An examination of the organisational characteristics of selected German travel companies in Turkey Available to Purchase

Tour operators have played an important role in the marketing and distribution of tourism products to customers. As one of the major tourist‐generating countries, the significance of the tour operator industry has been felt strongly in Germany. When one considers that about 30 to 40 per cent of German holidaymakers travelling abroad buy their holidays directly from tour operators or via travel agencies, the importance of these travel establishments in Germany becomes obvious. The dominance of tour operators in the marketing of tourism destinations world‐wide in Germany suggests their great importance to the tourism industries of destination countries in terms of the steady and balanced development of tourism. Consideration of the main functions of tour operators in the tourism industry, and understanding the working environment in which they operate and their experience in the industry, may provide very useful benefits to other tour operators and the tourism industry as a whole, as they all operate in a similar environment and work with each other frequently. Therefore, this survey among eight tour operators and ten German travel agencies aims to examine and identify the basic managerial and organisational structure of German tour operators and travel agencies in Turkey.