Executive Summary
The Harvard Branch of Continental Travel is located 30kms east of the CBD on the busy main shopping strip in Harvard and has been operating for only 6 weeks and is still very new to the area. The Branch is open from 9:00am to 5:30 pm each day, and closes at 6pm on Fridays and it is not open on the weekend. The customer demographics represented in the suburb, are from low socio-economic through to high income, with the two key demographic groups that characterize the area, young families with toddlers and primary school aged children also older families with adolescent children in their mid teens to early twenties. There have been a number of new facilities recently built catering for the needs of these two groups and for the growing population of Harvard which include a new child care center for the younger families, a new retirement village for the aging population and a new multi level shopping center at Harvard Park consisting of 500 retail outlets.
The predominant ethnic profile of cbd marketing agency Harvard is Anglo-Australian with a significant percentage of first, second and third generation Greek and Italian-Australians and more recent, the profile has expanded to include an increasing proportion of new immigrants of Chinese and Vietnamese origin.
The Harvard Branch had been staffed by personnel from the neighboring branches with no previous working relationship consisting of long-serving employees with an average 7 years experience and of short-term staff. All the staff have Anglo-Australian background except for one of the Part Time Travel Associates who is of Greek origin. Although the attrition rate within Continental’s Branches is within the average range, there has been a slight increase in turnover over the last 2 months, in particular with the more junior members of the team. Recent satisfaction surveys indicate a 65% staff satisfaction level and 54% staff advocacy.
At present, Harvard does not have a customer base although some of the Senior Travel Consultants have brought a number of their clients over to the new branch with them; this is still insufficient to sustain their own targets, let alone the performance of the entire branch. Most travel inquiries received to date all appear to be interested in domestic holidays, with some of the inquiries made for international travel destinations.
1. Situation Analysis
Australians have been known to be avid travelers and it is not uncommon to find that most Australians have lived overseas at some point in their lives, with the majority traveling overseas for a vacation at least once every 3 years with those within the 20-35 age category undertaken international travel at least every 1-2 years.
The terrorist attacks on September 11,2001, caused significant turmoil in the travel industry especially on international travel and within Australia the effect of this promoted an increase in domestic tourism. The sales of travel insurance also increased whereby Continental made a significant loss in the 6 months after 9/11across all its operations, with a 20% downturn in sales.
The collapse of Ansett Airlines impacted greatly on the domestic tourist market as it reduced the capacity of the domestic airline industry, which caused a loss in confidence in the domestic airlines. The war in Afghanistan and the Bali Bombing, the 2004 Tsunami in Asia brought about further decline in international travel, particularly to the Asian region being one of the premier tourist destinations for Australian travelers. The confidence of Australians to travel abroad is expected to make a very slow recovery given these events making it very difficult for travel agencies to meet their sales targets and still promote growth.
The staff profile within Harvard Branch needs strengthening, as the teams have not worked together previously. The staffing mix needs to reflect the culture and demographic of Harvard where most of the population are of Italian, Greek, Chinese and Vietnamese origin. At the present all staff is of Anglo-Australian, except for one of the Part Time Travel Associates who is of Greek origin. Although the attrition rate within Continental’s Branches is within the average range, there has been a slight increase in turnover over the last 2 months, particularly with the more junior members of the team. Recent satisfaction surveys indicate a 65% staff satisfaction level and 54% staff advocacy.
2. Marketing Summary
Typically the travel and tourism market is normally separated into two main categories, business and leisure travel. Each would normally contribute about 45% to total revenues. The remainder is generated from combined business/leisure trips. The market is further separated into domestic and international travel. Domestic travel accounts for approximately 70% of industry revenues. Business travel can be divided into two categories, the medium to large corporate account, and the small independent businessman. Leisure travelers are classified according to the types of trips they take, income, or age. The four primary leisure travel groups are:
1. Adventure, Special Interest, R&R, Honeymoons & Sightseeing Trips.
2. High-Income Travelers.
3. Budget-Conscious Travelers.
4. Families, Students & Seniors.
3. Market Demographics
The Harvard Branch of Continental Travel is located 30kms east of the CBD. While a wide range of customer demographics are represented in the suburb, from low socio-economic through to high income, two key demographic groups characterize the area: young families with toddlers and primary school aged children, and “empty nesters” – older families with adolescent children in their mid teens to early twenties. There have recently been a number of facilities built, catering for the needs of these two groups. For younger families, a new childcare centre, and for the ageing population a new retirement village and nursing home have been established. A multi-level shopping centre, Harvard Park, has also just opened, with over 500 stores now operating.
The predominant ethnic profile of Harvard is Anglo-Australian with a significant percentage of first, second and third generation Greek and Italian-Australians. More recently, the profile has expanded to include an increasing proportion of new immigrants of Chinese and Vietnamese origin.
Harvard Branch is located on the busy main shopping strip in Harvard and is Continental’s newest branch in the State, having opened just six weeks ago. As such, it does not have an existing client base. The Branch is open from 9:00am to 5:30 pm each day, and closes at 6pm on Fridays. It is not open on the weekend.
The staff profile within the Harvard Branch appears divergent, but is not atypical. Personnel from the neighboring branches have staffed the Branch and as such, the teams have not worked together previously. There are a high proportion of long-serving employees, with an average 7-year tenure, together with an equally significant percentage of short-term staff. All staff are Anglo-Australian except for one of the Part Time Travel Associates who is of Greek origin. The attrition rate within Continental’s Branches is within the average range, although there has been a slight increase in turnover over the last 2 months, particularly with the more junior members of the team. Recent satisfaction surveys indicate a 65% staff satisfaction level and 54% staff advocacy.