors with respect to Technological Factors. Porter’s 5 Forces identifies the competitiveness and a balance of powers among the travel agency business industry (Michael, 2008). The key factors stated above would help investors to have a better understanding about the travel agency businesses in New Zealand. Introduction New Zealand is a vacation paradise attracting a great many travellers from all over the world. Given this great advantage of natural resources, travel agencies are needed to help local and foreign travellers to book flight tickets, arrange accommodations and tours. As travel agencies usually offer discounts and good services to customers, travellers prefer to book tours through agents rather than on their own (TAANZ, 2011). There are many existing successful travel agencies in New Zealand such as Flight Centre, Star Travel, Harvey Travel World and so on. Investors can either choose to by an existing franchise of the travel agencies or establish own business. No matter which way the investors are following, understanding the key information about the external travel agency businesses environment is essential for investors before putting money in the market. Discussion How profitable is it? Being profitable is a key factor for a business to keep competitive advantage in the travel agency industry. Therefore, financial reports of a company or the whole industry are

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The current external industry environment for

References: Boyes, N. (2010). Travel agency sets up Student Flights brand in city. Waikato Times, 13. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre. Cheyne, J. , Downes, M. , & Legg, S. (2006). Travel agent vs internet: What influences travel consumer choices? Journal of Vacation Marketing, 12(1), 41-58. Retrieved from Business Source Premier Database. Flight Centre forecasts 40pc pre-tax profit increase. (2008).Northern Territory News, 027. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre. Franchising Starting a travel agency. (2006).Retrieved from http://pinoyfranchising.blogspot.co.nz/2006/09/franchising-starting-travelagency.html Medcalf, G. (2005). Bums on Seats. NZ Marketing Magazine, 23(2), 14-16. Retrieved from Business Source Premier Database. Michael E, P. (2008). The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shapestrategy/ar/1 New Zealand Tourism Board. (2010). Tourism New Zealand 3 Year Marketing Strategy. New Zealand. Oppermann, M. (1999). Databased marketing by travel agents. Journal of Travel Research, 37(3) , 231. Retrieved from Business Source Premier Database. Travel Agents Association of New Zealand. (2003). Comments to the New Zealand Commerce Commission on the proposed Air New Zealand/Qantas Alliance. Auckland. Travel Agents Association of New Zealand. (2011). Annual Report 2011. Auckland. 7 The current external industry environment for travel agency business in new zealand Research Annotations Research Annotation 1 – A source that I cited in your report Reference Using alternative communication technology with suppliers and consumers can make the workings more efficient (Cheyne, Downes, & Legg, 2006) I found the source in Business Source Premier Database. Using the keywords “Travel agency” as the SU Subject Terms. “New Zealand” as the Geographic Terms. And “Profit” as the third key word. This article is useful for my report because it talks about the relationship between travel suppliers and consumers. Also points out the transformation from traditional travel agents to online booking agents. In addition, this article outlines a large demand in travel agencies in New Zealand, as discussed in the Discussion part in this report. Search Strategy Annotation Research Annotation 2 – A source that I cited in your report Reference However, every agency is selling holiday packages with a low profit margin and they need a large number of customers to gain profits in order to survive in the market (Oppermann, 1999). I found the source in Business Source Premier Database.Using the keywords “Travel agency” as the SU Subject Terms. “New Zealand” as the Geographic Terms. The article is useful for my report because it talks about travel agencies used data-driven strategies to keep customer loyalty. Also indicates how travel agencies promote the products and how to attract new customers, as discussed in the technology part in this report. Search Strategy Annotation Research Annotation 3 – An academic source that I did not use or cite in your report Reference Search Strategy Annotation For example, some agencies offer face-to-face consultation while some prefer calling to customers. I found the source in Business Source Premier Database. Using the keywords “Travel agency” as the SU Subject Terms. The article talks about different travel destinations offered by a wide range travel agencies. But I found that all agencies discussed in the article are in America rather than in New Zealand. To comply with the instructions of the report, we can only discuss the external business environment in New Zealand. Therefore, the source is not acceptable for this report.