Business BFTA Travel - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2006 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Case study Did you like this example? 1.0 Executive Summary May 31, 2009 marks the grand opening of Business and Fun Travel Agency (BFTA) and will strive to be the primary travel agent to service people in the Central North America, specifically the Pine Bluff, Arkansas area. BFTAs potential success relies on the annual growth in the travel industry. Further, the Pine Bluff traveling needs are expeditiously increasing due the growth in its business economy. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Business BFTA Travel" essay for you Create order More and more companies are paying for employee development which in turn, will afford BFTA the opportunity to take advantage of the travel ripened environment. The Pine Bluff area and its surrounding states have a large concentration of vacation resorts. BFTAs target market is a unique group and BFTA will provide a specialized and thus differentiated service. BTFA will strive to stay competitive in this industry, and anticipates yielding about $250,000 within its 1st year of operating. 2.0 Introduction BFTA is a travel agency that will service not only the business district, but personal travel seekers as well. We provide consulting and custom business travel arrangements as well personal vacation packages. BFTAs strive to become the most elite provider of traveling market to the people of the Pine Bluff, AR. BFTAs employees and owner are prolific travel individuals, as well as keen business professionals. 3.0 SWOT Analysis 3.1 Strengths BFTAs owner has a great reputation in this industry. His experience and the network of valuable connections he has developed will contribute greatly to BFTAs success. BFTA will be ideally located. The Pine Bluff, AR is a mid-size city with and fairly large business district. In addition, Pine Bluff is located 45 miles from the Little Rock, AR and less than two hours from Hot Springs. The Arkansas River surrounds the state. Also, Pine Bluff is conveniently positioned in close proximity to Tennessee, Texas, and Kansas City. These geographic features will continue to attract potential customers. The BFTA team is experienced in the business travel business and in vacation resorts. Initially, BFTA will be owned and operated by, Craig Russell and his wife La Shanna Russell and an Assistant Amber Hunter. Both Mr. and Mrs. Russell a very vast knowledge of business travels as well as relaxing vacation spots through personal and business related experience. Moreover, they are both willing to sacrifice extra time and effort to build a successful business. BFTA will offer profit sharing as well as an excellent benefit package to its ground-floor members. BTFA will also in the future utilize small businesses to stimulate the economic growth in the area. BFTA is extremely confident that the traveling market will continue to grow. A vast majority of the population is beginning to travel significantly whether it is business or leisure. 3.2 Weaknesses BFTA is a start-up and the odds are stacked against small start-up companies. With limited staffing, they will be faced with long hours for little pay during the first two years of operation. Preliminary estimates of sales and expenses suggest that BFTA will remain financially stable. However, BFTAs cash position, which will be particularly vulnerable in year one. 3.3 Opportunities The national traveling market is growing annually, and preliminary estimates suggest that the Pine Bluff area will continue in this area. BFTA plans to begin this effort via a World Wide Web campaign in the first year of operation and commence to obtain a diverse clientele group. BFTA has the management and staff to produce a top-quality service. Only to increase its employee base gradually over time. 3.4 Threats The Internet provides consumers the ability to plan and arrange trips for themselves. This, in turn poses to potentially lesson the need for BTFA professional services. Economic recession would threaten BFTAs sales as consumers will decrease the travel/vacation significantly. 3. 5 Competitors Aside from the Internet, BFTA has approximately 3 immediate competitors in the greater Pine Bluff area: Travel Time: Based on the east coast, Travel Time is well known in the Little Rock area. They have serviced the area for many years and have an excellent reputation for customer satisfaction. However, their packages are expensive and appeal primarily to a high-income clientele. Fun in the Sun: Based in Chattanooga, TN, Fun in the Sun is a traditional agency and has been in business for 10 years. They deliver fairly good quality of service however, they have a high personnel and management turnover and the lack of a clear plan for future growth. Travel Inc.: Global was established in 2001 and has successfully established themselves as traveling industry. Global has done a good job positioning itself through successful marketing communications and management. However, they are based in the Hot Springs area which has a very competitive travel environment. 4.0 Environmental Analysis 1 Business Travel Overall, business travel comprises 18 percent of total U.S. domestic person-trips. Business person-trips are most often taken for general business purposes (likely for consulting, client service, etc) (44%). One in five (22%) business person-trips are taken for the primary purpose of attending a convention, conference or seminar. One-third (34%) of business person-trips are made by those traveling for combined business and pleasure purposes. One-third (32%) of business person-trips include air transportation. One in six (17%) business trips include multiple adults from the same household; 10 percent include children under 18. (Sources: Domestic Travel Market Report, 2004 Edition; Business and Convention Travellers, 2004 Edition) Vacation Package Travel: One quarter (23%) of past-year travellers (33.3 million adults) say they bought a travel package within the past three years that is, a trip including at least transportation and a place to stay all in one price. The average age of a package traveller is 43 years and the gender breakout is almost even (47% men, 53% women). A majority (68%) of these travellers are married; 24% are single, never married. Half (51%) have children in their household. Four in ten (43%) have a college degree or more education. The average annual household income of a package traveller is $72,400. Nearly 80 percent of all air business travellers say their company has one or more business travel policies in place. One-third said that one or more of these policies were implemented in just the past year. Examples of these new restrictions include limiting the class of air service that can be used (14%), requiring U.S.-only travel (31%), limiting travel per diems (19%), restricting the number of employees traveling (25%), and requiring/recommending they drive instead of fly (34%). The improvement in online business communications has accelerated the use of technology as an alternative to takin g business trips. Business travellers are turning to the Internet for the best airline ticket price, with almost half of all business air travellers personally purchasing their ticket online at least once in the past year. (Sources: https://www.tia.org/pressmedia/domestic_a_to_z.html#b) 5.0 Target Market According to the 3Queensland Australia site, adventure travellers are 61 percent male, aged 40.5 years, income of $74.7K, 22% married, 7% with kids under 12, 91% full time employed, 79 % college graduate, has 28 annual vacation days, spends $5076. There are over 52, 000 people in BFTAs local target market. BFTA will focus on the sale and promotion of traveling market primarily to individuals, but also to corporate clients in the Pine Bluff area. BFTA will also target the following groups: Couples and individual traveling marketers: This is the customer group that meets the demographic profile for traveling marketers ages 18-35, marriedw children, or single and with household income greater than $50,000. BFTA will also target Group traveling marketers, corporate traveling marketers and local businesses in an attempt to secure corporate accounts. BFTA plans to focus its initial efforts on the traveling market in the greater Pine Bluff area. As BFTA grows, marketing effo rts will expand. The major purchasers that fit BFTAs target market are located in urban areas within these states: Tennessee, Texas, Kansas, Alabama, and Georgia. 6.0 Market Research Research on the travel and tourism industry will be purchased as necessary. Demographics and spending patterns of traveling marketers have been secured and used to formulate communications strategy. BFTA will conduct customer surveys when a specific research problem is identified. BFTA subscribes to several industry publications and will attend trade shows to stay abreast of relevant issues. Domestic travel accounts for approximately 50% of industry revenues. Business travel can be divided into two categories, the medium to large corporate account, and the small independent business owner. Leisure travellers are classified according to the types of trips they take, income, or age. The four primary leisure travel groups are: Adventure, Special-Interest, RR, Honeymoons Sightseeing Trips High-Income Travellers Budget-Conscious Travellers Families, Students Seniors According to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) estimates total U.S. Travel expenditures at $733.9 billion, up from $699.9 billion for 2006. Based on these and other figures, BFTA estimates the Pine Bluff traveling market to be approximately $2 million annually. BFTA estimates that it will capture a 20% of this market. 7.0 Marketing Strategy BFTA marketing strategy is to build a strong customer satisfaction base. BFTAs primary focus is that of business travel. BFTA strives to reach consumers search for personal traveling for vacation as well. BFTA wants to establish itself as the core of our customer base and give them a sense of confidence knowing that BFTA will provide all of their traveling needs. Our goal is to keep smiles on our customers faces and provide a comfort in our customers in knowing that are getting the best unparalleled service which includes saving time and money, and confidence in the vacations success. 8.0 Marketing Tactics Develop brand recognition through the use of effective advertising, marketing communications and promotion by using the following resources Use the internet and paper flyers, and local radio and televisions stations advertising campaign Team up with established companies to conduct promotions and giveaways Develop and promote BFTAs website. The availability of information and the ability to schedule and purchase online will be beneficial to the customer and BFTA. Customer satisfaction program . Focus BFTAs efforts on customization of traveling market and utilization areas of expertise. BFTA would rather recommend that a potential customer purchase elsewhere than provide a trip outside of its expertise. . Follow-up with customer after the sale would create a positive influence for repeat purchase Corporate account acquisition Will utilize small businesses as much as possible to diversify BFTAs sources of income. Utilize corporate giveaway promotion. Trips will be awarded as prizes and will be promoted via local radio 9.0 Implementation and Control 9.1 Implementation BFTAs grand opening event will take place in the second quarter. This will be a combined effort with an affiliated resort, one of BFTAs strategic alliances. The event will be hosted by a local radio station and will include a prize giveaway of a traveling market package. BFTA will begin its corporate account marketing in the second quarter and hopes to secure at least one corporate account during that time. BFTAs website should be operational by the middle of the third quarter of operation. The website will be capable of online transactions with secure site protections. BFTA banners will be placed at several World Wide Web locations. Tracking of ad exposure will begin in the first month of Web operation. BFTA has a designated 800 number that is only used in advertising. 9.2 Control BFTAs marketing efforts will be reviewed quarterly. Variance between sales goals for the first year of operations and revenues will be BFTAs only real source of comparison. BFTA will seek customer feedback on marketing efforts and may conduct surveys or focus groups to test ad effectiveness. Owner and CEO Craig Russell will be responsible for the planning and implementation of BFTAs Advertising, Communications, and Promotion activities. Ms. Hunter will work under the supervision of La Shanna Russell and will oversee the marketing activities. BFTA may use marketing consultants from a local firm (small businesses where possible) to help with strategy. 10. Summary Business and Fun travel Agency will be the best in the business. We are a team that knows the business and has a good understanding about quality. Our work ethics has and always will speak volumes as far as the capacity of which we value our customers. We are dedicated to the success of our company in turn focuses on of customer satisfaction. We look forward to services all of travel and vacation needs. See you in May of 2009!

The Controversy of Same Sex Marriages Essay - 1160 Words

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DVD vs VCR Essay Example For Students

DVD vs VCR Essay DVD vs. VCR: As time changes, so do advances in technological devices. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the area of popular entertainment wherehome videos are found in nearly every Americans home. The fact that manypeople own home videos isnt as intriguing as the type of equipment that isbeing used to view these videos. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-* Copyright DueNow.com Inc. *Category:TechnologyPaper Title:DVD vs. VCRText:As time changes, so do advances in technological devices. Nowhere is thismore apparent than in the area of popular entertainment where home videos arefound in nearly every Americans home. The fact that many people own homevideos isnt as intriguing as the type of equipment that is being used to viewthese videos. At one time video cassette recorders were commonplace in homesacross the U.S., but nowadays, a trend towards a new device is making headway;digital video disk players. The videos these two devices play may be the same,but there are also stark differences between the two. The first television sets hit households in the U.S. in the late 1930s andby the 1970s the first videocassette recorders, more commonly referred to asVCRs, hit the market. Marshall Brains website Howstuffworks.com states;When people think about the history of television, there are a handful ofevents that stand out as extremely important. The VCR marks one of the mostimportant events in the history of television because, for the first time, itgave people control of what they could watch on their TVs. This is acomment that is widely accepted by a wide variety of people worldwide. BeforeVCRs, consumers had to watch what the broadcast stations decided to put on thescreen but with VCRs, these same people could now buy, and record their favoriteshows and view them whenever they wish. VCRs work by storing video informationon a plastic cassette filled with an 800-foot roll of oxide-coated Mylar tape. The VCR reads this tape and projects its information onto a television where theuser views it. Putting information onto videocassettes is easy enough thatnearly all-new VCRs are capable of doing so. VCR prices can be found below $100 and videocassette prices hover around tendollars at many large retailers across the Midwest. A major reason for this isthat VCRs have been available for years and competition to make cheaper VCRshave driven down the prices. Also, new advances in technology have led to newdevices again driving down the prices. The storage space that VCRs consume ismoderate when compared to other types of multimedia, but the videocassettes takeup more room because of their composition. Operating a VCR is a common routine in middle class America mostly becausethey have been around for so long. Manufactures have been coming up with new,interesting features to keep users coming back. Some of these include,automatically skipping commercials, programming a VCR to record in conjunctionwith a TV guide, and allowing a VCR to start and stop recording at particularpreset times. Nearly every major retailer carries videocassettes from exercise videos togreat American classics like Gone With the Wind and Casablanca. VCRs are oftencommon at places like Best Buy, Circuit City, Target and countless other stores. The availability of VCRs and videocassettes is better today than it ever hasbeen. In the future, VCR and videocassette prices will continue to drop asmanufacturers keep devising new ideas to appeal to their customer base. Bybecoming commonplace in homes across the United States, VCRs have a strongholdon the market but with new technologies hitting the shelves, VCRs forecast forthe future bears a burden. .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 , .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 .postImageUrl , .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 , .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173:hover , .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173:visited , .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173:active { border:0!important; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173:active , .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173 .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u05b37bb7a526f971505802a3c889a173:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Reconstruction EssayLeading these new technological devices is digital videodisks recorders morecommonly referred to as DVD players. These players become available to thepublic in the early to middle 90s and have grown in popularity ever since. The major problem with digital versatile disk players is that most people dontknow what they are and why they are superior to their current media players. John Ross book DVD Player Fundamentals claims, DVD or DigitalVersatile (Video) Disc is a new audio/video/data format that promises tooffer consumers more quality, flexibility and value than any other previous homeentertainment format.(3). Simply put, DVD surpasses any type of home videoplayers on the market. With DVD players, consumers can still buy and watch their favorite showsrepeatedly but with distinct advantages. For example, many current DVD playershave features not available on VCRs because of their digital characteristics. One of these more interesting features is zoom. With this feature, users canpause a video and zoom in on a particular area between four and 12 times. DVD players work by reading information stored on a disk digitally. The disksthemselves, look identical to conventional compact disks, but store more thandouble the information. Since DVD technology uses digital disks, they can playnot only videos but also audio compact disks. One downfall of this complexdigital media is that manufacturers have not yet found a way to record onto adisk using a conventional DVD player. Experts predict this feature will becomeavailable in the near future. Prices for DVD players start just above VCRs at $100. Multi-disk DVDplayers can cost as much as $1000 dollars depending on their size and features. The newest type of DVD media to hit the market has been portable DVD/TV devises. These look similar to laptops and contain a television screen, speakers, and aDVD player in one unit. The size of an average DVD player is close to a VCR in width and length, butis slimmer when it comes to height. The disks themselves take up considerablyless room than VHS cassettes because they are sold in slim cases similar tocompact disks. Operating a DVD player isnt as easy to many people as operating a VCR. This is due to new features such as digital sound control, scan, chapter search(similar to a table of contents in a book) and zoom. As their popularity grows,using them will most likely simplify. Currently, well over half of all video rental stores have DVD disks for rent. This is a sure sign that DVD media is here to stay. Almost every new computer issold with a DVD drive and all the major motion picture companies are releasingolder VHS cassette tapes on DVD. Will this trend continue to snowball and pickup more and more of the home entertainment market share? Many experts say yes. The hurdle DVD technology must first clear in a path to success is convincingthe public to switch from their trusty VCR to the new, improved advancement inhome entertainment, DVD!-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-