QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TOUR OPERATORS
Dear Respondent. If your company organizes trips to Russia as well as Finland, please answer questions 1-5 and 12-21. If your company does not (yet) organize trips to Russia, please answer questions 1-11 and 17-21. If your company does not offer trips to Finland, please answer questions 1-3 and 20-21.
I. RESPONDENT / INFORMATION ABOUT THE TOUR OPERATOR
1)
Please provide your contact informationName: ___________________________________________________________ Position: _________________________________________________________ E-mail: ______________________________________________________ Phone: _________________________________________________________
2)
The tours that my company organizes for its clients are best described by the followingproduct descriptions. (circle the appropriate items and fill in the required information) a) Activity and special interest tours; the most common activity or special content for
the tour is
_______________________________________________________________ b) Group travel; the average group size is: ________________________
c) Nature and adventure tourism; the key content of the trip is: ________________ d) Bus trips or touring; the key content of the trip is:_______________________ e) Theme tours; the key theme of the trip is: _____________________________ f) Other trip; the key content of the trip is: _________________________________
3)
Does your company organize / offer tourism services/products? (circle the appropriateitems and fill in the required information) a) To Finland?
Yes, where: _____________________________________________________ No. Go to question 20.
b) To North Karelia in Finland? (see the cover letter and its links)
Yes, where: _____________________________________________________ No.
4)
The service chain and co-operation that your company requires in Finland for the trips thatit organises:
a) What kind of network does your company have with Finnish tour operators /
programme service producers? Do you cooperate with a "Destination Management Company" on your tours?
c) How does this cooperation operate? Proposals for improvement?
5)
Does your company already organize trips to Russia / Russian Karelia? (circle theappropriate item)
a) Yes Go to question 12 b) No
II. INTEREST IN TOURISM TO FINNISH AND RUSSIAN KARELIA
6)
In future, would your company be interested in organising nature and cultural tours,particularly in Finnish and and Russian Karelia? (circle the appropriate items and fill in the required information)
a) Yes
b) Yes, but only if progress is made on visa-free travel
c) No, why? ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ (If you answered No, you can proceed to question 20).
7)
Cooperation with Russian tour operators ? (circle the appropriate items and fill in therequired information)
a) Do you already have a Russian partner? Yes
No
b) Would your company be interested in cooperation? Yes
No
c) Would your company be interested in providing enhanced travel packages, Finland + Russia or Russia + Finland on the same tour?
Yes
No, why? ________________________________________________
III. STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF A NEW TOURISM PRODUCT FOR FINNISH AND RUSSIAN KARELIA
8)
Please describe the customer group to which you would like to market a possible tourismproduct and service developed for Finnish and Russian Karelia. (please write your answers)
b) The age class of the target group?
c) The potential size of the target group? (number of persons)
d) Other? (anything else to which your company would like to draw attention in providing the service)
9)
What is the key customer expectation that a new product / service oriented towards Finnishand Russian Karelia should fulfil? (circle the appropriate items and fill in the required information)
a) Unique natural sites (national parks, protected areas, landscapes)
b) Cultural attractions (museums, churches, buildings, tourist attractions, etc.) c) City destinations, shopping opportunities
d) Nature activities, summer (e.g. hiking, bird / animal watching, fishing, hunting, canoeing, white water rafting, buggy safaris)
e) Nature activities, winter (e.g. snowmobiling, dog sled rides, fishing, skiing) f) Russian & Eastern exoticism
g) The local way of life, traditional tours/countryside h) Military history
i) Welfare services j) Local food
k) Other customer expectation,
what___________________________________________
10)
What is the most appropriate time and duration for a trip to Finnish and Russian Karelia(summer / winter)? (please write your answers)
11)
Accessibility of trips to Finnish and Russian Karelia - should trips begin from Helsinki,Joensuu, or Kuopio (from the airport), or how else would you want transport for such a trip to be organised for your clients? (please write your answers)
FEEDBACK (COMPLETE THIS SECTION ONLY IF YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY ORGANIZED TOURS IN RUSSIA)
12)
How long has your company been organizing trips to Russia? (please write your answer)13)
Please describe the tourism products that your company has organised in Russia. (circlethe appropriate items and fill in the required information)
a) To what regions in Russia do you organise trips?
b) Would you be interested in offering your customers tourism products directed towards both Finnish and Russian Karelia?
Yes
No, why? ________________________________________________
14)
What kind of tourism products does your company organise in Russia? (circle theappropriate items and fill in the required information)
a) Activity and special interest travel; the most common activity or special content for the trip is
_______________________________________________________________ b) Group travel; the average group size is: ________________________
c) Nature and adventure tourism; the key content of the trip is: ________________ d) Bus trips or touring; the key content of the trip is:_______________________ e) Theme tours; the key theme for the tour is: _____________________________ f) Other tours, the key content of which is: _____________________________
15)
For how many clients does your company organize tours to Finland/ Russia each year?(write the required answer)
16)
What demands does your company make in respect to the provision of tourism services forthe destinations you offer in Finland / Russia each year? (write the required answer) a) Accessibility of the area / destination
c) Programme services
d) Are you satisfied with quality / overall services? Proposals for improvement?
IV. SALES AND MARKETING OF TOURISM PRODUCTS AIMED AT FINNISH AND RUSSIAN KARELIA: A SHARED QUESTION FOR EVERYONE
17)
What kind of marketing and sales channels would you consider best for products related toFinnish and Russian Karelia (circle the appropriate items and fill in the required information) a) Brochures
b) Trade fairs (eg tourism trade fairs)
c) Social media, how?
d) Websites
e) An electronic booking system and supporting network
f) Other, what?
V.
COOPERATION RELATED TO AN ELECTRONIC BOOKING SYSTEM18)
Do users of your online service need information about tourism services in Karelia (Finland& Russia), and do they seek that information from your online service? (write the required answer)
19)
The ENPI CBC "Karelia - developing competitive tourism resort with collaborative platform"project is developing an electronic service platform for marketing tourism services (www.visitkarelia.fi and www.visitkarelia.ru). The site is intended to gather centralized information on tourism and tourism services in both Finnish and Russian Karelia. The creation and deployment of the service is still in preparation.
No, why:___________________________________________________________ If you answered No, please go to question 20
b) Would you display Karelian tourism presentations (products / attractions, related information, rates, availability) on the distribution channels that you use (e.g., web pages) if they were available from the "Professional" sections of VisitKarelia? (circle the appropriate item)
Yes No
c) Would you display Karelian tourism presentations (products / attractions, related information, rates, availability) on the distribution channels that you use (e.g., web pages) if this involved conducting a search on the site? (circle the appropriate item) Yes
No
d) Could you link your site to a view on VisitKarelia targeted to your customers (language version, target group definition)? (circle the appropriate item)
Yes No
e) Would you display information on your site, if it was available as an XML feed but this would require installing a a feed reader solution on your site? (Live digital content publishing) (circle the appropriate item)
Yes No
f) Would you display information on your site if it was available as an embedded applet (code placed on the site), which would automatically retrieve information about availability and related matters from the database at VisitKarelia? (circle the appropriate item)
Yes No
VI.
WISHES & FEEDBACK20)
Do the clients of your travel agency have any new service expectations and needs (newtrends in demand) to which the network of tourism operators in North Karelia could respond or in which they could offer to cooperate? (write the required answer)
21)
Free-form feedback - is there some other development need or feedback that you want tobring to our attention regarding tourism in Finland / North Karelia, or about this study?(write
