Name of the Competitor: AVITOURS DMC El Salvador
Web page: http://www.avitours.com.sv/elsalvador/index.html (Avitours) http://www.grupoamate.com.sv/index.php (Grupo Amate)
http://www.ltnelsalvador.travel/ (Amate Travel) http://www.lineaejecutiva.com.sv/ (Linea Ejecutiva) Country: El Salvador
Main Service: Private tours and group tours in El Salvador Target Market: American and European travelers, local tourism.
Strengths:
- ”Grupo Amate” is the major tourism group in El Salvador and Avitours belong to this group of 5 companies as its tour operator. Therefore, Avitours count with a holistic support from a well-known and experience travel agency (Amate Travel), as well as the leading company on executive and tourism transportation in El Salvador (Linea Ejecutiva).
- With more than 15 years of experience, Avitours accounts with extensive alliances with several tour operators in the region that allow them to provide tourism service in coordination with these partners
- Avitours make use of an extensive portfolio of support services, specifically hotels and restaurants located all over El Salvador and on the best tourism spots of the country.
Such portfolio includes discounts that allow the company to reduce costs every time they make use of their services.
- Avitours is able to provide the best quality service by making use of the most experienced tour guides in the country. The languages on which a tour can be performed by these professionals are Spanish, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, German and Russian.
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- Very outdated web page that doesn’t show the different tours and travel programs.
The format is not user-friendly, for which to make a reservation is very tiresome. Such a weak online presence may not allow Avitours to catch customers in this manner, but by their alliance with other regional tour operators
- Avitours also offers event planning services. This mixed focus on activities that are not correlated doesn’t allow the company to concentrate on its core business as tour operator.
Competitor 2 Name of the Competitor: Salvadorean Tours
Web page: http://salvadoreantours.com/
Country: El Salvador
Main Service: Private and group tours in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras Target Market: Mostly American and European travelers, local tourism.
Strengths:
- Top tour operator in El Salvador with more than 10 years of experience. Its marketing strategies and professional service has allow this company to become one of the leaders in terms of tourist’s catchment for the sector.
- Strongest online presence among the Salvadoran tour operators (Including a YouTube channel).
- Salvadorean Tours possesses a very user-friendly and attractive web page. The content allows travelers to have a very good notion from the tourist attractions and the services provided during the tours. The catalogue of tourist attractions is also linked to the tour packages so reservations can be made very easily and directly on the web page.
- The tour packages are very well organized in terms of the routes and time management. Many details and description of each destination, as well as colorful pictures and tips can be found on each article.
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- Service provided by professional and experienced tour guides in Spanish, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, German and Russian.
- The support services portfolio is shown in the web page and includes the best hotels in the country, as well as supplementary activities that are available for tourists.
Weaknesses:
- Salvadorean Tours doesn’t belong to a major tourism group, so it doesn’t count with the support of a particular travel agency or transportation company. Therefore, such support services may be outsourced, which tend to generate additional costs to the company and make it subject of the availability of its suppliers.
Competitor 3 Name of the Competitor: GreenBlueRed
Web page: http://www.greenbluered.com/index.htm Country: El Salvador
Main Service: Private Tours combining volunteering experience and tourism Target Market: Mostly American travelers.
Strengths:
- Only tour operator in El Salvador that combines tourism with social sustainability - GreenBlueRed’s marketing concept is oriented to show a combination of traveling experiences at the same time that tourists can interact with local people and contribute to the development of rural communities. Their web page shows several pictures of tourists making activities in company of local people and children in school’s age - Most of the information available from this tour operator can be found on their very well design “sales manual”. Such sales manual includes the company profile, as well as general information about El Salvador as a tourism destination. One section also
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provides the different choices that travelers have to arrive in the country by plane, as well as the distances from other tourist attractions in the region
- The company has a very extensive catalogue of activities and destinations with pictures and details that allows tourists to choose the program of their choice. By choosing a destination, tourists have the chance to join different activities to share time in social projects with locals and even voluntary work
- GreenBlueRed also offers an extensive catalogue of hotels in all different categories, from luxurious 5 stars hotels, to resorts and mountain hotels. Each hotel’s profile includes detail information about the facilities, rooms and activities around, as well as many attractive pictures that can influence tourists when making their choice
Weaknesses:
- Since most of the information about the destinations is contained on the “sales manual”, the web page plays a secondary role. The sales manual is not highlighted on the options of the menu, making troublesome to find it on the web page. Pictures and details about the tours are not available on the web page, so it is practically not functional
- GreenBlueRed is not supported by a travel agency or a transportation company and the services have to be outsourced
- Since the company has a focused on providing a tourism service through combining social sustainability, that can restrict the possibility for the attraction of tourists more interested on traveling for leisure
Competitor 4 Name of the Competitor: Oro Travel
Web page: http://www.orotravel.com/
Country: Nicaragua
Main Service: Private and group tours in Nicaragua and the whole Central American region Target Market: Focused on American and European tourists
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Nicaragua and one of the most important in the whole Central American region- The tour operator is run under European management, for which it can be expected a very well structured organization. Oro Travel’s founder Pascal Picot worked previously as a tour guide in Costa Rica and decided later to establish in Nicaragua and open his startup
- Oro Travel is specialized in providing tour service in Nicaragua, but this tour operator has also several alliances among Central American countries that allow them offering packages to all over the region, giving every time the best service quality. There is also a constant communication between Oro Travel and the other regional partners in order to ensure that tourists will count with the best support at any time.
- The tour service is offered in Spanish, English, French, German, Russian and Italian by the most experienced tour guides in Nicaragua. Tour guides’ detailed profiles are available in the web page, so travelers have also the chance to know more about them - Positive feedback and Testimonials support the Service Quality of the tour operator and are available in the web site
- The web page contains extensive and useful information about Nicaragua and the history behind every tourist attraction. There is also several sections to get to know more about Nicaraguan culture and traditions, as well as the way of living in that country - Other services such as Spanish language schools, car rental, domestic flights or accommodation in Hotels are also available in the web page and can be ordered in addition to the tour service, which can provide even more options for tourists to enjoy their trip
- There is a free chat Service available on the web page that allow travelers to access to direct information about the services offered by Oro Travel, as well as to easily make any reservations, answer questions and know more about the tour packages
Weaknesses:
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- As most of tour operators in the region, Oro Travel is not supported by a travel agency or a transportation company so these services have to be outsourced
- Although Oro Travel accounts with several years of experience providing touristic services to the American and European market, the company doesn’t seem to have taken advantage of the Asian market and target it as much as America and Europe
- The web page contains several information, but the design looks too outdated and it can be improved if more pictures are added to the content
- Despite the fact that a free chat service is offered in the web page, the icon always shows “chat offline”, which makes this option not reliable
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Design of cost efficient tourist routes to multiple destinations
Unique service provided by Chinese speaking tour guides
Personalized service to satisfy the demands and preferences of Taiwanese tourists
Ability to provide full support to regional partners along all stages of the service performance
Small size tour operator
Newcomer facing mature competition
High initial costs for training of tour
Limited financial resources
Opportunities Threats
Huge long term potential in East Asia and China
Central America as an uncommon tourist destination
Facing a weak competition by other regional tour operators may allow to lead the Chinese segment
Partnership with support services suppliers (Transport, Hotels and Restaurants)
Affiliation to international Tour Operators Associations
Weak demand for tourist services by the Taiwanese market
Entrance on the Chinese segment of more experienced competitors
Increase in price of transport services
Unstable political situation in the countries of the region
Increase of violence in the Central American region
High barriers to entry into the market