Outsourcing in tourism. Control work outsourcing in tourism. The main tasks of outsourcing in the field of business corporate tourism
The first of September is one of the annual peaks in the retail flower market. "If we compare holidays in terms of revenue, on March 8 we receive more than on September 1, but, of course, this day is very important for the flower business. In one day, we can recoup the proceeds of several days, or even months, ”says Olga, administrator of the flower department in mall in SVAO. However, in the past few years, fewer and fewer parents are buying bulky bouquets on a ruler - The Village found out if flowers are needed on the First of September in 2018 and what teachers think about this tradition.
"One bouquet would be enough"
Galina Kuprina
teacher primary school
In the first grade, all children come with flowers, in the second-fourth - from 40 to 70%. I leave a little in the classroom for beauty and comfort, and the children are pleased to see that their bouquets decorate the classroom. Flowers are always nice, I think that one bouquet from the whole class would be enough.
In general, I do not consider it necessary to receive something on holidays. If parents still have a desire to please their teacher, then the best gift there would be a purchase of various educational games for children: we have breaks for 20 minutes, many would be interested, and this unites the team.
Tatyana Naumova
teacher literary reading, school "Makarun"
There used to be more colors, but I think this is more of a traditional "it's supposed to be" setting. Some I usually leave at school, some I take home. In fact, I would have preferred candy or a jar of salted caramel - I got one for March 8th and it has been my best friend for the last quarter. In general, our school participates in the action "Children instead of flowers", and as a person working with children, this idea seems to me the best in the world - to give the amount spent on flowers to people who really need it. I think I will end as a teacher if I start measuring the love of children and their respect by the number of bouquets.
Vera Potopaeva
History teacher, Moscow School No. 57
Some classes decide to give the teacher one bouquet, some bring money and flowers, because they believe that the bouquet is still a mandatory attribute of the holiday, why deprive the child of joy. But usually this is in the lower grades, the older ones are already calmer. Our school has been participating in the action of the Vera Foundation "Children Instead of Flowers" for several years. So there are fewer bouquets, and more benefits.
Olga Shcherbakova
primary school teacher at school No. 2120
They usually give a lot of flowers, I used to leave them in the classroom, they filled all the window sills in the office and quickly withered. Since last year, we have been participating in the “Children Instead of Flowers” campaign and collecting money that could be used for bouquets to help sick children. Now on September 1st I get one bouquet and I don't need any other gifts. This is a holiday for children in the first place, not for teachers.
Konstantin Makienko
teacher of Russian language and literature, GBOU school No. 1500
This year, together with the parent committee, we decided that we need to take part in the “Children Instead of Flowers” campaign. Flowers are a pity, otherwise the money will go to a good deed. Parents register on the site, indicate the number of children who take part, and then they can independently send any amount to the fund's account.
It's nice that this action is not from the category of those that come according to the order. In this case, I just suggested to my parents, and they gladly supported this idea. Bouquets are a fleeting pleasure, from which there is not much use. And with this action, there is hope that we will provide at least some drop of help to those in need.
Maria Zamotina
primary school teacher
Our school has an initiative group of parents that oversees all issues. The system as a whole is as follows: parents buy by bouquet class teacher and subject teachers, that is, the story about the fact that someone will have 20 bouquets on the First of September is basically impossible for us. In general, the topic of gifts for teachers is rather slippery. Often parents make some kind of present to teachers (and about the same story about flowers) out of fear that their child will be treated with some kind of neglect. That is, this is not even a formal gift, but a solution to some problems, a way for parents to deal with their inner anxiety. The teacher feels obligated - the whole situation is ridiculous. Basically it is a form of pressure. Again, all this is transmitted through the child - and if I can refuse an adult, then you can’t explain this to a child in any way.
"We help children regardless of the dates on the calendar"
Elena Martyanova
PR Director of the Vera Foundation
When we said three years ago that the tradition of September 1 is changing, it seemed a bit of an exaggeration: after all, the rule to come with a bouquet somehow sits very deep in us. This year, our action "Children instead of flowers" is already five years old. We invite schoolchildren to come to the line with one flower and then fold these flowers into one big beautiful bouquet for the teacher. The main thing - we do not get tired of emphasizing this from year to year - participation in the action should be agreed with everyone: both the teacher and the parents should not be against it.
Every year more and more participants join the campaign - this year there are already 330 cities - therefore, more and more families with seriously ill children receive assistance from the fund. Last year there were 463 such children - these are children not only from Moscow, but also from various cities of Russia.
August is a very hot time for us: parents, teachers call us, clarify some details. For example, there are parents who have been helping the foundation for a long time or simply participate in charity and know how important it is. When they see a promotion, they offer it in the parent chat. And this is an occasion to start a conversation about why funds exist, which funds should be trusted and which should not - these are normal questions that people usually have. We are glad that these questions exist, because this is the beginning of our dialogue with people.
We help children regardless of the dates on the calendar - December 1, September 30 or March 10, these children need help all the time. Expendable materials for devices, special food - on average, one child spends from 30 to 50 thousand rubles. And this, of course, is unaffordable money for many families, where one of the parents must constantly be with the child. Often these families still have children. Therefore, we are immensely grateful to everyone who joins this action.
Ivan Anufriev took part in the work on the text
In the context of the global financial crisis, many Russian enterprises are forced to work in the strictest economy mode, significantly reducing and optimizing their costs, incl. and corporate travel: business trips for employees, seminars, conferences, etc.
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In the context of the global financial crisis, many Russian enterprises are forced to work in the strictest economy mode, significantly reducing and optimizing their costs, incl. and corporate travel: business trips for employees, seminars, conferences, etc. Companies whose activities are inextricably linked with frequent business trips are trying in every possible way to reduce their cost using all possible means. In particular, many top managers consider one of the most effective "recipes" for reducing the cost of business tourism refusal of intermediary services of travel agents and transition to a full self-service in matters of organizing business and corporate events. In turn, travel companies operating in the domestic event market argue that it is much more profitable for enterprises to transfer all functions for preparing corporate trips to outsourcing, because. in this case, their budgets for corporate travel can be reduced by 20-30%.
Let's try to find out which approach to business tourism is more economical. For help, we turn to professionals at CAPITAL TOUR, a large Russian multidisciplinary tour operator that has been actively working in the field of business travel for a long time. Our consultant is Vyacheslav Beltyukov, Deputy Director of the Corporate Services Department of CAPITAL TOUR.
And we have self-service
The self-service policy in a corporate travel organization is used by many Russian companies regardless of their size and status. In these firms, all the tasks of preparing individual business trips employees and corporate events are performed by secretaries, employees personnel services or specially created for this unit. Conscious refusal to cooperate with travel- and event-agents, as a rule, is motivated by a steady habit of this form of work and the conviction that the involvement of intermediaries is inexpedient and financially unprofitable.
According to marketing research, during any economic downturns and crises, most enterprises increase the number of their business trips, because. there is a need to search for new partners, markets, etc. Naturally, as the number of trips increases, so do the costs of travel, which is highly undesirable given the shortage of funds. It goes without saying that businesses are starting to look for ways to reduce business travel costs: buying the cheapest flights, booking rooms in low-class hotels, consolidating business trips, reducing their duration, and so on. Do companies manage to significantly reduce budgets for corporate travel in this way? “Of course, the use of these methods allows companies to save money,” comments V. Beltyukov, however, the cost of business travel could be even less if the company entrusted the organization of its business tours to professionals. Firstly, in this case, the company would be able to get rid of hidden personnel costs associated with its inefficient use. Agree that the secretary or other employee of the enterprise, who is not a professional in the field of travel, has to be distracted for a long time from performing their direct tasks. official duties and spend too much time on solving "non-core" tasks: studying the offers of hotels and airlines, comparing prices, discount data, reading reviews, getting acquainted with flight schedules, conducting telephone conversations, which, by the way, are also expensive, etc. Secondly, the company would protect itself from the mistakes that are too often made when booking airline tickets or hotel rooms on their own and then lead to additional cash costs or even trip disruption. Thirdly, the enterprise would be able to avoid costs that it may not even be aware of. For example, when purchasing airline tickets and hotel rooms at seemingly low rates, the company actually overpays, because. from individual customers, in addition to the cost of living, hotels also charge a booking fee of 10–20% of the room price, and airlines offer ticket prices a priori higher than tour operators. For comparison: the difference in the cost of the same air ticket can be a thousand rubles or even more.
It turns out that self-service in matters of corporate travel organization is definitely unprofitable for companies, and it is better to delegate these functions to professionals. “I would not be so categorical,” says V. Beltyukov. - If we talk about business trips, then some companies may well manage on their own. If the company is located locally and its work is not associated with frequent business trips around the country and the world, a self-service is more suitable for preparing the necessary rare business tours. In such cases, it is unprofitable to resort to the help of travel agents, since the need for their services appears only a couple of times a year. Another thing is corporations, where corporate travel is an integral part of the business on which they depend. normal functioning. It is certainly better for such companies to outsource their trips. This will allow you to take advantage of all the benefits that cooperation with a professional travel company and extract the maximum profit. As for corporate events(organization of conferences, seminars, etc.), then here I definitely recommend that all companies turn to professionals, since it is simply impossible to prepare any large-scale and serious event on their own.
Pros and cons of outsourcing
First, let's try to evaluate all the advantages that the delegation of authority to organize business trips gives to travel business professionals. First of all, a travel company is able to offer its corporate clients effective tools to reduce corporate travel costs. Tour operators have direct contracts with air carriers, hotel chains and other travel service providers, which allows them to book hotels, flights, conference venues, etc. at exclusive low rates, seek big discounts for its customers and thereby minimize the client's expenses for air travel, accommodation, transfers, etc. "In addition to direct economic benefits, enterprises receive indirect benefits from outsourcing," notes V. Beltyukov. "First of all, travel agents provide A complex approach to the organization of business travel and corporate events. Orders are carried out on a turnkey basis and are accompanied throughout their entire length. In addition to booking air and railway tickets, hotel rooms, conference rooms, etc., travel agencies take care of a whole range of organizational issues: settling visa formalities, renting transport for transfers, meeting at the airport, providing services of an interpreter or secretary, planning leisure activities according to the wishes of the customer, processing insurance documents, searching for restaurants closest to the hotel where you can spend business breakfast etc. You also need to take into account such an important thing as the possibility of consolidating all your orders from one operator, which is very convenient for companies with a solid volume and a vast geography of business trips. For example, CAPITAL TOUR organizes tours in more than 40 tour operator destinations, in addition, we have guaranteed quotas of places on flights and in hotels in many countries, direct contracts with suppliers of various travel services. This allows us not only to quickly and reliably fulfill the orders of our corporate clients even during times of high business activity, for example, during international exhibitions but also to minimize their costs. Taking on the processing of a new order, we can almost always offer the client several alternative flight and accommodation options, even if we are talking about the need for an employee to leave on a business trip in the next few hours."
The advantages of outsourcing in organizing business tourism are obvious, but what are its advantages in relation to corporate events? Is the use of travel agency services prerequisite to prepare a field conference, seminar, training, etc.? "Professional intermediaries can be omitted only if the company has a small event, for example, a one-day round table with a small number of participants, during which no special equipment, translation services, etc. are required. ", - Mr. Beltyukov believes. - Here you can manage on your own. But if you plan a large-scale conference or seminar, possibly multi-day, with a large number of guests, including from different regions or countries, requiring the involvement of any special resources, etc. .d. - it is simply unrealistic to organize them on your own, you need to definitely resort to outsourcing, because this not only guarantees the event to be held at the proper level, but also helps to significantly reduce its budget. "
What are the benefits for companies to cooperate with an attracted agent for organizing a conference, seminar, etc.? And how to find a reliable partner for preparing an event? The greatest opportunities for solving such problems, of course, have large tour operators specializing, among other things, in corporate services. Collaborating with such a company to organize a conference or seminar will be the most beneficial. “Indeed, the potential, for example, of our company in the tourism market is very high,” V. Beltyukov confirms, “thanks to this, we can organize any mass event in the most different countries world and on a variety of venues: from a modest business hotel to an ancient castle or a luxury yacht. We have all the necessary contracts to provide all kinds of non-standard services. Thanks to our own hotel and flight quotas, we are able to organize corporate events with a large number of participants, even in the most popular tourist destinations during the "high season". For delivery to the conference a large number participants, we can book a separate charter flight. We provide an integrated approach to the implementation of each application - from concept development to its implementation. But, most importantly, we guarantee maximum optimization of the client's budget by changing the cost of individual services included in the order and using discounts provided to us by airlines, hotels, etc."
As can be seen, the delegation of authority for the preparation of business travel to travel companies is very beneficial. However, outsourcing also has disadvantages. One of the "minuses" of this approach is the impossibility of completely shifting all the worries about organizing business trips, conferences, seminars, and so on to the shoulders of the tour operator. Firms still have to release human resources to coordinate all issues arising in the course of interaction with the travel agent. But in this case, the volume of labor costs of those responsible for corporate travel is already incomparably less, they simply serve as a link between the travel agent and the people going on trips. “If the volume of travel for a company is large enough, it is beneficial for it to have an employee in its staff who will manage business trips in accordance with the adopted travel policy, maintain contacts with tour operators and other involved partners, and monitor their fulfillment of their obligations,” V. Beltyukov: “With a sufficiently long cooperation between the firm and the tour operator, the basic principles of joint work are eventually developed, and the need for constant monitoring is minimized.”
Another disadvantage of outsourcing, according to the heads of many enterprises, is high price intermediary services. However, market research and analysis of the offers of companies specializing in organizing corporate travel suggests that the remuneration of travel agents is usually no more than 5% of the total amount that the customer pays under a corporate service agreement. Everything else is the real cost of paying for specific travel services as part of trips, which, as we have already understood, can really be significantly reduced only in cooperation with tour operators. “The professional experience we have accumulated shows that in any case, when an enterprise outsources the preparation of its business trips to travel agents, it minimizes its costs,” says V. Beltyukov. “This is especially true during the crisis, when all business travel operators are focused on helping their clients cut their budgets as much as possible where it is possible and necessary, and at the same time increase the efficiency of their events. Travel companies achieve the most favorable conditions from travel service providers, they try to offer the corporate client all possible saving options, sometimes even to the detriment of their own profits. By working effectively with suppliers, the tour operator can provide significant cost savings to the client. For example, spending on hotels and transportation can be reduced by 10%–20%. And due to competent logistics and a professional approach to corporate travel administration, a reduction in budgets by business tourism can reach up to 30% of the pre-crisis indicators.”
Thus, we can conclude that the organization of business tourism through outsourcing allows companies not only to optimize their expenses for business trips, but also to extract the maximum profit from them. Only a professional travel agent is able not only to ensure that business trips and events are carried out at the proper level, but also to help effectively use the purchasing potential of their client to obtain the most favorable conditions from travel service providers.
Reference
CAPITAL TOUR is a diversified international tour operator operating in the field of business tourism since 2750-0_bgblur_003. The company has a Corporate Services Department that offers its customers a full range of business travel services, incl. aircraft rental, air tickets booking, visa processing, ground handling, public events in Russia and abroad, etc.
CAPITAL TOUR operates in more than 40 destinations and has regional offices in 39 major cities of the Russian Federation, as well as in Riga and Minsk. Having extensive opportunities and capacities of a multi-profile tour operator, the company guarantees a highly professional organization and service of business trips of any scale and level.
The CAPITAL TOUR portfolio includes numerous conferences, forums, trainings and seminars held in different countries - Singapore, Indonesia, Croatia, UAE, India, Europe, Dominican Republic, etc. The number of participants in some events reached 15750-0_bgblur_00 people. CAPITAL TOUR is the official travel partner of many Russian enterprises and institutions, incl. Russian Football Union. The company serves government orders with a total volume of more than 6750-0_bgblur_00 750-0_bgblur_000 750-0_bgblur_000 rubles. Her professional liability is insured for 30,750-0_bgblur_000 750-0_bgblur_000 rubles.
In the business travel market, CAPITAL TOUR is known as one of the leading service providers in this area and is positioned as a Travel Management Company (TMC). The company provides enterprises with services aimed at reducing customer costs for business travel, optimizing and controlling budgets. Corporate clients of CAPITAL TOUR are also very interested in additional services offered by the operator, such as the production of tourist gift certificates, which can be used as a valuable gift to a partner, as a bonus tool for employees, etc.
