Back to Basics: Components of a Tour (2025)

• October 20, 2020

All month, we’ve been highlighting basic concepts from various areas of travel. This week, we’re considering the building blocks of successful tours and FITs.

Tours require the combined skills and resources of many people. What do they consider in choosing the components of the tour, and how are the pieces put together?

For a thorough examination of this topic, we suggest you enroll in The Travel Institute’s Travel Introductory Program, the TRIPKit®. But, today, we are taking a quick snapshot of the all-important components of a tour.

If you were developing a tour, what would you include? Obviously, the answer depends on the intended market. Some tours offer a minimum of elements; others are all-inclusive. Let’s take a look at some options:

• Transportation. Most tours include transportation as part of the package. A fly/drive package combines air transportation and a car rental. An air/sea or fly/cruise combines air and ship transportation; a rail tour includes transportation by train; a motor coach tour uses buses to carry tour participants from destination to destination to visit major attractions. Many tours also include transfers to and from airports, hotels, and rail stations.
• Itineraries. Tours tend to use one of three types of itineraries:
  —A circle itinerary brings travelers back to their starting point via a different route. Passengers experience varied sights and places throughout, without retracing their steps. This approach suits tours that aim to cover a broad area, such as “Highlights of Central Europe.”
  —An open-jaw itinerary begins and ends in different places. For example, a “Highlights of Italy” tour might visit Milan, Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome, without returning to Milan. This type of itinerary works well when returning to the starting point would mean retracing steps or visiting less-desirable locations.
  —A hub-and-spoke itinerary is an increasingly popular approach. Travelers set up their base at a hotel in one city for several days and take day trips into the surrounding area, thus avoiding packing, unpacking and moving baggage. They also might spend one night away from the home base. The hub-and-spoke approach allows travelers to explore a region in depth. For example, on a “Highlights of France” tour, travelers might be based in Paris and take day trips to the numerous sights within striking distance of the City of Light, such as Versailles or Giverny.
• Accommodations. Proximity to sightseeing attractions, transfer services, parking for the motor coach, and accessibility for travelers with disabilities may all be important in selecting hotels for a tour. Hosted and independent packages usually offer participants a choice among several hotels in different price ranges. On escorted tours, participants stay together at a hotel.
• Meals. Tour operators can cutcosts substantially by requiring tour participants to pay for their own meals or by adjusting the kind of meals offered. A tour operator that includes five dinners and five lunches is offering more than an operator that includes 10 breakfasts. A tour operator that permits an unlimited choice from the menu (à la carte) is offering more than an operator that arranges a set menu or limited choice.Meals plans are detailed in the TRIPKit and can be as varied as the tour itself.
• Sightseeing. Tours usually include some attractions that are standard tourist draws, such as Walt Disney World Resort, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, and Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. On an independent or a hosted tour, travelers generally receive sightseeing vouchers and admission tickets ahead of time or pick them up at the first stop on their trip. On an escorted tour, attractions might be added during the tour, depending on the interests of the group.
• Other Components. The fare for some tours includes services—such as baggage handling—or covers tips, service charges, or taxes. Some tours offer additional amenities, such as flight bags, free drinks, or gifts.
• Price. Whatever the components of a tour, travelers are likely to weigh them against its price. A small percentage of tours are quoted per couple (the most obvious are honeymoon packages). But the majority of prices are given per person, double occupancy, meaning that each person pays this price when sharing a room with another. Single occupancy prices are higher, sometimes much higher; the additional price paid by a person traveling alone is called the single supplement. A few tours try to find a roommate for a traveler who does not wish to pay the single rate. When the tour operator will not guarantee a roommate, the traveler may have to pay the single supplement, often referred to as a forced single.

All of these moving parts require careful planning. And that emphasizes, once again, the incredible value and worth you bring to the table every time you work with a client!